Which is your favorite version of "King Kong"?

[Rykion]

Having seen all 3, the original is still my favorite. Jackson's remake was good, but suffered from pacing problems. The original just stands out so much from the other movies of its time.

 

[ShadowDenizen]

That said, the new King Kong is very much a remake, not a reinvisioning of the original, whole stretches of the script are the same.

True.

Except for

Spoiler

the end. In the remake, Kong gets killed by bullets. In the original, IIRC, Kong overbalances when trying to swat down some of the planes.

I get what Jackson was going for (an extnesion of the Beauty and the Beast/ Slave of Love theme), but, IMO, the new ending serves to actually neuter Kong much more than the original, robbing him of some of his primal nobility.

Yeah, but these days, where a movie ticket cost at least $8 or more, audience don't like to do the work themselves. With the advance in special effects -- mainly computer-assisted -- it is expected to be used when necessary.

I agree with that, to an extent.
Though I think that it's also a bit of a generalisation. Witness the fact that "Brokeback Mountain" actually had a larger per-theatre opening than any other movie this weekend. (Compare the 69 theatres for BM to 3,000+ for King Kong!)

I think that speaks to the fact that many people (maybe not the majority, but still a sizable amount of people) still want to be challenged to think when viewing a movie.

Personally, I liked the new KK, but LOVED the original. I still get chills when I watch the original KK, dated SFX and all. It had such a raw beauty, and was so simply executed, I fell in love when I saw it.

 

[Henry]

I have no attachment to the original King Kong, and in my opinion, Peter Jackson's remake wins, hands down. Naomi was more charismatic than Fay Wray, Kong was more alive than a stop-motion version, and Jack was more of an everyman hero than the square-jawed version in the original movie. Jack Black turned in a more lackluster performance than the original Denham, but that could be overlooked due to the performance of, well, darned near everyone else in the new movie. Great cast, great acting.

Peter Jackson owns my wallet when there's entertainment money in it.

 

[The Serge]

V-Rex? What's a V-Rex?