In King Kong Vs. Godzilla, the Pacific Pharmaceutical Company has found a new red berry
with healing properties on an island in the South Pacific--yet the natives are
reluctant to give out anymore than a handful to strangers, because they need it
to appease their god, a gigantic creature that roams the island and that is
rumored to be bigger than even the mountains themselves. Joining forces with a
Japanese TV network, the two companies put together an expedition to send to the
island. Meanwhile, an American nuclear submarine encounters a strange
phenomenon within an iceberg in the Bering Sea. When the sub crashes into the
ice (nice driving there, skipper!) its nuclear reactor helps to awaken Godzilla,
who was asleep inside the ice. The Big G wastes no time in heading for Japan and
stomping on its cities (which sort of sucks...because, after all, it was an
American sub that gave him an early wake up call--but I guess the U.S. is too far
away for Godzilla to swim). While the big green lizard goes on a rampage once
again, the expedition reaches the red berry island, where they bribe the natives
with a cheap radio and plenty of cigarettes (these guys even give cigarettes to
a little native boy! What rat bastards!). And the natives, all now puffing away
happily and listening to bad Japanese pop songs, allow them to stay and meet
King Kong. Of course, Kong is eventually brought back to Japan for the royal
rumble in the rubble with Godzilla.
This movie is as cheesy as hell, and damn, is it fun! The scenes on Kong's
island almost play like a remake of the original 1933 film, showing slightly
more imagination than the god awful 1976 remake, with Kong battling a giant
octopus as a warm up for his grudge match against Godzilla. And yes Kong, like
Godzilla, is a guy in a suit (a really bad monkey suit, too, with extra long
arms that flail around like he's giving weird hand signals), but hey, it works
in this flick, which at least doesn't take itself too seriously. The man in
suits concept goes very well with the little Matchbox toy army tanks and trucks
that are scuttling around their feet, and the tinderbox homes and buildings
they are always crashing into. And keep in mind that this is the Americanized
version of King Kong Vs. Godzilla, which has these hysterically funny added
scenes with "UN Reporter Carter" giving us a running commentary on the film's
events, oftentimes telling us what's going on, right after we had just seen it. I
swear the MST3K boys could have a field day with this one (if they haven't
already). Although there are some minor scratches on the print here and there,
the film still looks great in its original widescreen format.
In King Kong Escapes, an evil genius named Doctor Who (no, not the time lord)
builds a huge mechanical King Kong for the express purpose of digging out
Element X from the cold artic wastelands. Element X is a super-duper mineral
that will enable any country to become a nuclear power within days. But
something goes wrong with the robotic monkey, and it keels over while digging,
its circuits fried by the magnetic rays given off by Element X. While Doctor
Who reluctantly goes back to the drawing board, the super cool United Nations
submarine Explorer, which is captained by Commander Nelson (no, not the guy
from Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea) suffers damage from an underwater
avalanche. So they surface and pull into Mondo Island for repairs. No sooner do
they make landfall than King Kong rescues Watson (that's Lt. Susan Watson, not
Sherlock Holmes' sidekick) from a dinosaur. This battle is a rubber-suited
remake of the classic clash between Kong and the T-Rex in the 1933 movie, and
you know what? Compared with this, Willis O'Brien is still the king. When the
Explorer returns to the UN with news of Kong on Mondo Island (who called it
Mondo Island, anyway? The natives?), Doctor Who decides to kidnap Kong and use
him to dig for the Element X. Of course, mayhem and a show down between the
Kongs--both living and metal--is not far off.
Although King Kong's suit is slightly better in this film, the really cool
Robo-Kong's suit looks even better. King Kong escapes is more of a cross
between a Godzilla film (big monsters stomping around) and a James Bond movie
(a snazzy villain with cool vehicles and toys who would give Dr. No a run for
his money) by way of Irwin Allen (the Explorer is the Seaview's goofy-looking
cousin), and yet when I first saw this as a kid, I loved it. And that's really
who these movies are made for, anyway: the little ones (as well as the kid
inside of all of us). If you're the parent of a small child (or know one) then
you owe it to yourself to warp their little minds by giving them these DVDs.
King Kong Escapes may be more kid-friendly of the two, since KKVsG has that
sinister cigarette scene restored, which was something I had never seen when
they aired this on TV as a kid. There are no special features, and no closed
captions, but there are the English For The Hard Of Hearing subtitles that
Universal does so well.
--SF
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