King Kong [DVD]

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There's great stuff on the miniatures - the sets, the Venture, the jungle, the wall etc - and we even get to see a day in the life of a miniature, from conceptualisation, through maquette and full model stages to final approval from Jackson. Each segment lasts a few minutes, packs in plenty of facts and behind the scenes secrets in a warts-and-all, fly-on-the-wall style that is quite endearing. The Venture has all manner of knick-knacks on display - from the cluttered kitchen to the intricate design of the cargo hold and all of its cages. Fabled animator Ray Harryhausen says as much on his accompanying commentary track with special FX wizard Ken Ralston—although as amiable and passionate as the two are, their talk is halting and could have used the strong, authoritative voice of a film historian.

Naomi Watts stars as Ann Darrow, a vaudeville actress down on her luck in Depression-era New York until manic filmmaker Carl Denham (a game but miscast Jack Black ) entices her with a lead role.Now obviously bogus, this takes the form of an educational film about the location as if it really existed. As director Frank Darabont says in the doc (and we’re paraphrasing here), we remember many classic movie monsters, but Kong is the only one who is not human. Europe's busiest forums, with independent news and expert reviews, for TVs, Home Cinema, Hi-Fi, Movies, Gaming, Tech and more.

It's an uncomplicated feeling they share; in fact, the whole movie is uncomplicated - but it's also profound and sad. The runtime certainly won’t please everyone: audiences complain it takes too long to get to the island whilst critics felt there was too much going on in the mid section.King Kong is a fictional character, first appearing in the 1933 RKO Radio Pictures film of the same name.