Customer Reviews

King Kong Escapes

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Just as Rankin & Bass had tackled Tolkien before Jackson did, they also did a King Kong movie. Once again we have a remote island where Kong lives. He also meets a blonde beauty and falls in love. But this version has more. We have an evil villain who has constructed a giant robot Kong to aid him in his schemes. But the villain, Dr. Hu, discovers that the real Kong would work even better.

Now add some gorilla mind control, suitmation, miniature sets, and titanic battles between giants and you get an unforgettable epic (even if you want to forget it). The result is a film that fits somewhere between the original and a Godzilla film. Visually speaking the film is pure Godzilla-style and a credit to the Kaiju films of its day. While not as polished as some modern Kaiju films no Kaiju library should be without one. The dubbed dialogue actually adds to some of the fun as the villain gloats and compares the two Kongs. Check it out.

This was a staple of Saturday afternoon monster flicks that aired in the pre-cable days of UHF TV. Haven't seen it in decades - and true to 60's Toho form, it's just as colorful, fun, entertaining, and silly as I remember. As a Toho/Rankin-Bass co-production, released through Universal, it has probably the highest production values of any film in the heyday of Japanese sci-fi/fantasy, the 1960's. The dollars went into impressive arctic sets and assorted miniatures, which are larger and more realistic than usual. Especially impressive is the submarine miniature, the tower where the climatic battle takes place, and the aircraft carrier that Kong smashes at the end of the film. The glowing frozen tunnel where Kong and his robot counterpart mine "Element X" is also visually evocative and memorable. This film also has a fair number of composite shots, some more successful than others. A great one is Kong snatching Linda Miller out of the water as she tries to swim to the sub.

Unlike some other US/Japanese co-productions, the American actors are part of the cast, rather than inserted, often clunkily, later - ala Raymond Burr in Godzilla. The scope of the sets and international cast gives the film a semi-epic feel. It should be noted that this was also scored by Akira Ifukube, who never fails to deliver a memorable theme. The distinctly morse-code Mechakong theme I remember vividly since seeing this film as a kid.

If you're familiar with this film, the knock on it is the Kong suit. Yes, it's weird, silly, not even remotely realistic... My take is that this film was intended as a live-action version of the animated Rankin-Bass Kong series, and this Kong was designed around the animated Kong from the cartoon. In fact, the Dr Who (no relation to the british sci-fi series) character in the movie - complete with cape, long gray villianous locks, is the cartoon's main villian. Perhaps the ties between this film and the animated series were intended to be closer than one realises 40 years after the film and animated series was aired. This would explain those absurd oversized cartoon eyes on the beast. He was designed around the animated character of the cartoon series, hence Kong looks more "cartoony" than real. Then again, it could be that the Toho monster suit makers just suck at making ape suits. Dinosaurs, dragons, giant robots? No problemo. Anthing but a giant ape. Perhaps this is why they decided to use Godzilla instead of Kong in Godzilla vs. The Sea Monster. It finally dawned on Toho that ape costumes weren't a forte, and they decided to stick to their core concentration.

So, why did I title my review, "The Best Kong, Ever?". While I'm sure nobody will agree...

1. King Kong (1933). Classic, yes. But long, talky, dated (sorry, it is), takes too long to get going, plus we all know the ending.
2. Son of Kong - forgetable follow-up to the original, despite great FX work.
3. Godzilla vs King Kong - Really a Godzilla movie with Kong as the kaiju dujior.
4. King Kong Escapes - Old but not dated. Still a fun, vivid, colorful and most of all entertaining Kong adventure from the heyday of Toho-style Kaiju Eiga with what might be the most novel and exciting monster battle Toho ever staged on the Tokyo tower.
4. King Kong (1976) As dated today as the 1933 original, and mostly an insincere excersize in blockbuster hype than a genuine movie
5. King Kong Lives - yeah, right...
6. Kong Kong (2005) - Overblown, overrated, over-long, overbudgeted, over-hyped, over-serious, dated upon release, excessive in every way but NOT fun in any way 2005-style CGI-fest ego trip from Peter Jackson.

Fourty years later, I can still get a kick our of King Kong Escapes. Not sure I can say that (and some I definately can't) about any of the other Kong flicks. Though not without faults, it's the best by default. It's just fun, and has a certain charm about it which is utterly absent in most of the others.

I have always been a fan of the older Toho films and this Kong epic is one of the most action packed and fun entries from the studio. It's hokey to say the least, but it does have a lot of charm for those who grew up with these pictures. The story basically retells the original Kong story, but with silly sub plots including the villainous Doctor Who(Hu) creating a robot Kong(MechaKong)! The film is truly hilarious and the dubbing only adds to the fun.

This film was produced by non other than Rankin & Bass which gives it a strange fantasy quality that only they could bring. Doctor Who's voice over dub was done by one of Rankin and Bass's favorite heavies from their animated Christmas specials, I can not think of his name, but when you hear that voice you will immediately think of those classic holiday specials.

