# King Kong trailer - tonite **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 27, 2005, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/king-kong-trailer-tonite/310105 "2005-06-27T22:58:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Push\_You\_Down](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/push_you_down/32/9095_2.png) [@Push\_You\_Down](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Push_You_Down)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2005, 7:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/king-kong-trailer-tonite/310105/21 "2005-06-28T07:15:40Z")
> [@Baggins111](#): > > I liked that it was set in the 30’s. I can’t believe that I am going to say this, as I have never liked the guy, but Jack Black looked like he might do a decent job in this. Really? The entire time I was thinking… “My god… he’s horribly miscast and is going to be the weakest part of the movie.” ---
**Author:** ![HPL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3da27b/32.png) [@HPL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HPL)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2005, 7:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/king-kong-trailer-tonite/310105/22 "2005-06-28T07:29:30Z")
I like Jack Black, and if it were any other role then Carl Denim, I’d be alarmed. But this could work. I don’t know if it will, but it has a good chance. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2005, 10:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/king-kong-trailer-tonite/310105/23 "2005-06-28T10:31:10Z")
Wow. I liked the trailer, and the CGI. I wonder if some people are trying too hard to find fault with modern effects these days. Twenty years ago, dodgy effects are forgiven and overlooked. Now even the best work is scrutinised and criticised at every turn. ---
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2005, 11:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/king-kong-trailer-tonite/310105/24 "2005-06-28T11:18:43Z")
> [@Reality Chuck](#): > > They have the typical CGI faults – especially the uneven motion that people seem to think is realistic these days. Well, you gotta admit, it’s less uneven than the stop-motion of Harryhausen. (Don’t get me wrong, I love Harryhausen’s stuff, but I also recognize that times have changed.) ---
**Author:** ![N9IWP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/n9iwp/32/3154_2.png) [@N9IWP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/N9IWP)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2005, 11:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/king-kong-trailer-tonite/310105/25 "2005-06-28T11:30:03Z")
Frame-by-frame analysis (not much anaalysis right now, may be more later) [http://www.kongisking.net/kong2005/trailers/kong\_trailer01\_01.html](http://www.kongisking.net/kong2005/trailers/kong_trailer01_01.html) Brian ---
**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:** [June 28, 2005, 12:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/king-kong-trailer-tonite/310105/26 "2005-06-28T12:07:04Z")
> [@](#): > > I want a giant spider at the bottom of the ravine. Such a critter was filmed for the original, but it was so graphic( for the time, anyway) that test audiences freaked out. It wasn’t that the spider itself was graphic – the diversion to the fate of the sailors at the bottom of the pit killed the action, so they cut the scenes and re-filmed dummies dropping into a miniature set. You can see pictures of the giant spider in old ssues of Famous Monsters of Filmland, in Goldner and Turner’s book \*\* The Making of King Kong\*\*, and, I don’t doubt, on several websites. According to Goldner and Turner (one of whom was on the original effects crew) Kong was relatively small on the Island, but they increased his size for the New York City scenes because even he seemed overwhelmed by the huge buildings. In fact, there were a few animation models, and they don’t all look the same, and I don’t think they were entirely consistent in size. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2005, 12:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/king-kong-trailer-tonite/310105/27 "2005-06-28T12:15:30Z")
> [@C K Dexter Haven](#): > > Well, you gotta admit, it’s less uneven than the stop-motion of Harryhausen. (Don’t get me wrong, I love Harryhausen’s stuff, but I also recognize that times have changed.) Not really. And it’s uneven in a much different way – it’s usually “smear” animation where the endpoints are good but the points in between jump unrealistically. And Willis O’Brien, who did Kong, rarely had a jumpy moment. Harryhausen was great, but O’Brien was king. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2005, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/king-kong-trailer-tonite/310105/28 "2005-06-28T12:45:09Z")
Okay, I’ve watched the trailer about six times now, and I still cannot see what people are saying about the dinosaur effects looking bad. I am something of an afficionado of effects. I can usually detect whenever a shot is an effect when most others can’t. I can see when the physics are wrong and when they’re right. I can almost pinpoint every Gollum shot in LOTR that used motion capture, and those that didn’t. But those dinosaur shots look perfect to me. I saw nothing wrong with them at all. The only shot that draws my attention is the pan across the folks at the rocky shore, because the sky moves wrong for a simple pivot pan. But it’s a very quick shot, so there may be some kind of dolly tracking involved that I’m not detecting. Otherwise I think it looks fantastic, and perfect. Incidentally, may I point out that it’s a fantasy, and certain stylistic choices were made in respect to that. ---
**Author:** ![TommyTutone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c4cdca/32.png) [@TommyTutone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TommyTutone)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2005, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/king-kong-trailer-tonite/310105/29 "2005-06-28T13:12:19Z")
What’s odd is that while I thought the CGI looked fine, I thought that the city backdrop in the opening scenes of the preview looked horrible. The buildings seemed a different color and the sky was far too fake looking to be even stylized. It’s almost as if you can point out exactly where the painting of the buildings and street are. I will assume that this too will be cleaned up for release. ---
