Return of the Kong

King Kong roared into theaters Wednesday, December 14th. Apparently the opening was the 21st all-time single day at little less than 10 million. I don't think the anticipation is as great as they thought. And repeat viewing won't be either.

I saw it last night and unfortunately I was disappointed. Say what? This is PJ!?! This is the guy who made Lord of the Rings!?! I wanted to like the big ape of a film, but in the end, I just couldn't. Now, don't get me wrong, the film does have merit. The effects are amazing (especially the climax scene atop the Empire State Building). This movie is visually stunning.

I know, I know. You've gotta suspend belief when you watch these movies. I can do that. I can escape and believe in worlds of giant apes, Jedi and a web-crawling man. But it's when the everyday normal stuff is exagerrated or made unbelievable that I lose all ability to suspend belief and enjoy the story. Case in point: There's a scene in the movie were the hero has huge (and I mean huge) bugs crawling all over him and he's trying to shake them loose. Another guy uses a tommy-gun to shoot the bugs off. A tommy-gun. No way. You'll know what I'm talking about. And what happens next is probably one of the most disgusting things I've ever seen. Believe me, you'll definitely know what I'm talking about.

You can read the Plugged-In Online (Focus on the Family's) review here (Warning: spoilers). There's some interesting tidbits about PJ in there.

Oh yeah, of course, now people are saying that King Kong is racist and represents the white man traveling across the sea, capturing and bringing back the dark man to exploit for the masses. Oh man, can't Kong just be an ape? Sheesh, can't Jar Jar Binks just be a Gungan? It's the same ole, same ole.

I give King Kong 2.5 out of 5 banana peels.