I give this film 5 stars for its fun factor and because it is full of hysterical action sequences. If you're a fan of Godzilla and these types of films this is a real treat! My review is for the older release that was available in a two pack with King Kong VS Godzilla. I don't know if the newer edition has added anything to warrant buying it as I can not find any info about it. This is usually not a good sign and I suspect it to be the same DVD with a new cover.

This older DVD has a very clean DVD transfer and it is in widescreen, but there are no extras at all, not even a trailer! Buy the two pack and enjoy these are both really funny films!

I've been trawling through the very worst of the King Kong wannabe movies that the world has produced and I am glad to say that this one is a real hoot. It's lots of fun to watch if you don't take it seriously and just enjoy the silliness.

The plot is pretty daft to say the least. An evil genius called Dr Who has created a robot King Kong which he intends to put to work excavating a rare ore called "Element X", at the request of a mysterious ambassador from an unnamed "certain country", who is willing to pay hefty sums of money for it. At the same time, a UN submarine runs into trouble (I forget why) and the crew find themselves on a remote island called Mondo island, which just happens to be the home of the REAL King Kong. Dr Who finds all this out somehow (I forget that bit too) and decides to capture Kong to take over the digging work from the robot Kong who has somehow malfunctioned. It's then action all the way as the UN crew try to thwart the evil Dr Who and the two Kongs fight it out together over Tokyo.

Well as you can probably tell, the plot didn't make enough sense for me to remember the details, in fact it has massive holes in logic all over the place. But the fun comes from the big monkey antics of course, and there are plenty of these. You better realise up front that the King Kong you will see here is light years away from a realistic looking gorilla. With a big lumpy suit, an immobile plasticky looking head and seams showing all over the fur costume, this Kong is a laugh a minute. But I don't wish to completely insult him - despite his big glassy eyes (complete with papery eyelids that actually blink!) and fang filled mouth, this Kong actually has real character. I don't know why, but I found him a pleasure to watch in every scene. Certainly a hell of a lot better than the monkey mistakes in films like "A*P*E", "The Mighty Gorga", "King Kong Lives" or "The Mighty Peking Man" (oh yes, I've seen them all!), this might be down to the skills of the guy in the costume because as crazy as it sounds, I actually believed this Kong had a real personality. Albeit a dopey and easily confused one.

But anyway, lets move on to other highlights of the film. Sadly, "King Kong Escapes" does not even TRY to deviate from all the cliches that these wannabe films seem to keep re-using. Witness if you will, Kong saving the heroine from a T-Rex, placing her in a tree while he battles the monster, and killing it by pulling it's jaw apart. Watch as Kong scales a tall tower in the final, with the heroine, again perched precariously on the high ledge. I mean, come on! It really can't be that hard to think up something new!

The ridiculous script is what really annoyed me. Several times the heros are captured by Dr Who and imprisoned, then let go, then rounded up again, then left to escape, then chased again, while the mysterious ambassador from a "certain country" swaps loyalties between Dr Who and the good guys but is left entirely free to do as she pleases in the Who compound, simply releasing our heros when she feels like it. In one crazy scene, the Who crew even leave the keys to the prisoners handcuffs lying on a table and the cell door wide open - convenient eh? The dialogue is also laughable - the dubbing doesn't help, and many of the lines that the actors are reading out are pure nonsense. And poor Linda Miller, who plays the heroine (and Kong's love interest, naturally) has the worst possible voice for a female lead, seemingly dubbed by Chuckie from "Rugrats"!

But it all adds up to silly fun and certainly never gets boring. Even in the slightly duller moments you can marvel at Dr Who's disgusting brown, gappy teeth (can't evil genius's afford dentists?) and the kitsch 60's fashions (Linda Miller's outfits are pretty cool - some submarine doctor's uniform that is!). I enjoyed this a lot and I think others will too.

There is nothing about this movie that can be taken seriously; but unlike the ugly mess that is "King Kong Lives" this movie is bright, colorful fun that adults will enjoy as a comedy while the kids will get a blast out of the crazy mayhem and exciting array of monsters

Just thinking about the plot and trying to convey it here makes me laugh; and watching this film never gets old, as it has such a 'no holds barred' silliness about it that keeps the story moving, and the viewer engaged. The new DVD release is great; I had no idea just how impressive the look of the film was, as prior to buying it, the last time I saw this movie I was a kid, myself.

The complaints that people lodge about the film are rather misguided in many ways and there is some serious confusion that needs sorting out. The female lead (Linda Miller) was dubbed by another actress, so the complaints about her performance are a bit moot, as nobody ever seems to care when the voices do not fit in the Kung Fu movies, so why take a King Kong picture so seriously?

