King Kong (2005)Movie Reviews

Must Go!
Avg. Critic Score: 81 out of 100 Universal acclaim Metascore® based on all critic reviews
Information for Parents:
13 Iffy for 13+
Read Common Sense Media review

Critic scores range from 0 to 100, with higher scores indicating more favorable reviews.

  • 100
    Rolling Stone | Peter Travers

    Here is the jaw-dropping, eye-popping, heart-stopping movie epic we've been waiting for all year. Read full review

  • 100
    New York Daily News | Jack Mathews

    What a movie! This is how the medium seduced us originally. Read full review

  • 100
    Entertainment Weekly | Lisa Schwarzbaum

    One of the wonders of the holiday season. Read full review

  • 100
    Chicago Sun-Times | Roger Ebert

    A magnificent entertainment. It is like the flowering of all the possibilities in the original classic film. Read full review

  • 90
    The Hollywood Reporter | Kirk Honeycutt

    The gorilla is great, the girl terrific, sets are out of this world, creatures icky as hell, and the director clearly does not believe in the word "enough." Read full review

  • 88
    Philadelphia Inquirer | Carrie Rickey

    The $200 million result is an irresistibly entertaining, if grandiose, saga of doomed love and directorial hubris. Read full review

  • 88
    USA Today | Claudia Puig

    Jackson is a visionary filmmaker who is not only a technical wizard but also a master storyteller. With Jackson at the helm, you would expect dazzling special effects and epic action sequences, but what is most surprising is how heartfelt the romance feels. Read full review

  • 75
    Boston Globe | Ty Burr

    It's not so much a remake as it is a loving re-creation of the 1933 original on extra-strength steroids, with a side order of Botox. You've seen it all before but most assuredly never like this. Read full review

  • 70
    Wall Street Journal | Joe Morgenstern

    Like Kong himself, it's imposing, sometimes endearing, and very rough around the edges. Read full review

  • 25
    San Francisco Chronicle | Mick LaSalle

    On its own terms, the film is overlong, repetitive and lacks impact. Even if this were the first gorilla-in-love movie ever made, audiences would come away vaguely dissatisfied, suspecting there was an intriguing idea buried somewhere in here, but it didn't quite come off. Read full review

View more reviews for King Kong (2005) on Metacritic

Information for Parents
Common Sense Media says Iffy for 13+ Boisterous, spectacular remake of 1933 classic.
What Parents Need to Know Parents need to know that the movie includes numerous violent scenes that may be frightening for younger viewers and some action pushing the PG-13 edge. Specifically, humans are attacked on the island by giant bugs, bats, and dinosaurs in sustained, pounding action scenes. Kong shifts from scary (chest-pounding and roaring) to sympathetic; he's attacked brutally by men in tanks and planes, shooting guns. Characters drink and smoke cigarettes; Ann wears a slip through most of her adventures on the island. Most troubling is the depiction of the black island natives, who appear as nightmarish, surreal images, chanting and shaking when they sacrifice Ann to Kong. The showbiz version of this scene (recreated in New York) uses blackface performers.
  • Families can talk about the relationship between Ann and Kong. How does their mutual affection extend beyond person and pet, to something more complicated? How does Denham's exploitation of Kong parallel his exploitation of people? How do the military attacks make Kong increasingly sympathetic (even an underdog, out of place in the city), as he tries to protect Ann and then she tries to protect him? How do the blackface performers serve as commentary on mainstream fear of the "unknown"?
The good stuff
  • message true0 Positive messages: Filmmaker is crass and greedy; military is brutal; King Kong means well.
What to watch for
  • violence false5 Violence: King Kong fights dinosaurs; dinosaurs stomp and eat people; King Kong bites a person's head off, tosses bodies (including young women) fecklessly; giant bugs attack humans; in NYC, military shoots Kong off ESB.
  • sex false0 Sexy stuff: Couple kisses; Ann runs around in her slip on Skull Island. Reference to "boobies."
  • language false3 Language: Mild cursing.
  • consumerism false0 Consumerism: Neon signs in Times Square advertise '30s products (Chevrolet, Coca Cola, Pepsodent).
  • drugsalcoholtobacco false3 Drinking, drugs and smoking: Denham drinks from flask, crewmen smoke cigarettes.
An independent nonprofit dedicated to providing families the information they need to help kids thrive in a world of media and technology. © Common Sense Media Inc. 2010. All rights reserved.

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