Monkey Business

Apparently the big film this Christmas will be Peter Jackson's remake of King Kong. I say "apparently" because I honestly don't believe that many people are excited about it. What is so great about King Kong, anyway? The story is silly (giant ape living on island battles dinosaurs, is captured and taken to New York, plays in the Jets backfield, falls in love with starlet, climbs Empire State building, falls...the end), and, besides, it's already been remade -- and with Jeff Bridges and Charles Grodin to boot! I adore Peter Jackson and pretty much everything he's done, but I have to ask what the hell he was thinking by taking on this project after just having filmed three adaptations. Does he still have to prove himself to the studio after that cash juggernaut? I've read that Kong (the original, natch) is his favorite film, and that this is his dream project, but you know what, The Brothers Karamazov is my favorite novel, but were I to become a famous novelist (and it's only a matter of time; my mom tells me I write "really good") I don't think I'd find it necessary to take on the planned sequel Dostoevsky had intended to write. Maybe that's just me.

I believe remakes and adaptations have a certain place in cinema (Spielberg's War of the Worlds, for example, worked because it took the premise of H.G Wells's novel and used it to focus on one family), but, and I go back to my original question, what is so interesting about King Kong? Am I perhaps missing some poignant theme in the story that makes it important, timeless? And, again, is anyone really that hyped to see this picture? I don't mean "are you excited there's a new Peter Jackson film coming soon?" I mean "does the story of a giant ape that battles dinosaurs and climbs the Empire State Building" get you hot? Probably not.

The film has also been reported to be nearly 3 hours long. So I guess that means we'll get the full story on Kong, find out what makes him tick. Maybe it will be more Raging Bull than Independence Day...but probably not. In all likeliness, the film will make a ton of cash and many will say it was decent, better than the original (because of course it's in color and has lots of CGI!), and then be forgotten like Roland Emmerich's Godzilla.

I hope I wind up eating crow. I hope Peter Jackson, that svelte man-muffin (http://postprodson.free.fr/kong/ubisoftkingkong.jpg), makes me care about a giant ape. If he can do that, I'm willing to concede that he can do anything -- slam dunk a basketball, find Jimmy Hoffa's corpse, write a workable Mid-East peace plan on a restaurant napkin, beat Craig G in a rap battle...you name it. After all, I didn't think the Lord of the Rings could be made into effective films, and I was dead wrong there.

Good luck, PJ. I'm praying for the best and expecting the worst (or maybe it's the other way around).

PS - Petey, if you read this blog (but what am I saying? of course you do), any chance of me scoring tix to an advance screening?