By Kit-Kat
I know....I know, me doing a King Kong review how odd, right? Just because I did one for the Production Diaries on DVD, the Movie Review and the Special Edition Review didn't mean it was a given that I'd be doing the Deluxe Extended Edition... er well okay, so maybe it did, and if you're wondering that my obsession with Peter Jackson and seemingly King Kong is healthy I can assure you it is (it's my Lord of the Rings addiction that is completely out of hand).
Back in April I stated in my King Kong Special Edition DVD review "I know there is under an hour of unseen footage which smacks of extended edition, and these bonus features, while terrific, are just shy of what you would expect from Jackson considering his phenomenal DVD history." And of course my favorite director did not let me down with his newly released King Kong Deluxe Extended Edition- giving all of that and much more, for the second time out of the DVD gates.
Now I could easily test the limits of the site page (and of course your reading tolerance) by rehashing quite a bit however, I will leave it up to you and your need for specific details or reminders; and provide you with links to my wealth of King Kong prattle below:
King Kong Peter Jackson's Production Diaries DVD Set Review
King Kong Movie Review
King Kong Special Edition DVD Review
There, you have everything you need to know to bring you up to speed on the latest and greatest DVD release - The Deluxe Extended Edition! The latest DVD release gives you three discs (information per disc is below)
Disc One
- Movie Part One
- Commentary Part One
- Deleted Scenes
- The Eighth Blunder of the World
- A Night at the Vaudeville
- King Kong Homage
Disc Two
- Movie Part Two
- Commentary Part Two
- The Present
- Trailers
Disc Three
- Introduction by Peter Jackson
- Recreating the Eighth Wonder: The Making of King Kong
- Video Galleries
I'm sure from reading the above it has become clear that the movie and commentary now encompass two discs (much like the extended LotR editions) while the third is mostly extra features (why even 8 featurettes for the Eighth Wonder segment - very clever). I daresay Peter Jackson knows how to set the standard on what can be accomplished on a DVD release. I find other releases rather lacking compared to his fantastic job and often hope they will follow suit some day to make the DVD experience as worthwhile across the board.
I won't claim to have listened to the commentary, I just didn't have time to do a 100% thorough investigation of every nook and cranny on this release in the time allotted so, just stone me now. Frankly, I don't know how people manage it when the wealth of information is so extensive! Anyways, I can tell you quite a few things that should hopefully stop the stoning from reaching critical. There were a lot of deleted scenes during the filming for King Kong and I'm happy to report that several were put right back into the movie itself, giving you an extended run time of I'd say close to fifteen minutes. Granted it has been a long time since I watched the theatrical version so I cannot say what was added back in, but it seems like more details from the island itself appeared. Jackson didn't add all of the deleted scenes back into the movie and rather has them set aside for you on Disc one. You can check them out in a variety of ways but I do recommend watching the sixteen deleted scenes with the Peter Jackson introduction. For those (and I know someone in particular who gets positively disgusted at the lack of a blooper reel) who long for the gag reel you won't be disappointed (after all Jack Black is in the movie) with the Eighth Blunder of the World segment. Night at the Vaudeville and King Kong Homage include some great behind the scenes with the performers and the comparison between the 2005 and the 1933 versions of the movies.
Disc Two finishes off the movie and the (ducks from stones) commentary and gives you a bit more to digest with the animatics. The concept of the computer animation is an amazing thing and to check out four shots going from computer to screen is fantastic to watch. I still sit astounded watching these types of featurettes as I recall my horrid attempt at using Paintshop to make a business card back in the day. Ahem... onward! The Present is a cool featurette that any Jackson fan will appreciate as his birthday fell during the filming for the movie and the cast and crew did a short for the occasion. At the end of the disc we are graced with a few trailers to tidy things up.
Disc Three also has a commentary albeit a much shorter version with Peter Jackson going through where to find what etc... Recreating the Eighth Wonder gives you more in depth details (here are our clever eight featurettes) into Jackson's passion for King Kong, the previous script vs. the final script and so forth. You also get Pre-Production details that go in spectacular detail with cast and crew on locations, the segment with Fay Wray, design concepts for the creatures as well as the sets and much more. You even get details for the make up and costumes, the special training some of the cast had to go through for filming, and the preparing of the actual boat. I found the Skull Island featurette to be my favorite, with the concept drawings, the set recreations, and creature creations that I still shudder to think about. The final two featurettes take you on the arduous journey to recreate New York in New Zealand as well as giving you an extended lesson on guerillas both real and sculpted.
Whew... and there you have it. Deluxe Extended Edition indeed. This is definitely something that any Jackson or Kong aficionado will want to add to their collection. I know I'm happy that I did (though I am seriously running out of room between the LotR collection and the Kong edition!) and look forward to Peter Jackson's future endeavors, even if it means buying a bigger DVD stand! |
