It Wasn't The Airplanes -

If you had been fretting for me these past two weeks - about when I would finally get myself and my loved ones out to the movie theater to see "King Kong" - fret no more. While it is neither the policy nor the practice of this blog to wax rhapsodic about popular culture, indulge me for a moment or to as I do just that.
"Nobody cry when Jaws die. When my Kong die, people gonna cry." This statement was attributed (and later lampooned by John Belushi on Saturday Night Live) to Dino DeLaurentis, producer of the 1976 version. I confess, I cried a little at the end of that one, mostly out of frustration. Almost thirty years later, Peter Jackson has made good on that assertion. At the end of Jackson's "King Kong," my wife wept openly into the extra napkins she had brought along from the snack bar for just such an emergency. She wasn't the only one, either. This big ape has gravitas, and a soul.
The chief knock on this version has been the three hour-plus running time. This would be a problem if there were great empty pieces of film, devoid of story or meaning. While one might quibble with the length of the opening, it provides exposition and grounding in a very real world that is about to be visited by something very surreal. This is a film that isn't as much a remake as an homage to the original. For fans such as myself, it is a three hour wallow in all things Kong, with chewy bits of trivia and tribute to savor along the way.
Still, why make another version of a film that has been made countless times - with sequels, prequels and shoddy ripoffs included along the way - over the years? I believe that it is the story that keeps us coming back. The Beauty and the Beast angle has been used as a label for so many years (and repeated endlessly in the original version), that it no longer seems pertinent. By examining the anima of Kong, we start to understand why the story of a twenty five foot gorilla might be so enduring. Anima literally means spirit, soul, or breath of life. It is from this root that we get such words as Animal and Animation. This inspiration can be felt in every step that Kong takes. According to Carl Jung, the anima is the feminine side of a man's personal unconsciousness. This would explain Ann Darrow's connection to a giant gorilla. In Peter Jackson's version, it is obvious that Jack Driscoll struggles with this side of his own character. Like so many men, he tries to connect with Ann by pushing her away. The most tender moment in the film is played out between Ann and Kong as they share a moment of beauty, watching a sunrise. We see the two of them become soulmates. It is Jack's struggle to look within himself and appreciate what is beautiful in his world. Jack isn't just saving Ann, he is saving part of himself. When Carl Denham says, "It wasn't the airplanes that got him; 'twas beauty killed the beast," he is talking about that instant that we all become whole. Jack can finally embrace Ann atop the Empire State Building because the beast - the one inside - has been defeated.
What's not to love?