King Kong - Movie Review

When the movie, Avatar hit the screens in 2009 director, James Cameron created a new world for people of all ages to enjoy. The technology used in Avatar was something most generations had never experienced before; through 3-D and green screen technology standards of the movie world completely changed. This same thing happened in 1929 when Merian C. Cooper and Ernest B. Schoedsack, released King Kong, which became as big as the beast itself. Through overlapping sheets of film the brilliant producers were able to create the illusion of people being in different places and through clay animation the producers were able to create unique monsters that had never been seen before.
Optical illusions have been around since the beginning of civilization, what was different about the illusions of King Kong is that they had never been seen before, and such a clever trick had never fooled the masses. This technology was something that had never been experienced before. People began to believe that this film crew had to actually travel across the world to meet this monster.One of the most amazing things about the original King Kong is American’s immediate identification with the characters; the realistic reactions, impressions and emotions of the characters allowed for the special affects to also become more realistic. King Kong was not only believable because of the impressive clay animation, stop motion filming but because he was given expressions and anyone who looked into this big brown eyes in top of the empire state building would know that this was a beast who actually had emotions and truly cared for the golden woman.
There is no doubt in anyone’s mind that King Kong was impressive for the time. What most movie viewers don’t realize is what that feeling meant to the people in the theaters. The later 1920’s was plagued with economic hardship, homelessness at an all time high and less than 5% employment rate; but some how families managed to pay the whopping 25 cents to see the feature film. This 2 hour presentation was an escape for everyone who was suffering. People could escape into the jungles of Africa and New York City and for a few short moments they worried about Kong, instead of how to feed their families.


When the classic King Kong first began I was overly unimpressed. I thought the acting was horrible, the picture quality was less than par and the conversations were unrealistic however when I began to realize what this movie was in its time, and what it meant to the people it was intended for I began to have a whole new appreciation for the pioneer actors, producers and creators. I saw that it was not about how the characters were talking, it was about what they were saying. It was not about the film quality today but how it must have looked to people who had never seen anything like this. I realized that these actors were obviously not focused on being realistic because the movie is fueled through imagination! It would be wonderful if two people could meet on a boat one day and the next day love each other so much they would risk excruciating death to be together and save the other. King Kong is as important to our history as any other invention, it is a technological milestone that created hope and an escape for thousands of people.