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King
Kong
(2-Disc Special Edition) |
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| Starring: Jack Black, Naomi Watts, Adrien Brody, Andy Serkis Directed by: Peter Jackson |
Theatrical Release: 2005
DVD Release: 2006
Released by: UniversalDolby Digital
5.1
Widescreen |
You know the story: gorilla meets girl, gorilla loses girl,
gorilla finds girl and climbs the Empire State Building to swat at planes. While the
original film was silent melodrama (and the 1976 version burdened by the era's
environmentalism), Peter Jackson has managed to meld the classic tale with modern
subtlety.
| The Ape that Started it All  If you dig Peter Jackson's King Kong,
then you need to check out the film that inspired not only his remake, but even his first
dream to make movies -- the original 1933 King Kong (***1/2). Warner timed its
first-ever DVD release with the theatrical debut of the remake. And Warner has gone back
to the well already to make a single-disc version to coincide with the film's transition
to home video. This is either the quickest double-dip or the longest delay between two
editions of the same release in history.
The new Single-Disc Edition is exactly the same as disc 1
of 2005's Collector's Edition, which is a good thing. The film was completely re-mastered
for that release and looks beautiful. The special effects have aged poorly, but this movie
was made in the days before effects could be used to carry a movie instead of the story. Kong
is grainy, but it is 73 years old. The sound is mono, as was the original release, but
it's been sharpened and cleaned up to match the excellent picture.
For extra features, we get a few trailers for Merian C.
Cooper movies, a commentary by Ray Harryhausen and Ken Ralston, and interpolated interview
excerpts from Cooper and the movie’s female star, Fay Wray. It is all nice enough,
but if you really like the old film, then you can still get the Collector's Edition with
the great documentary on the second disc.
If nothing else, you could watch this disc and play
"spot the scene," counting what Peter Jackson lifted directly or lovingly
homaged in his new version. But it'll probably take you a few times through to get an
accurate count, because even three quarters of a century later, the original King Kong
can still make you forget details, pull you in, and make you care.
...Josh Barber
joshb@hometheatersound.com |
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King Kong demands to be seen on a big screen -- your
home TV set might not cut it, unless you're willing to sit close or have a widescreen set.
By virtue of his size, Kong dominates most of the scenes he is in, reducing his human
companion to a mere speck. Naomi Watts can't do much when she’s half an inch high.
The picture quality on this disc is excellent. The texture
of Kong's fur is readily apparent, and the blacks never blend. The colors are pushed
slightly toward exaggeration, as they were in the theater version. It makes the world
slightly unreal, so we are more willing to accept what we're seeing. In a few of the
dinosaur encounters on Skull Island, some shots stand out as special effects work -- a
"flaw" had the image quality been lower.
Kong sounds great, if you listen to it full blast.
If you try to be considerate of your neighbors, the dialogue can get drowned out by the
Foley work. However, this attention to ambient noise pays off in a few scenes where the
music and dialogue drop out and the natural sounds tell the story. So crank it up, and let
yourself be swallowed by the sound. Maybe invite the neighbors over.
King Kong is available in either a single-disc or a
2-Disc Special Edition. The first disc in both versions is the same, which has extras that
are little more than a pair of commercials. "Volkswagen Toureg & King Kong"
details the car ads seen at the time of the film's release, and "See More of New York
in Wish You Were Here" is an overblown tourism video.
The second disc in the Special Edition is a bonanza. It is
where Jackson gets back into the minutiae that define his other DVDs. Most of the material
is drawn from the www.kongisking.net
Production Diaries, a set of videos that were released immediately before the film hit
theaters.
For those who bought that set, Peter Jackson has kept his
word: nothing on those discs is repeated here. That box set closed with the end of
production, and the additional diaries presented here begin with "Welcome to
Postproduction." Thirty-plus segments follow. There are two stand-alone special
features: "King Kong's New York, 1933" and "Skull Island: A Natural
History," a full history of the movie's fictional island. If you know the bonus
materials on the Extended Edition releases of The Lord of the Rings movies, you
know what to expect: a truly exhaustive look at the process of creating a major movie.
Despite the great picture and sound, the in-depth extras,
and the wonder of the movie itself, I don't recommend buying it -- at least not yet. If
you must see it now, rent. Just as with The Lord of the Rings films, Jackson
has hinted that he will be putting together an Extended Edition by the end of the year and
perhaps a version in the new HD DVD format. If Jackson does either, you'll want to buy one
of them. If not, you can still get your giant monkey fix from this superb 2-Disc Special
Edition. |
