I've been waiting to read your review until after I'd seen the
movie, after catching the flick and reading your review, I pretty
much agree.

I'd give the movie a solid "B" maybe even a "B+", but this ain't a
homerun.

Biggest problem is length, the movie is just too long. Scenes are
too long and a defter quicker editing hand would have kept the story
moving briskly.

I too question the casting, especially the male leads. Watts is
perfectly okay and even at times excellent but it's uneven. Black
looks great but his voice seems too squeaky at times. Brody does
okay with his offbeat role and better than I expected, but his final
scenes leave me cold. Much better were the side characters,
especially the camera crew and the ship's crew.

As for the settings, superb. This is where the movie really shines,
in evoking several weird and unusual places, specifially NYC and
Skull Island. Both are truly specific and wildly interesting places.

I knew the movie was in trouble during the dinosaur stampede scenes.
There's just too much going on here for visual clarity and the scene
is both too long and too uninvolving. The crewmen become
insignificant as they are killed, and how some of them survived is
beyond me.

Kong is much better than I expected, fully realized and very
convincing. The final scenes are way too long and actually hurt the
emotional intensity. It was almost as if Jackson couldn't say
goodbye, but really needed to. This movie could've lost a half hour
and have been much better.

I still want it on DVD though!

Dean :)