This is just a terrible movie. It's slow, at the time Jessica couldn't act worth a damn, had so many fake posters showing things that never happened. I saw this on a double feature with the equally dull Bug (read the book the Hephaestus Plague instead) and nearly fell asleep during both. The so called 'Robot' barely got used, instead falling back on Rick Baker in a beautiful ape suit. Just an abomination.

The first half is fantastic. A terrific and creative set-up with the famous story altered so that oil speculator Charles Grodin is seeking the island surrounded by fog as a possible origin for that gushy stuff that keeps cars running...Jeff Bridges, as a "hippie" stowaway who bribes his way aboard the ship/freighter, knows the island has a big secret, and yet even he's not sure exactly what... Had another actor been cast in this preachy photographer role, liking and even thinking he understands simians over humans (especially the 11th hour American Military in Copters that he infamously cheers upon their destruction), would be annoying and/or pretentious, even cliché: Given his cred, it's no surprise that Bridges can be just cool enough to add a tinge of pulpy action hero to the hairy modern do-gooder...And after what are the best scenes occurring on-the-way to Skull Island, he's part of, along with the mostly doomed search party on land that includes character-actors Ed Lauter and Julius Harris, the same kind of old school adventure vibe, keeping the action at a neat, economical pace: something director John Guillerman can do nicely. ranging from SHAFT IN AFRICA back to THE DAY THEY ROBBED THE BANK OF ENGLAND...In search of the initially lost-at-sea and now reluctant monkey's bride is a would-be actress with the strange name of Dwan, played by the extremely gorgeous Jessica Lange, an airhead character who probably wouldn't have made a good actress, so Jessica's own performance may seem stilted and campy, but like Bridges, her unique presence makes-up for any otherwise damaging flaws. "My horoscope said I was in crossover water," she says about the powerful man who can possibly change her life with a big role, and, unaware of the underlined irony that waits ashore, continues with: "And that I was going to meet the biggest person in my life."Skull Island more a tropical Hawaii than the original's African vibe Meanwhile, Grodin, with his usual glib persona, is a snarky, funny and likeable villain (whose forced selfish dialogue fleshes-out any and all villainy), and at one point says "Let's not get eaten alive on this island... Bring the mosquito spray!" And he's ultimately not as lucky as Robert Armstrong's original instigator, Carl Denham: after all, Hollywood prefers directors to oilmen...But this entertainingly epic yet nicely contained popcorn flick hits a gigantic Kong Wall, ironically when the Ape arrives and the story centers on he and Lange's idyllic honeymoon that's not only corny, but makes this formidable creature lack the complete and edgy, monstrous quality needed for his Big Apple destruction later on (but at least he doesn't ice skate like in Peter Jackson's multi-million-dollar vanity project). Kong is also inevitably bogged down by dated special effects... despite beautiful matte painting backdrops and Rick Baker's costume (Bridges says at one point: "Who do you think went through there: some guy in an ape suit?"), which seems genuine and palpable up-close as opposed to wider shots, the opposite of the 1933 classic - still the champ after all the sequels, remakes, expanded tales and in this particular case, with the working tag-title extension THE LEGEND REBORN, is one of the first reboots despite that term not being used (much) in 1976, one year before effects-driven pulpy adventure movies would be changed, forever.

Obviously the original will be one of the best films of all time but this reboot is an interesting point of view of the classic story. But, why does so many people hate this film? maybe because in most of the descriptions of this film say its a "remake" instead of a re imagine.

King Kong '76 serves as a colossal benchmark in the evolution of cinematic special effects and a damn amazing one at that and I absolutely relished seeing this in theaters several times. Credit must be paid to the jaw dropping craftsmanship that went into creating Kong's huge automatronic arms and fingers which oh so dramatically pluck Jessica Lange from that Skull Mountain sacrificial alter. Rick Baker's masterful prosthetic Gorilla make-up is incredibly emotive, and took make up effects to new heights of brilliance. Of course the 'Environmental Rape By Petrox' and the obvious parallels with kidnapping Kong off his native habitat are still as powerful today, as during the psychedelic 70's. Acknowledgment must also be given to John Barry's haunting, brilliant orchestral score which is second to none. Finally, where would we be without the brilliant cast of characters, including Jeff Bridges, Charles Grodin and a completely unknown Jessica Lange who manages a kick-ass performance and winds up one of America's most respected actors, Lest we not forget the tiny little detail that King Kong '76 also happened to be an enormous (if not critically lambasted) hit at the box office. Time has shown however, that the critical reaction was more in part to Dino DeLaurentiis's sheer audacious tenacity than the quality of the film itself. (That and the fact that he called Meryl Streep a pig in Italian, at her audition for the film. Not smart Dino.) In short, King Kong '76 has influenced myself and millions of other aspiring artists, actors, filmmakers and technicians more than I can say. Words seem inadequate. Between it and the never-to-be-topped 1933 original, these two are hands down the best of the bunch.