I thought that Peter Jackson's "King Kong" was in some respects quite a good film of its type...in other respects it was excessive (the battle with not just one but THREE Tyrannosaurs was absolutely excessive to the final possible degree). But the relationship between the heroine and the ape was far more interesting, subtle, and better handled than ever before in a King Kong movie. The character who played the heroine's boyfriend didn't work so well as far as I was concerned. Jack Black DID play Jack Black in the movie, yes, but he was still just about perfect for the part of Denham, I thought. The atmospheric portrayal of the depression era in New York and the whole feel of the first half of the film was marvelous, visually gorgeous, very forboding, and appropriately dramatic for a story which is, after all, simply escapism...an adventure fantasy on a grand scale. The stampede of the huge herbivorous dinosaurs along the cliff edge was again simply totally excessive and overdone...as was the struggle in the pit with the creepycrawly insect things.

And the creepy natives were overdone.

But the scenery and sets were great.

So I think it was both a very good King Kong film and a pretty silly movie at the same time (mostly because of the WAY overdone action scenes on the island), depending on which part of it you choose to focus on.