I remember the first time I saw King Kong, the character: in the awful movie, King Kong vs. Godzilla. I know now that it was awful, but to the 7-ish year old watching it on TV, it was AWESOME. I was transfixed. I can't know for sure, but I think it was the first movie that ever sucked me in. Giant monsters! A giant octopus! A battle atop Mount Fuji!
Later, I had a book on movie monsters, and I learned about the original King Kong. One night my parents woke me up at midnight to watch the original, I was so excited! And again, it enthralled me. I remember the approach of the 1976 film, and being so so excited, but being a little let down. But I understand that there is a lot of poking fun hidden in the script. I get now how funny it is that the oil company that evil Charles Grodin ran was called "Petrox".
With the recent Warner Brothers' MonsterVerse film series, I was delighted. A series of films just as campy as I remembered them, but with modern digital effects to make it come alive. Godzilla vs. Kong was exactly what I wanted. Light on plot, but heavy on monster fights! And I was seven years old again.
(Oh, one related story: a couple of years ago, for Hanukkah my daughter gave me a vintage 60's poster of King Kong vs. Godzilla. It was a moment where I looked at my child and thought, "Wow, you really are paying attention." I mean, I couldn't possibly have told the story about being bowled over by the movie as a child more than once or twice in her life, and she had held on to that and let that guide her to a gift that would be meaningful to really no one but me. It was such a thoughtful moment that makes me very proud of her.)
That won't happen again. Nowadays, I give them a wide berth.
