Review of King Kong (1933) by Cathal M — 18 Dec 2009

I'm a big fan of Peter Jackson's take on this movie, and finally seeing the original just made me respect what he accomplished even more, as he managed to expand and draw out all the themes that were always present in the film.

One big difference is that the Kong in this version isn't designed to evoke empathy, but we empathize with him anyway, probably because of the above-and-beyond effort of the film's stop-motion animators.

I love the shot where Kong picks up the defeated dinosaur's jaws and plays with them for a second after winning the fight, it's just one of the many details that distinguish Kong completely from a mindless monster.

This really is what movies are all about, taking simple human issues and blowing them up to the largest imaginable scale, and it still works as a standard by which all films can be measured.