"King Kong" roars into theaters

American moviegoers have encountered big apes before. There was Mighty Joe Young, the orphaned gorilla from Africa with whom Charlize Theron formed a special friendship. And there were those totalitarian primates in "The Planet of the Apes" who tried to kill Mark Walhberg. But these audiences have seen nothing like King Kong.

Fresh off his "Lord of the Rings" success, director Peter Jackson has created a creature — and movie — in "King Kong" that beautifully depicts the human spirit. Though packed with drama, adventure and thrills across the board, "King Kong" is at its heart a touching love story between a beast and the beauty that stayed his hand, changing their lives forever.

The movie is set during the 1930s Depression era, where struggling, overzealous filmmaker Carl Denham (Jack Black) books a ship to an uncharted island, hoping to shoot his next big hit. He chooses an unemployed vaudeville actress, Ann Darrow (Naomi Watts), for his leading lady and up-and-coming talent Jack Driscoll (Adrien Brody) for his screenwriter. Once on the island, Denham and his movie crew meet the natives, who capture Ann and offer her up as a sacrifice to the mighty gorilla Kong (motion-captured by Andy Serkis); from there the story splits between the developing relationship between Ann and Kong and the group of men who try to rescue her — all leading up to the final climax when Kong is brought back to New York City.

Clocking in at three hours and seven minutes, the movie drags along at times, especially on the ship, where audiences are hauled along on the voyage, impatiently waiting, knowing that the arrival of Kong is near. And sure, some of the monster scenes on the island could have been cut out — audiences would have been happy with an occasional dinosaur attack or two, but there are instead raptors, T-Rexes, giant spiders, centipedes, bats and teeth-baring worms.

Most of the action scenes involve some mind-bending CGI, a field Jackson and his friends at WETA are experts in. Kong, most importantly, looks incredibly real, thanks to the detailed portrayal by Serkis, and exhibits common gorilla behavior — pounding his chest, chewing on leaves and climbing landscapes — as well as human emotion, mainly through his eyes. The epic showdown between Kong and the T-Rex is draw-dropping and will leave audiences on the edge of their seat. But it is not to say that the special effects were perfect — in a brontosaurus stampede scene, the green screen is especially obvious and the actors seem to be occupying a different space from the dinosaurs.

The human actors in the film should also be lauded. A glowing Naomi Watts captures the initial horror, then awe and love that Ann feels toward the beast. Though she doesn't have many lines in the second half of the movie — she mainly just screams — her eyes convey all the beautiful emotion of the story. Watts communicates with Kong — and the audience — through them. Jack Black as Carl is both funny and conniving, doing whatever he can to secure his film and fortune. In a darkly revealing scene, as others mourn their lost comrades, Carl mourns his lost film footage. Adrien Brody, however, is less convincing as the film's dashing hero. Though he does the physical stunts and delivers the lines like he's supposed to, audiences find themselves rooting for the more blatantly heroic ship captain, Englehorn (Thomas Kretschmann).

At the heart of the story is the relationship between Kong and Ann, which Jackson portrays perfectly through body language and eye contact. From a comedic scene where Ann performs her vaudeville acts for Kong, to the pair watching the sunset together, to them sliding and laughing together on an ice pond, the audience gets a feeling of real platonic love between the two characters. They make viewers cheer for them, and also weep for them when they are inevitably ripped apart by modern society, which permits nothing out of the ordinary and refuses all nontraditional relationships.

The non-stop action sequences and skillful acting, along with the beautifully orchestrated central relationship between a beast and his beauty, makes for visually spectacular and emotionally moving entertainment. With great love and respect for the 1933 original "King Kong," Peter Jackson's latest adaptation will delight audiences for decades to come.

"King Kong" (187 minutes) is rated PG-13 for frightening adventure violence and some disturbing images.