81
Metascore
39 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 100New York Daily NewsJack MathewsNew York Daily NewsJack MathewsWhat a movie! This is how the medium seduced us originally.
- 100Entertainment WeeklyLisa SchwarzbaumEntertainment WeeklyLisa SchwarzbaumOne of the wonders of the holiday season.
- 100Rolling StonePeter TraversRolling StonePeter TraversHere is the jaw-dropping, eye-popping, heart-stopping movie epic we've been waiting for all year.
- 90NewsweekNewsweekA surprisingly tender, even heartbreaking, film. Like the original, it's a tragic tale of beauty and the beast.
- 90The Hollywood ReporterKirk HoneycuttThe Hollywood ReporterKirk HoneycuttThe 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."
- 90VarietyTodd McCarthyVarietyTodd McCarthyAlmost too much of a good thing, Peter Jackson's remake of the film that made him want to make movies is a super-sized version of a yarn that was big to begin with, a stupendous adventure that maximizes, and sometimes oversells, its dazzling wares.
- 90Los Angeles TimesCarina ChocanoLos Angeles TimesCarina ChocanoKing Kong is an homage not just to the original but to the history of movies themselves.
- 75PremiereGlenn KennyPremiereGlenn KennyI say this as someone for whom the very idea of a Kong remake is sacrilege, Jackson's straitened conception yields up a pretty damn good popcorn movie.
- 60The New YorkerDavid DenbyThe New YorkerDavid DenbyThis Kong is high-powered entertainment, but Jackson pushes too hard and loses momentum over the more than three hours of the movie. The story was always a goofy fable--that was its charm--and a well-told fable knows when to stop.
- 50TimeRichard SchickelTimeRichard SchickelOur response to the ape's doom, once touched by authentic tragedy, is now marked by relief that this wretchedly excessive movie is finally over.