I'd forgotten how much fun this movie was! It's got a sense of adventure that you don't really find nowadays, slowly building up the voyage to get you excited, then throwing everyone in a new and strange world, and climaxing with the classic King Kong New York rampage. In terms of emotional depth, it's not the most three-dimensional thing in the world, but it does get you thinking quite a lot about what should or could have happened, as well as analyzing Kong himself. The story structure itself is perfect, however, and the dialogue works despite a few cheesy lines. The acting is fantastic, with Jack Black's best performance of his career and a mesmerizing Naomi Watts.
However, the strength of this film, much like Avatar, is transporting you to a new world. Creatures are strange and scary (though in a 1930s way instead of in a 2154 way), the visuals are still fantastic five years on, and Kong shows layers of emotional depth you probably won't find in any other movie animal. You really do get to care about him, likely enough to get some people to cry at the end, which in my mind is a success on all fronts.
If there is one thing that bugged me, though, it would be the dramatic pauses when characters look at each other. Maybe it was because of the Extended Edition re-edit, but those things just lasted too long... I mean, Ann would sit there with a Dinosaur behind her, pause... wait... wait... sloooowly turn around.... wait.... and THEN the dinosaur would rawr. Or there would be a 10 second shot of her staring at Jack, and then one of Jack staring at her. Shaving a second or two off might've helped a bit. Still, it's relatively minor.
Then there's the length, which is admittedly pretty ridiculous at 3h21 for the Extended Edition and 3h08 for the Original Release. Frankly, though, I think it's easily justifiable as I never got bored. Cutting anything out would have lowered the overall quality of the film.
This is probably my third favourite remake/reboot (after Star Trek and Casino Royale), which considering the amount of remakes coming out these days is a pretty big compliment. It's certainly not something everyone will like, but those that can get into the awesome 1930s adventurer vibe will have a blast.
In a sentence:
A long but fascinating, brilliantly produced and excellently acted adventure through 1930s nostalgia. They don't make movies like this anymore.
