'Mighty Joe Young' a tame King Kong for the kids

JAKARTA (JP): How would you describe a film about a 20-foot gorilla running amok in an American metropolis? King Kong.

An "ape", excuse the pun, of the classic King Kong movies is what audiences will probably be saying after they see Mighty Joe Young.

This film is by no stretch of the imagination an original.

And technology seems to be the only reason Disney felt they had to remake Ernest B. Schoedsack's 1949 stop-motion movie.

Apart from the character twist at the end, everything about this film is predictably boring.

The story centers around a gorilla who by some unexplained genetic fluke grows to be 20-foot tall.

Just like real life, the manner of this wonderful beast suggests it is a dangerously ferocious animal. However, it instantly becomes a tame cuddly toy in the hands of Jill Young, who has known the animal all her life.

Jill, played by Charlize Theron who recently costarred with Al Pacino and Keanu Reeves in The Devil's Advocate, does all she can to protect Joe from poachers.

Then along comes zoologist Gregg O'Hara, played by Bill Paxton of Titanic fame, who ventures into the Pangani Mountains of deepest Africa to find out for himself if the rumors about a giant gorilla are true.

When O'Hara finally meets with Young, he convinces her that the safest place in the world for Joe is not in the jungles of Africa, but the urban sprawl of Los Angeles.

We all know what is coming next. It's been on the widescreen often enough in the past few years, with The Lost World and Godzilla to name a few.

Once in the city of angels, Joe is placed in a special cage in an animal preserve.

Surprise, surprise -- and really the whole film has been leading up to this -- Joe escapes and runs amok in downtown L.A. as security forces slowly circle in to seal the gorilla's fate.

But in typical Hollywood tug-at-the-heart-strings fashion, director Ron Underwood dishes out a dose of tear-jerking emotion for the ending.

Animatronics

Kudos should go to special effects producer Rick Baker for creating such a lifelike and fun gorilla.

The childlike expressions on Joe's face almost make us forget the words "computer animation", "animatronics" and "prosthetics".

Baker was the wizard behind the gorillas in Gorillas in the Mist.

But the weak plot and the obvious "borrowing" from King Kong quickly brings us back to reality and reminds us that it is all computer-generated.

Which is not to say that movies laden with special effects do not work on an emotional level, because some do. Just look at Jurassic Park.

The difference comes down to the basic element of any movie: originality and creativity of the story.

Substance and noteworthy acting aside, kids and those with a sympathetic heart should latch on to this movie.

Cute furry things are always an attraction and good for the usual round of "oohs" and "ahhs". The mayhem as Joe runs down the L.A. freeway should also be enough to just satisfy the young preteen boy who loved Godzilla so much.

For movie buffs, this remake comes nowhere near to surpassing the 1949 original, which was not that great to begin with.

That movie was not presumptuous nor appeared to have any pretense of trying to outdo King Kong. And while it is no major motion picture milestone, it should at least be recognized for its effort.

The 1990s version relies too much on trying to make Joe as lifelike as possible as its anchor. It misfires by trying to draw emotion not from a strong script or character acting, but the nuances of a computer-generated image. (mds)