King Kong (2005) (PG-13, 2005)

Barely surviving the Depression in NYC, Ann Darrow (Naomi Watts) loses her vaudeville job just when film producer Carl Denham (Jack Black) is seeking a leading lady for his new film project, to be shot on "unknown" Skull Island. Denham and crew set out on a ship; also onboard is earnest playwright Jack Driscoll (Adrien Brody), who starts a romantic relationship with Ann. On Skull Island, they encounter violent natives and a land that time forgot filled with dinosaurs and other enormous beasts. The natives kidnap Ann and present her as sacrifice to the giant ape Kong, who falls for the diminutive beauty. Kong's weakness for Ann results in his being trapped by showman Darrow, who brings him to New York City to appear in a sideshow the likes of which have never been seen.

In KING KONG, the relationship between Ann and the giant ape is everything. The men around her adore her and even indulge in heroics to save her, but none is so compelling a personality as the gigantic gorilla who comes to love her. Like the 1933 original film, Jackson's adaptation examines the excesses and vagaries of show business. What sets Jackson's movie apart from its predecessor is its characterization of Ann as courageous and her insight when she is grateful for Kong's protection. In this version, it's not "beauty that kills the beast," but greed, meanness, and fear that destroy his admirable "nature" and emblematic manhood.

While the movie demonizes the black natives who throw back their heads and chant during their ritual to sacrifice Ann to Kong, it also offers a complication in the ship's courageous, sensible, and black first mate, Hayes (Evan Parke). It's telling that Hayes does not see the reenactment of the tribal ritual as Denham's stage show, populated by performers in overtly offensive blackface. If this scene illustrates the movie's awareness of the problem (the crude translation of blackness by a white "producer"), it's not quite a resolution. Neither is the relationship between Ann and Kong, though she tries mightily to do right.

Studio: Universal Pictures
Director: Peter Jackson
Cast: Adrien Brody, Jack Black, Naomi Watts
Genre: Action/Adventure
Run time: 187 minutes
Theatrical release: December 14, 2005
DVD release: March 28, 2006
MPAA Rating: PG-13
MPAA explanation: frightening adventure violence and some disturbing images.