A bigger, better 'Kong'

On the surface, it seems a terrible idea: Peter Jackson's notion of investing some $207 million and all the clout he earned from "The Lord of the Rings" to construct a three-hour, seven-minute remake of the 1933 fantasy masterpiece, "King Kong."

First of all, it's almost impossible to successfully redo a genuine classic. It's virtually never been done.

Critics, fans and the fates tend to loathe the presumption of it. Think of the reception to Gus Van Sant's 1998 version of Hitchcock's "Psycho."

Then there's the fact that audiences have shown a particular apathy to remakes of giant-ape movies. An earlier expensive remake of "Kong" was laughed off the screen in 1976 and new versions of "Godzilla" and "Mighty Joe Young" both tanked badly in the '90s.

And the further sad truth is that a great deal of "Kong" -- its naivete, its quaint view of bestiality, its insensitivity to native cultures -- is tied to the sensibility of its era, slightly embarrassing today, and not at all easy to translate.

But, stubborn visionary that he is, Jackson has persisted with his boyhood dream of lavishly remaking his all-time favorite movie, and I'm here to report he has brought it off. "Kong" '05 is everything a fan could want, and then some.

Not only does it recapture -- and enhance -- the subtle emotional core that has made the film so beloved for the past three-quarters of a century, it delivers the most eye-boggling, hair-raising movie thrill ride since 1993's "Jurassic Park."

Amazingly faithful to the 103-minute original script, the film stays in the '30s and follows the beats of the story about a film company that encounters a gigantic gorilla on an island full of prehistoric creatures and brings it back alive.

But it greatly fleshes out these events, adds new action scenes and significantly expands such signature sequences as Kong's battle with the T-rex, his rolling a log bridge to shake off pursuers and his iconic flight to the top of the Empire State Building.

It also reinvents the three principals, so that celebrated impresario Carl Denham (Jack Black) is now a young producer on the make, ingenue Ann Darrow (Naomi Watts) is a veteran vaudeville hoofer and sailor Jack Driscoll (Adrien Brody) is an arty playwright.

This is a mixed blessing, and the clumsiest parts of the film come with the characters' exposition, and a first act that's much more broadly comedic than the original. As he proved with his 1996 flop "The Frighteners," Jackson is at his weakest when he's trying to be funny.

But when the expedition gets to Skull Island in a splendid ship-in-distress sequence, the movie becomes a symphony of dazzling action sequences -- brontosaur stampedes, attacks by giant insects, battles with not one but three T-rexes, and more -- each topping the last.

And the third act becomes a star-crossed, "Beauty and the Beast" parable far more operatic and tragic than anything the original filmmakers could have imagined -- exquisitely pantomimed by Watts with a poignancy and passion that rates Oscar consideration.

"Kong" is a triumph of digital technology, but its success lies less in its adrenaline-pumping action than the appeal and believability of its 25-foot, computer-animated silverback gorilla hero. He's hands down the most complex and riveting CGI character ever created.

And the movie also soars because Jackson has dared to change the concept in one elemental way: He makes the love of Kong for Ann Darrow considerably less of a one-sided affair. It's a risky venture but it works and it gives the myth an extraordinary new kick.

In the end, however, the striking success of this movie may be due less to technology and plot innovations than to Jackson's determination to celebrate and re-create the magic of the experience he had as a 9-year-old seeing the original for the first time.

His "Kong" honors its source with a catalog of internal references, smoothes its rougher edges (by, for instance, adding a heroic black character to the cast) and summons all the sorcery of the new digital cinema to communicate its essence to a new generation.

Remakes simply don't get any more respectful -- or more inspired -- than this.