I watched this movie last night for the first time since seeing it on the big screen nearly thirty years ago. I remembered it being bad, but I had mercifully forgotten just how bad it is! From the lame attempts to inject an environmental slant to the cartoon characters to the total lack of any sort of excitement, this movie simply has nothing going for it. For a film which was quite expensive in its time the production values are miserable. Kong's island looks just like Hawaii until you get inside the wall (a bunch of sticks) when it becomes just a handful of fake rocks and a miniature tree or two. The scenes where Kong "rampages" through a suddenly empty Manhattan are substantially less fun (and less convincing) than even the worst of the old Godzilla movies. Rick Baker has proved himself the master of the ape suit, but you wouldn't know it from the costume he wears in this thing --- he looks like he should be menacing Abbott and Costello. All in all a movie without a single redeeming quality.
Wait a second, I take that back. Jessica Lange is cute as hell.
Wait a second, I take that back. Jessica Lange is cute as hell.