**Author:** ![Renob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8c91f0/32.png) [@Renob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Renob)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2005, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/king-kong-trailer-tonite/310105/30 "2005-06-28T16:06:02Z")
I caught this by accident last night and I’m amazed that people are here actually defending the special effects. They looked like ass. When will filmmakers learn they can’t base a movie around special effects, especially if they look as fake as they did in this preview? ---
**Author:** ![Sean\_Factotum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/50afbb/32.png) [@Sean\_Factotum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sean_Factotum)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2005, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/king-kong-trailer-tonite/310105/31 "2005-06-28T16:11:55Z")
> [@adam yax](#): > > He looks a little short for the 8th wonder of the world. [Peter O’Toole] Do you not know that King Kong the first was just three foot six inches tall? He only came up to Faye Wray’s belly button! If God could do the tricks that we can do he’d be a happy man! [/Peter O’Toole] ---
**Author:** ![teela\_brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@teela\_brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teela_brown)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2005, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/king-kong-trailer-tonite/310105/32 "2005-06-28T16:14:07Z")
I had doubts about Jack Black, but he looks well cast. Jack Denim has to be kind of edgy and perhaps marginally psycho. I was afraid JB would take it over the top, but at least in this clip, he keeps it toned down to just the right level. ---
**Author:** ![Cuckoorex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ad7895/32.png) [@Cuckoorex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cuckoorex)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2005, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/king-kong-trailer-tonite/310105/33 "2005-06-28T16:40:54Z")
In one of the latest production ‘diaries’ on [kongisking.net](http://kongisking.net) it shows the folks at WETA working on the trailer and saying that they’re kind of hurrying that part up so the effects will be passable for the release of the trailer. I have confidence that they’ll refine the CG. ---
**Author:** ![FlightlessBird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/cdc98d/32.png) [@FlightlessBird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlightlessBird)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2005, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/king-kong-trailer-tonite/310105/34 "2005-06-29T16:22:04Z")
I’m with **GuanoLad** in that I didn’t get pulled out of the action with the characters looking fake. I thought they all looked really real. I’m happy with the trailer, although I prefer the Jurassic Park method of teasers (“give them nothing”). Also I like Jack Black, and think he can act when he’s not acting up. ---
**Author:** ![Vision\_of\_Love](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Vision\_of\_Love](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Vision_of_Love)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2005, 9:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/king-kong-trailer-tonite/310105/35 "2005-06-30T09:55:21Z")
The backdrops reminded me a bit of that **Lemony Snicket** movie. [http://img-nex.theonering.net/kong/trailer01/kingkong\_01\_052.jpg](http://img-nex.theonering.net/kong/trailer01/kingkong_01_052.jpg) Was anyone else as amused as I was with Naomi’s dramatic scream? It’s funny how even a _scream_ can look (or sound, rather) dated. [http://img-nex.theonering.net/kong/trailer01/kingkong\_01\_069.jpg](http://img-nex.theonering.net/kong/trailer01/kingkong_01_069.jpg) [http://img-nex.theonering.net/kong/trailer01/kingkong\_01\_071.jpg](http://img-nex.theonering.net/kong/trailer01/kingkong_01_071.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Trunk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/87869e/32.png) [@Trunk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trunk)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2005, 11:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/king-kong-trailer-tonite/310105/36 "2005-06-30T11:31:16Z")
Did they do MoCap on a gorilla to animate The King? Anyone know? When he dives to save the girl, it definitely looks human. I think Jack Black looks great. The dinos looked a little unfinished to me, like they haven’t completed the texturing, but I only watched it once, so maybe I’m off. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2005, 11:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/king-kong-trailer-tonite/310105/37 "2005-06-30T11:36:41Z")
They used MoCap for Kong, from Andy Serkis (aka Gollum). But I’m not sure they used it 100% of the time. Like Gollum, some of it is probably hand animated. ---
**Author:** ![squeegee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/squeegee/32/14537_2.png) [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2005, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/king-kong-trailer-tonite/310105/38 "2005-06-30T14:55:41Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > Okay, I’ve watched the trailer about six times now, and I still cannot see what people are saying about the dinosaur effects looking bad…But those dinosaur shots look perfect to me. I saw nothing wrong with them at all. The only Dino shot that looked a little floppy to me was the one with the actors running towards the camera with Dinos chasing them. You could practically smell the blue screen, and I thought the actor’s action didn’t track well with the Dinos. Also perhaps some color correction issues. But it was so short, I’m not very sure. Dunno what **Renob** is on about. I thought overall it looked amazing. And JP isn’t one to “base a movie around special effects”. ---
**Author:** ![squeegee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/squeegee/32/14537_2.png) [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2005, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/king-kong-trailer-tonite/310105/39 "2005-06-30T15:02:28Z")
errmm: “PJ” ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2005, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/king-kong-trailer-tonite/310105/40 "2005-06-30T15:08:02Z")
I was pretty excited when I heard about this movie but now after seeing the trailer it just feels… meh. Kong doesn’t seem much more than a hairy version of what the Hulk was. And didn’t we already do the dinosaur thing to death with 3 installments of Jurassic Park? Just doesn’t feel very original to me, old story - old effects. Not much new here. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/king-kong-trailer-tonite/310105.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/king-kong-trailer-tonite/310105.md?page=3)