King Kong Escapes
AKA
King Kong's Counterattack
(1967)
(Page 2)
Don't worry, I don't still hold that opinion. Though a robot monkey...that's still pretty cool.
But I think that's the type of reaction Toho and director Ishiro Honda wanted from King Kong Escapes' target audience, which were little kids. The entire idea for the film wasn't to be a follow up to the vastly superior 1933 original King Kong, or even the silly box office cash cow King Kong vs. Godzilla. King Kong Escapes was meant to be a live action adaptation of a then popular American/Japanese co-production animated King Kong series airing on Saturday mornings at the time. Unfortunatly the show is rather obscure today (except for those who remember it, and those, like me, who have too much free time and look crap like this up), so as a film itself, King Kong Escapes is doomed to be recorded in film history as a very odd product that Toho Studios stuck Kong in.
But given what it's supposed to be, King Kong for kids, it is kinda fun. Better than other kiddie monster flicks that have been offered up at the time, such as Honda's own Godzilla's Revenge and especially any random Showa Gamera film you can name.
I have to admire the imagination of Escapes, though. It's such a quirky.and colorful production. The sets and models are beautiful (even if a hovercar is outragously silly, it's pretty fun to watch). The scenes in the Antartic are especially breathtaking.
But, as far as special effects go, the monster suits are very lacking. Gorosaurus is the only one in the film that Toho seemed to put effort into. Kong's suit looks unfinished to me. On the whole, I think I liked the ideas for it better than the suit they used in King Kong vs. Godzilla, but overall the giant ape looks for the worse. The padding of the sholders is a little obvious. When the suit gets wet and wild in the water, it shrivels down and Kong's head looks rediculously massive (the effect is quite comical, and this movie should be reccommended for that alone). Mechani-Kong fares better, but he looks very thrown together without any major thought.
On the human side, we're offered yet another story that's really less than compelling. The heroes are useless and are only there to explain why Kong is where he is and why he's fighting a giant robot. Most of the leads are pretty bad too. Linda Miller, who plays Kong's "love interest," isn't that great of an emoter. And even though she's an American actress who is clearly speaking English, for some reason she's dubbed, which makes her performance even worse. The villians are even bigger offenders. Leaking in through the dub, Eisei Amamoto is obviously over the top as Dr. Who, appearantly trying to portray your typical Saturday morning villian (what with the loud side mouth talking and the evil smirk glued to his face). With the dub he's what I'd picture a male Rita Repulsa from Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers would be. Mie Hama is more subdued, and the way she jerks around after being shot is quite hillarious.
However, given what it is, it's a bit of a charming movie. I'll even say I enjoy watching it more than King Kong vs. Godzilla, and especially more than the Dino de Laurentiis films of the 70s and 80s. Hell, even though Peter Jackson's King Kong is definatly a better movie, deep down I know I'd probably watch this one instead if given the choice.
After all, it's got a giant MONKEY fighting a giant ROBOT MONKEY!
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