review

well of the two big christmas movies i think chronicales of narnia beats king kong.
peter jackson's king kong is a fantastically gorgeous looking film, but it is oh so long and in parts it feels everyone of of its 180 minute plus running time. sure the effects are wonderful, sure some of the set pieces are tremondous, sure naomi watts is stunning, sure kong looks the business, but for all of that i found myself wondering why was it so long. the original film is just over 100 minutes long so there has been a serious case of "decompression" (a fancy word for padding out) going on here.
if it had been shorter would i have enjoyed it more? i am not sure. i was never a fan of the original movie. there is little humour in this film (which is odd considering you have jack black as one of the stars). there is a lot of style and technical wonderment going on in it the film.
there are three distinct parts to the movie. depression era new york where actress ann darrow, played by watts is desperate for a job, she is duped by carl denham into appearing in a movie he is making. denham has to rush his film into production as the film studio is going to close it down. the visuals of a period new york are stunning.
the next phase of the film is the island and meeting of kong. there is the long boat trip, the getting to know the crew, hearing some of their backstories. just as a call comes over the radio to call the ship back they enter a fog bank and then crash against skull island. on skull island they encounter a huge wall. on the coast side of the wall there are svage natives who seem to live in perpetual mud and rain. all is grey. the natives eventually capture ann darrow and sacrifice her to kong. kong accepts their sacrifice and thus begins one of the strangest love affairs of all time.
lots of scuffles with prehistoric beasties ensue. all of it looking spectacular.
eventually the crew of the ship capture kong. (i have no idea what happens to the natives and what they felt about the stealing of kong).
the final part of the film is back in new york where kong in going to go on display in a theatre. no idea how they got him in there as he is a big fellah. no idea of how they kept him subdued all this time either.
ann wants no part of it, so she is not around on opening night. bit of a mistake as kong does a little bit mental when he finally realises that the blonde is not darrow. (again no explanation as to why this hasn't happened sooner). kong busts out, creates lots of havoc and mayhem. darrow runs to find kong. she does. together they go for a bit of a moonlight stroll, that is rudely interrupted by the american army, and this all leads to the classic finale.
like i say it is all done very very well. i just didn't find myself totally engaed by it.

while narnia just had me hooked from the get go.
the four kids were a treat to watch, none of that precious kiddie stuff. just solid good acting. they were all likeable and all conveyed their roles excellently. the story ticked along a a fair old lick, and kept a good pace throughout. tilda swinton as the white witch was excellent at once regal and sexy as well as being just a little bit scary. the efects were good and you soon got over the fact you were watching animals talk (and not in a johnny morris voice either....) the action was exciting. the ending left me wanting more.

might even go and read the narnia books i have sitting in a pile by the other pile of books i have.