KING KONG REIGNS SUPREME

KING KONG
the 1933 original.
There is no better.

My first viewing of King Kong is also one of my very first memories. I was about 3 or 4 years old, not in any kind of school yet (preschool or kindergarten). It was a warm summer night in Maryland. Fireflies filled the dark backyard, the sounds of crickets in the bushes and treeline, and a gorgeous sky of countless stars (remember when we could see stars in the sky?!).
My mom and older brother put the small black and white TV outside on the back patio, up on a chair. We brought our pillows, sleeping bags and blankets out onto the carport, made popcorn and watched the movie. It was the most amazing, intense thing I had ever seen. Imagine, I'm just beginning to see the World and Life and I'm exposed to this brilliant, imaginitive film!!!!! I can say without a doubt, that night King Kong set me on the path that defines my personality and interests Today.

Terra had never seen the original before, so I was very excited to show it to her. I hadn't seen the movie myself in what... 15-20years? Would it hold up? Well, we watched it this past saturday on dvd and it still rocks!!! There isn't a thing I'd change. I'd even go as far to say the movie is one of my 3 favorite movies of all time. It has everything you'd want in a movie: Skull Island! Stop-motion dinosaurs, pterodactyls and giant lizards, all fighting Kong! Crazed Tribals in ritual getups and face paint! A giant fortress wall! Sexy blonde damsel in distress! Awesome airplanes with machine guns! King Kong himself, King of Skull Island!! The stop-motion animation is awesome and has something special to it that is lacking in Today's [CG] animation. Even the composites don't pull me from the film, and this was done in 1933!

The movie is perfect.

Peter Jackson has a very big challenge before him to remake this film. If it was any other director, I think I'd want them to fail at remaking it (like the 1976 remake, although it has its moments), just so the original stays on top. But I really like what Jackson did with the Lord of the Rings movies (wow!), and I'd hate to see him fall short with this. Hopefully, he IS the great filmmaker I think he is. Fingers crossed.

Anyway, I HIGHLY HIGHLY recommend revisiting King Kong again. If you haven't seen it before, you MUST see it before you see Peter Jackson's. There is no discussion on this, ok?