# Battle of the Not-so Giant Apes **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** movies\ **Created:** [September 1, 2023, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battle-of-the-not-so-giant-apes/989434 "2023-09-01T00:18:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2023, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battle-of-the-not-so-giant-apes/989434/1 "2023-09-01T00:18:21Z")
Who was bigger, Son of Kong (1933) or the original Mighty Joe Young (1949)? ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2023, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battle-of-the-not-so-giant-apes/989434/2 "2023-09-01T00:25:57Z")
Son of Kong [![](https://prod-images.tcm.com/Master-Profile-Images/thesonofkong1933.90810.jpg) ](https://prod-images.tcm.com/Master-Profile-Images/thesonofkong1933.90810.jpg) Mighty Joe Young [![](https://filmthreat.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/REVIEW-Mighty-Joe-Young-4.jpeg) ](https://filmthreat.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/REVIEW-Mighty-Joe-Young-4.jpeg) The perspective is not very good, but I am guessing Son of Kong was a bit larger. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2023, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battle-of-the-not-so-giant-apes/989434/3 "2023-09-01T00:30:15Z")
🙊 My monkey ain’t got a chance. I going with Joe. He looks more adult. ---
**Author:** ![Stratocaster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stratocaster/32/16393_2.png) [@Stratocaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stratocaster)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2023, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battle-of-the-not-so-giant-apes/989434/4 "2023-09-01T00:39:51Z")
I loved _Mighty Joe Young_ when I was a kid. I bet I watched that movie 4 or 5 times. I wonder if it holds up for an adult. Anyway, I vote Joe. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2023, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battle-of-the-not-so-giant-apes/989434/5 "2023-09-01T01:00:27Z")
Maintaining proportions wasn’t a refined art back then. Mighty Joe Young’s size varies greatly, Son of Kong also. My recollection is Joe in his largest depiction was much larger than Kong Jr… Watching Mighty Joe Young used to be my Thanksgiving tradition but haven’t seen it for a while. ---
**Author:** ![Quondam\_Mechanic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quondam_mechanic/32/3404_2.png) [@Quondam\_Mechanic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quondam_Mechanic)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2023, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battle-of-the-not-so-giant-apes/989434/6 "2023-09-01T02:46:53Z")
Are they really Great Apes? Or merely pretty-good-but-damn-big Apes? ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2023, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battle-of-the-not-so-giant-apes/989434/7 "2023-09-01T02:47:57Z")
They ok. I guess ---
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2023, 10:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battle-of-the-not-so-giant-apes/989434/8 "2023-09-01T10:43:36Z")
But if one gets out, you’ll have a Great Ape Escape. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2023, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battle-of-the-not-so-giant-apes/989434/9 "2023-09-01T13:12:03Z")
As noted above, they weren’t careful to keep things consistent in height in Willis O’Brien’s Giant Ape movies. King Kong changed size throughout the film. But Wikipedia articles say that both Son of Kong and the 1q949 Mighty Joe Young were about 12 feet high. This appears consistent with a lot of the images. Just to be difficult, Mighty Joe Young in the 1998 Disney remake was supposed to be 15 feet high. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2023, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battle-of-the-not-so-giant-apes/989434/10 "2023-09-01T15:17:29Z")
Grape Ape. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D\_d583FHxPQ&ab\_channel=CockGoblin](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_d583FHxPQ&ab_channel=CockGoblin) ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2023, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battle-of-the-not-so-giant-apes/989434/11 "2023-09-01T19:17:26Z")
> [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](#): > > Grape Ape. > [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D\_d583FHxPQ&ab\_channel=CockGoblin](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_d583FHxPQ&ab_channel=CockGoblin)] As long as we’re mentioning Hanna-Barbera, I’m curious about the intro to The New Scooby-Doo Movies, which included a clip of the Mystery Mobile being chased by a giant ape ([https://youtu.be/FeRm2esVSdY?t=39](https://youtu.be/FeRm2esVSdY?t=39)), which afaik didn’t actually reference any Scooby-Doo episode. It wasn’t the Grape Ape either. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2023, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battle-of-the-not-so-giant-apes/989434/12 "2023-09-04T19:15:28Z")
Hey, **Scary Movie 4** had a giant ape on its poster, and there was no ape in the movie. It’s just that Jackson’s _King Kong_ came out the previous year, and they wanted people to think they were parodying that film, too. They weren’t > **[Scary Movie 4 - Movie - Where To Watch](https://www.tvinsider.com/show/scary-movie-4/)** > > Dim-witted Cindy and her sex-crazed friend Brenda team up with cute-but-clueless Tom to save the world from a hostile alien invasion. [![](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scary_Movie_4#/media/File:Scary_movie_four_ver4.jpg) ](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scary_Movie_4#/media/File:Scary_movie_four_ver4.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2023, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battle-of-the-not-so-giant-apes/989434/13 "2023-09-04T23:58:28Z")
Urgh! Mystery _Machine_ (smack).