Son of Kong

Son of Kong!

I'm a shameless Kong fan. I watched the almighty crap out of the original as a kid. It kindled my love for black and white movies and stop motion, just as it did for countless viewers when it first came out in 1933. I thought I was one of the more informed fans. But as it turns out, a sequel exists called Son of Kong, released the same year!

After doing a bit of research I found that it is a very poorly received movie. But having just watched it, I can't say that it's a bad movie honestly. I think much of the backlash comes from the simple fact that it's a sequel to King Kong, one of the most epic movies ever made. That's a very high bar to meet. So by comparison even a half-decent movie will feel poor when put side by side with King Kong.

So what is Son of Kong about? Well, it's a direct sequel, almost months after the events of the first movie. Ann Darrow and Jack Driscoll got their happily ever after, but not Carl Denham, the movie maker who led the ship to Skull Island in the first place and brought Kong to New York. He is being sued by everyone in New York and their dog for damages. He is harassed day and night by reporters, complainers and summons to court. But Captain Engelhorn, who is in the same boat as Carl, invites him to elope with a skeleton crew and do business in the Pacific Ocean, and hopefully evade prison.

To skip ahead a bit, they end up on an island with the man who first gave Carl the map to Skull Island, Captain Helstrom, who we immediately recognize as a scoundrel, and a young lady, Hilda. Both have fallen on hard times and join aboard the ship. Helstrom, who has nothing to his name and desperate to evade authorities after accidentally murdering Hilda's dad, tells Carl that there is treasure on Skull Island and attempts to usurp the crew and ship for himself.

Now, a word is in store for the love interest, Hilda. She's not Ann Darrow. Somehow she has a lot more daring and strength to her. I really like her. In fact when we first see her, she is performing for a tiny audience and is a poor singer. But Carl doesn't care. He puts it best when she shows up. "Who cares? She's got personality!" And she does. As much as I love the original King Kong, Ann Darrow never felt that good to me. This gal is fun. She knows Helstrom conked out her dad, but she doesn't bat an eye when he threatens her. She doesn't cowtow to anyone, yet isn't annoying in her headstrong behavior.

She and Carl actually get along quite naturally. Carl is given a lot more depth in this movie. Aside from feeling bad about being in crippling debt, he genuinely feels bad for what happened to Kong. He knows he screwed up, got people hurt, and got one of the most amazing creatures in the world killed. But he's trying to do better. He sees potential in Hilda and tries to give her inspiration to keep going even when things are bad. It's not even that he's in love with her at first. He genuinely respects her as a person with potential to do better things, and even when she stows away on the ship he can't help but admire her guts.

The ship heads back to Skull Island in the hopes of finding the treasure and making a profit. But it's all a ploy by Helstrom, who gets the crew to turn against Engelhorn and Denham. Once they arrive at the island the crew forces them along with Hilda and Charlie, the Chinese cook from the original, off into a life boat to fend for themselves on the island. I think even Charlie is given a bit of a spotlight in this one, and I like it. He actually chooses to join the others on the island rather than join the scoundrels in mutiny, and even had the foresight to stow some guns and ammunition aboard. And thank heavens, he doesn't die.

But when Helstrom tries putting himself in charge, the new communist crew isn't having any of it and throw him off, and now has to put in with those who he first betrayed. Worse yet, when they first land the chief and villagers from the original, and they aren't the least bit happy to see these familiar faces, and make absolutely no bones about how displeased they are. They have no choice but to land beyond the wall near Skull Mountain where only one area is available to actually tie off. And here's the second reason I think this movie was so poorly received, even now. The movie is ninety minutes, and it's only here at the forty minute mark that we are at the island and see Son of Kong. And his son is NOT a gorilla tyrant.

First time we see him, he's tiny by comparison and stuck in quicksand.

The Terror of Skull Island stuck in quicksand

Yeah, he isn't exactly the same as his dad. Little Kong is a silly, almost comedic, genial ape the size of Mighty Joe Young. This is probably what most people don't like about this movie. Little Kong isn't the mighty force of nature that challenged the world that King Kong was. And yet, I can't say that I hate him. In fact, I actually sort of like the contrast. Little Kong is endearing. He can still fight, yet he often drops his guard and assumes that he's won a fight once his opponent stops moving, often leading to him getting hurt. In this way I think he is much more lifelike, very different from his dad, and yet distinctly his own. Some of his expressions made me laugh out loud just because of how goofy they were. At one point he looks right at the camera and shrugs his shoulders.

There is a moment that is genuinely heartfelt however. After a big fight Little Kong has a big gash on his middle finger. Hilda wants to thank him for saving them and provides part of her dress as a bandage, and Carl, genuinely regretting getting King Kong killed, talks to the ape and bandages his finger. The finger that is injured however is unintentionally hilarious. Even so it illustrates how Carl has changed and is actually pretty nice.

Little Kong uses sign language

But I did notice a distinct drop in stop motion quality. A few times the movement is way to fast and choppy, but it's not bad either. I will commend the use of new critters though, such as a giant cave bear, styracosaurus and others.

Carl and Hilda find young Kong trapped, and feeling the need to make up for what he did to King Kong, Carl pushes a tree over to help him escape, which works. Little Kong becomes greatly attached to the little group from this point on, helping them fight beasts that menace them or find food. It really is quite endearing. But his attempts at trying to communicate is rather awkward, and something about his head is a little off. It's difficult to explain unless you see it.

Something I really like is that they set up camp by some ruins, and Carl is ecstatic at the idea that this is where the treasure is. Lo and behold, there is treasure there! The look of the temple is actually very neat and gives us some hope that Carl and company can come out okay after this adventure.

Although I can't help but mention a point where Little Kong grabs Carl's shotgun and plays with it. He looks down the barrels, sticks it in his mouth, and does everything possible to make me, someone paranoid about gun safety, and I genuinely cried out. Oi.

Then it gets weird. Helstrom decides to rush to the boat to escape to nowhere, and suddenly out of nowhere an earthquake strikes. But evidently this is the most epic tectonic activity since Pangea split up because this event is the apocalypse for Skull Island, which not only shakes apart but falls under the ocean. As far as we know, all of the animals and natives drown horribly, including Little Kong, who heroically holds Carl above the water long enough for his friends to row over and rescue him. This is the one part that I really didn't like. It comes out of nowhere, Little Kong is dead, and the entire population of the island is exterminated. It left me feeling sad.

But it ends on a positive note. Helstrom is fittingly dead, and Carl rescued a handful of gold and diamonds, enough to set the rest of them up for life, split between himself, Engelhorn, Charlie and Hilda. But Hilda thinks that three shares will be plenty. One share for Engelhorn, one for Charlie, and one for her and Carl together. This helps salvage the ending in my opinion. It felt quite natural and earned.

Does Son of Kong match up to the original? No. But it is still a fun and well made movie. Few movies of that era could hope to match King Kong. In fact, Son of Kong is fitting in multiple ways. It's a smaller, less impressive version of its dad, more goofy, but still tries hard and makes itself likable. If you're a Kong fan, I would really recommend giving it at least one viewing. You'll find something to like.

You can actually buy it and the original at Walmart together for only five dollars. Or, alternatively, you can watch it at the following link: http://bit.ly/2EyiaWC