Review of King Kong (1933) by Susan M — 08 Oct 2010

I grew up with this movie because my older brother was absolutely obsessed, but I could never fully appreciate it until I saw it in my more mature life. This is a great movie. It is an outstanding adventure story and has the timeless story of beauty and beast, and as my brother puts it, it's Jurassic Park before Jurassic Park.

The stop-motion special effects are a real showstealer. Yes, you know it is clay animation, but it's truly astoudning to see King Kong take on the t-rex in this clay animation, and that's a huge reason why I prefer the original to the Peter Jackson remake (although not the only reason because I really did not like the Jackson version).

King Kong has aged poorly at times and not just the special effects looking fake. Some of the dialogue sounds really stupid, especially the first half.

This takes a while to get going but I was still fully attentive before Kong came into the film because it's that suspenseful even before nothing happens. You just have this feeling that something great is going to happen and that makes for an entertaining film.