A note of importance is that this movie is NOT a sequel to King Kong Vs Godzilla. In this movie, Kong is a myth discovered to be real, and being utilized by the villains to dig a mine system and/or tunnels. I know, I know... but that's what they're doing to him when he is discovered. So, I guess technically, he was discovered by others before being 'discovered'. See what I mean. Silly. :-)

IF you are looking for high tech, CGI special effects, well then, you're years too early. This is one of those Giant Monster movies that makes great use of big rubber costumes, swimming pool and desolate field battles, and beautifully scaled city-scapes. Enjoy this one for what it is... great, goofy fun.

A Toho/Rankin-Bass co-production, King Kong Escapes offers an imaginative, engaging story, with some surprisingly good special effects, and a first-rate musical score by Akira Ifukube. This is the first and only movie to feature MechaniKong, one of Toho's most popular creations. With a few nods to the original Kong as well as the Rankin-Bass cartoon that spawned it, King Kong Escapes makes for some of the best escapist fun anyone can have at the movies.

As colorful and imaginative as it is ridiculous, King Kong Escapes is one of several films Toho co-produced with U.S. studios in the late 1960s to expand its international audience. Although the King Kong suit itself is awfully cuddly (meant to appeal to kids who enjoyed the Rankin-Bass King Kong cartoon), the big ape turns in an entertaining performance--falling head over heels for almost-actress Linda Miller, fighting the giant rubber dinosaur Gorosaurus, and wreaking havoc at the North Pole. The crowning grace of the movie, though, is MechaniKong, the simian's 60-foot metal counterpart, engineered by that international Judas, Dr. Who (played by Eisei Amamoto). Toho's special effects department went to town with King Kong Escapes; it's a beautifully photographed, very colorful movie with some highly impressive miniature work.

The American version presented here is virtually the same as the original Japanese; only a few minor differences exist between the two. This Universal DVD, though bereft of extras, offers such a beautiful widescreen print that I consider it an irresistible item. This is half of a two-fer from Universal, the other half being King Kong vs. Godzilla.

This movie should be called KING KONG VS. MECHAKONG aka Godzilla vs mechagodzilla // The prequel.
7 years before toho celebrated the 20th anniv edition of gofzilla with the film GODZILLA VS MECHAGODZILLA, toho released the same kong version which is campy and cheesy but enjoyable and a must have for the toho monster fans.
Together with FRANKENSTEIN VS BARUGON, WAR OF GARGANTUAS, DOGORA, SPACE AMOEBA, ATRAGON (starring Manda), MOTHRA (1961), RODAN, VARAN, GAPPA, GORGO, GAMERA and YONGARY, KING KONG ESCAPES completes the best GODZILLA RELATED MOVIES COLLECTION.

To bad toho only produced two monster movies starring everyones favorite giant ape.The first being the classic GODZILLA vs.KING KONG in 1962,six years later came KING KONG ESCAPES.Toho teamed up with RANKIN/BASS (RUDOLPH,MAD MONSTER PARTY)for this most excellent non Godzilla monster flick.Complete with the tolken american z actor Rhodes Reason,Linda Miller, kongs object of affection and Akira Takarada,one of toho's leading men and a fan favorite.Kong faces off with Gorosaures co-star of Destroy all monsters,a giant rubber snake and a robot duplicate of himself Mechani-kong.Complete with a cartoon villian Dr.Hu,this is classic 60's cheese at it's best.Nothing to take serious just a whole lot of fun.

In my humble opinion, this is the second best kaiju monster movie (I would have to put King Kong vs Godzilla at #1... only because I feel the FX and Kong costume are just a tad better). Look, I am not going to write a detailed review for King Kong Escapes. If you are looking at this page, you know what to expect with this movie.

For me, this is a feel good movie. It brings me back to the bygone days of my childhood in Neptune NJ (at the Jersey Shore). We lived in the New York television market BC (before cable)... WOR TV channel 9 and WPIX TV channel 11 would show weekend monster movies. I spent many Saturday afternoons watching King Kong, Godzilla and Gamera... in between reading comic books, climbing trees and going to the beach. This movie takes me back to a fun place... and hopefully, it will do the same for you.

The evil Dr. Who(yeah, go ahead and laugh) is digging for something called "Element X" which is buried under an icy mountain. It's very powerful stuff and will make some truly butt kicking nukes. The intent is to sell it to the mysterious Madame X. This stuff is very radioactive however, so Dr. Who(he he) builds a robot King Kong to dig it out. Why you would bother to make a digging apparatus in the likeness of King Kong is beyond me. It seems more like a waste of time than anything. But Robot Kong isn't as effective as Who thought, and Who manages to kidnap the real King Kong instead. Three Naval officers, one white, one Japanese, and one an attractive blond chick(of course), attempt to stop Dr. Who's evil plan and free King Kong. It all ends with a King Kong/Robot Kong smackdown in the middle of Tokyo!
It's definitely as fun as it sounds if you like this kind of stuff. Pretty much a Godzilla style film with Kong in the Godzilla part. Being that it's Kong, the production is a Japanese/American production.
I certainly enjoyed it, so did my kid.