It was Beauty that Killed the Beast

[weaktwos]

I just returned from seeing King Kong. I'll put my thoughts behind the cut. Overall I enjoyed it. Mainly that's because I left my disbelief at the door. I did, however, not leave my disgust for creepy insects at the door. The following notes are steam of consciousness, so be warned.

I am now tempted to re-watch the original movie to compare further. From a pictoral standpoint, Peter Jackson and his crew continue to do fantastic work. I found myself captivated by the acting of the crew. Jack Black performs masterfully, as always, the role of the High Prick Priest of Prickland. I'll have faith in his acting when he can play a nice guy for an entire film. What more can you expect from a Virgo born in the year of the Cock, and the progeny of rocket scientists?

But, I digress. Brody does fine as the tweedy twerp writer with a heart of gold and the luck of a thousand kings. Why he lived until the end is truly a matter of a stubborn storyteller. And that's the thrust of the entire movie. If ever a team of men needed a vocal and obstinate underwriter, it was Carl Denham and his merry men. Okay, I can see how cool it is to discover this giant ape with a heart of gold. However, the care and feeding of this oft-prone-to-violent-outbursts ape is more trouble than it is worth.

I don't want to think how they got the Ape back to NYC. Stop logical brain! do not return until I finish writing this! Nooo!

Damn. I can't keep my logical mind at bay for long. The plot was a steaming crock. But I still enjoyed it. I was really hoping Denham would get ripped apart by Kong. Instead, Kong was a jealous boyfriend and went after Driscoll.

Andy Serkis, my soulmate, was delightful in the movie as Lumpy and Kong. I am still waiting for him to come to his senses and move here to live with me in Elk Grove. Yeah. All I can say is that this man has played characters from degenerated hobbits to big loving apes. Given that, fore-during-and-aft-play with Mr. Serkis is bound to be nothing less than a mountain of fun.

Naomi Watts has her meaningful gazes down. For a moment I would risk climbing the Empire State Building for her. Just for a moment.

When Kong came to New York, in my own mind I heard Ann sing, "My boyfriend's back and you're gonna get in trouble..."

Ann is off to a wonderful start being the Black Widow of above average sized primates.

And those bugs. Oh! Those bugs were an E ticket ride on the Oookie-ookie-creepy Train. I get the heebie-jeebies just thinking about the antennae of those uber-catapillars that were sniffing her out.

That skirmish between Kong and the three T-Rexes? Awesome. Jurassic Park just became Peter Jackson's bitch. The Romper Room to Sesame Street. The tater tot to the fully loaded baked russet potato.


And practicality stays my hand. I must go tend to other things.

Comments

[patricks.livejournal.com]

M-O-N-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E
Monkey Mouse!

I've been wanting to type that and now I have an excuse. Sort of.

Kong is King. Though Peter likes the slow-mo a little too much.

[grimalkinrn.livejournal.com]

Those bugs were too creepy. Too incredibly creepy. They made me sick to my stomach, and I have a strong stomach.

[doccross.livejournal.com]

Yeah, them bugs was creeeeeeeepy, even for someone like me who normally doesn't get creeped out by bugs.

Remember, Jack Black was SUPPOSED to be playing an Orson Wellsesque prick. In that respect, he did well.

As for the logical mind thing, I was able to check that at the door. I mean, once you toss out the square/cube law to even get the giant ape, the rest is small stuff.

And yeah, if the ever want to remake Jurassic Park (and follow the story in the novel), they should hire Jackson. After he does The Hobbit...with your man Serkis as Gollum.

[misanthropist.livejournal.com]

I liked the film, but find myself in almost complete disagreement with your view of it.

In my view:

The animation was terrible (except for the empire state building scene). Jack Black was not good. Jurassic Park is most definitely not Peter Jackson's bitch.

But I liked the story.

Weird how that works, I think.

[namfle.livejournal.com]

Hmm, the only spot where I thougt the animation was lacking was in the Brachiasaurus Stampede scene, and that was just bad intergration of CG/live action layers. Even with the bad masking and the like, I still found myself gripping the edge of my seat and going "OMGWTF!!" in my head.

-elf-

[misanthropist.livejournal.com]

I guess I'm more referring to the bad integration of CG/live action layers. While the animation, standing alone, is good, it looks awful on screen. But that's me.

[namfle.livejournal.com]

Excellent review. I agree with a lot of your points about the story (i.e. many of the fine details are questionable), but I LIKED Jack Black in this and I can't stand him normally. Oh, but did he turn out to be a villian. such a character, it was interesting to see him start off as necessarily slightly slimy to full-blown snake in the grass.

Serkis is fast becoming one of my favorite actors. I was upset that he played 2 fatal characters. :(
Insect scene? Mondo creepifying. I'm impressed my son could watch, let alone not get nightmares, but he touched it out. At one point I actually started screaming "It's on his face! It's on his face! AAAHH, it's on his face!", and I try to remain silent during enjoyable movies.

I so cannot wait to see that again.

-elf-