听 User Rating 
Forget Jack Black, Adrien Brody and Naomi Watts. The real star of King Kong is Andy Serkis - the "menacing and tragic" and very human face behind the titular monkey. Okay, so Peter Jackson's much-hyped follow-up to The Lord Of The Rings trilogy was shamefully indulgent and not the monster smash studio suits had hoped for, but it still performed a feat in recouping its massive $200m budget (plus a little extra).
Going Ape
It's a shame the King Kong Production Diaries aren't featured on this two-disc Special Edition, but it still contains more behind-the-scenes action than a giant ape can shake a stick at - or else Naomi Watts depending on what's to hand. It's all contained under the Post-Production Diaries menu, which chronicles the process of pick-up shoots as well as effects work, editing and score composing. It seems the schedule for pick-ups is longer than most directors would have to make an entire film as Brody and co. reconvene on lavish sets in New Zealand. Serkis is also required to slip back into his hi-tech body stocking for some electronically captured close-ups and reflects on the experience between takes. "In essence," he says, "there is no difference between motion capture acting and proper' or 'more normal' acting."
Of course there are CG components in nearly every shot of the film, making the post-production phase a "labour intensive" time as Jackson says in his introduction. Perhaps the most arduous aspect is 'rotoscoping' which the director explains as an electronic cookie-cutter that cleans all the edges on every little leaf and twig that was shot against a blue screen. Cameras venture into the dark suites where the often-unsung computer geeks spend endless days - Jackson noting, "I'm sure the rotoartists must suffer serious psychological problems."
There's a similarly detailed look at sound effects (eg, hiring a crane to drop a tree trunk in a forest surrounded by microphones), the building of miniatures for additional effects shots and finally meeting the press in New York and New Zealand. Naturally the stars sing Jackson's praises; "I hope to work with him again on King Kong 2: Electric Boogaloo," Black tells a red carpet reporter.
King Of The Hill
Presented elsewhere are two featurettes to place the story of King Kong in its historical context. The first paints a picture of New York during The Great Depression and specifically 1933 when the original King Kong was made. Newsreel footage shows Manhattan as an uneasy mix of skyscrapers and shantytowns where most of the population were unemployed and waiting in breadlines.
Skull Island: A Natural History is a much more fanciful trawl through the film's other chief location. It talks to Jackson and his team of creature designers who adopt a scholarly tone in discussing the evolution of various beasties indigenous to the mythical Skull Island. It's not just a mockumentary though as they did use the principles of Darwinism and geographical science to conceive "the most hellish place on Earth". For instance the 'Megaprimitus Kong' is descended from the Gigantopithecus, the fossilised remains of which were discovered in Southeast Asia. Eat your heart out David Attenborough...
Like the murky caves of Skull Island, this Special Edition DVD hides a fascinating and varied abundance of strange and exotic life, including those pallid rotoartists and the giganticus ego they call Jamie Bell whose utterances are marked by a peculiar mid-Atlantic accent... In short, it's essential for your DVD collection.
EXTRA FEATURES
