DVD Review HTF Review: King Kong (2005). Very highly recommended (1 Viewer)

[Inspector Hammer!]

Okay, I don't want to be left behind, what on Earth is Dolby TrueHD and DD Plus?

 

[Ron-P]

Finished watching this last night. A good film, but not great. Overall it gets an 8/10. Not quite the quality of Lord of the Rings. Not a lot of rewatch factor with this one either.

The CGI was very inconsistent throughout the film and I don't understand why. Some scenes looked so amazingly real it was, well, amazing. Other scenes, very CGI looking, very fake. It's too bad Jackson didn't consult Spielberg for his dino scenes; he really could have improved on them. I have yet to see more realistic dinos then what we saw in Jurassic Park. Kong did look outstanding in most scenes, an amazingly well done CGI character.

The story was simple (this is my first Kong movie). The acting was decent, I really was beginning to hate Carl Denham and could almost feel the pain that Ann Darrow was feeling, she did a good job from an emotional standpoint.

The disk is one of the best looking I've ever seen, very clean, crisp, sharp with great colors and deep blacks. The dd track lacked (as it usually does) so dts will be an improvement which I am sure will show up with the EE later this year (I'm guessing).

All-n-all, an impressive ride. Better then what I thought it would be even after reading so much about the film.

 

[Aaron Silverman]

Hey guys,

Everybody keeps talking about an extended edition in the works -- has there been an actual announcement, or evidence from Peter Jackson that he's working on one, or is it just speculation (granted, there is a basis for that expectation!) at this point?

I'd like to pick this up, but I'd rather wait and just get the full-on Super Edition if it looks like there's going to be one.

 

[Ron-P]

I have not seen a link pointing to the fact that there is EE coming. I think it's just speculation at this point going off what Jackson did with LotR.

I'd love to see an EE of this film, it could use it. This was one of the quickest 3+ hour films I've sat through.

 

[Ron-P]

Doing a quick search, I found this.

http://www.panandscan.com/news/show/King_Kong/499

 

[Aaron Silverman]

Thanks, Ron!

 

[James D S]

Great review, Posten.

It's going to be hard to lay off this disc(s) until the EE comes out...

Must... have... strength...

 

[Mike Williams]

Not a lot of rewatch value, huh? I saw this movie twice in theaters and have already watched it twice on DVD. I'll probably have seen it twice more before the weekend is over as I invite different friends over to watch it on my setup.

For everyone's complaints about the length, especially the first act, I was watching the movie the other night and figured I must be about 20 minutes into it, and saw on the DVD counter that the movie had been playing for 45 minutes already. It doesn't feel like a 3 hour movie to me at all!!!

 

[Tino]

I agree completely John. The LFE was incredibly disappointing on the ROTS DVD, on an otherwise spectacular presentation.

 

[Vader]

I successfully held out on "Fellowship" and "Two Towers", but caved on "Return of the King", and then went back and got the other two theatricals anyway (for the trailers and advertising stuff). If Jackson does the same thing here, none of the extra's here (specifically, "A History of Skull Island" was what tipped the scale for me) will be ported over...

 

[Vader]

Yup, for me too

 

[ClaytonMG]

Dolby TrueHD is a lossless format identical to the masters. Pretty much near flawless audio. There is also DTS HD. Both of which have capabilities of well over 8 channels but Blu-Ray and HD-DVD only are capable of 8 for now. Dolby Digital-Plus is just a higher bit rate. I believe the bit rate is at 6mbps if I am not mistaken.

And Peter, I am with you. I am only getting a blu-ray player. I just wish Universal supported blu-ray :frowning:

Clayton

 

[Hank]

I watched my single disc edition last night. It is a fast three hours and I actually enjoyed it more on DVD than I did in theaters back in December.

Agree, the dinos in Jurassic Park are still supreme, the first T-Rex scene still holds up well after 13 years.

 

[Aaron Silverman]

My ears are only capable of 2, so 8 should be plenty!

 

[Marvin]

I was planning to catch this one in the theaters last year but never got around to it. So given the glowing reviews it's been getting here, I just ordered the DVD (2 disk SE). I hope everyone's right!

 

[Sam Posten]

I further edited paragraphs 4-7 to fix some glaring grammatical errors and further explain how my thoughts on this film evolved from theatrical to DVD release. Thanks to all who have continued to provide feedback!

Sam

 

[Aaron Silverman]

Way to go, Sam!

 

[Harold Wazzu]

I just watched this also and though it didn't feel like 3 hours I can't imagine it being any longer than it is.

 

[Timothy Alexander]

If you buy the Production Diaries and the 2-Disc King Kong together it's like having one of the best 4-Disc special edition ever. I'm well satisfied having this right now than having to wait for the Extended cut.

 

[TravisR]

Yeah, the production diaries set and bonus disc add up to about 6 hours of behind the scenes stuff. And this is before the big special edition.