Kingu Kongu no gyakushû

As it states under 'Trivia', 'King Kong Escapes' was a tie-in to the Rankin-Bass 'King Kong' cartoon series, and to be honest, this film is very much a children's movie, featuring a cartoonish super-villain, a faintly ridiculous plot and comical fight scenes. This shouldn't be taken to mean that I hate the film, however. While it's not as good as Toho's previous Kong outing, 'King Kong VS Godzilla', it's still okay if you're in the mood for that kind of thing. I've never seen the cartoon, but the plot of this film is straightforward enough that you don't need to.

The film does have a number of flaws, the most notable being King Kong himself. I personally thought the ape suit from KKVG looked pretty impressive, but KKE's version is more than a little silly, particularly the face, with its wide, staring eyes and permanently open mouth, which makes Kong look like he's high. Also, the fights with the other monsters aren't overly impressive; the battle on Mondo Island (Kong had obviously moved from Skull Island after it was destroyed at the end of Son of Kong) with Gorosaurus is actually quite funny, particularly when Kong gets repeatedly drop-kicked, but the showdown with Mecha-Kong is a bit anticlimactic, particularly compared to the city-destroying smackdowns of KKVG and the best of the Godzilla series.

The plot is some silly gubbins about mining a radioactive element, and King Kong comes into the story after the evil Dr Who (not the time-travelling character from the long-running British T.V series) builds a robot ape, only for it to fail. He then kidnaps the real Kong, but he escapes (hence the title) and the usual Kaiju action ensues. The human element is rather bland, although this is probably the fault of the script rather than the actors. Linda Miller is the ersatz Fay Wray of this picture, her role generally consisting of being picked up by Kong and trying to save the big ape from getting into trouble. Rhodes Reason is solid if unspectacular, and Dr. Who makes a good, over-the-top villain.

Having said that, I do think it's a shame Toho never made any more Kong movies. Personally, I would have loved to have seen Mecha-Kong come back, perhaps in a Godzilla movie. Given that Godzilla battled so many monsters over the years, it might have been interesting if he had come up against King Kong again, maybe in a scenario that forced them to work together against one or more of the many monster that big G faced.

Kaiju fans like me always know well enough to check our desire for (a) believable dialogue and (b) completely realistic special effects at the door when we settle ourselves down to watch what Japan has specialized in for five decades now. As quality filmmaking, King Kong Escapes is of course laughably bad, especially to those who deify the 1933 original. But in the context of Japanese giant monster kaiju, King Kong Escapes is one of the better entries to be found, coming in the 1960s when the focus was less tounge in cheek, more action-oriented, and free of the kiddie thrust that REALLY made Japanese monster movies annoyingly bad in the 1970s (Gamera sequels and Godzilla vs. Gigan anyone?). In a ways, after the dark,brooding seriousness of the original "Godzilla" in 1954, the 1960s saw movies more in the Armageddon-Mummy vein of action, special effects and empty-headed scripts. And while those weaned on GCI will find this hard to believe, the work of Eiji Tsuburaya was considered top of the line for its day (when you stop to think of it, how different are the SFX of Japanese monster movies all that different from American movies, pre-2001: A Space Odyssey? Not much really). And truth be told, I find these kaiju movies of the 60s to have a lot more charm than their 90s American counterparts like "Armageddon" or the Tri-Star "Godzilla."

Eisei Ammamoto, a veteran of Japanese sci-fi, deliciously chews the scenery as the villainous "Dr. Who" while Bond girl veteran Mie Hama ("You Only Live Twice") provides lovely visual distraction as "Madame X", and is far more appealing than the bland non-actress Linda Miller (badly dubbed by cartoon voice Julie Bennett who also dubs Hama!) as the object of Kong's affection (and let's set the record straight, this is NOT the woman of the same name who is Jackie Gleason's daughter, no matter what the erroneous IMDB data base says). The most amusing part of the script is how they almost seemingly plagiarized from "Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea" in their basic premise (a sub commander named Nelson for goodness sake!). No matter though. Bad dubbing, lame script notwithstanding, "King Kong Escapes" is pleasantly mind-numbing fun from the peak period of kaiju cinema.

Incidentally, I'm glad to note that Rhodes Reason, who by his own admission "knew the film was lousy but couldn't pass up the trip to Japan" to make it, was able to overcome this in the long-run and earn better notices as Daddy Warbucks in numerous Broadway productions of "Annie."

There is nothing about this movie that can be taken seriously but unlike the ugly mess "King Kong Lives" this movie is bright, colorful fun that adults will enjoy as a comedy while the kids will get a blast out of the crazy mayhem.

Just thinking about the plot makes me laugh and watching it is never dull, it has such a no holds barred silliness about it and the new DVD release is stunning. I had no idea just how impressive the look of the film was.

The complaints about the film are rather misguided in many ways and there is some serious confusion about it. The female lead Linda Miller was dubbed by another actress, so the complaints about her performance are a bit moot (though the combination of nutty dialog and weird delivery actually help the film for most since it is so funny).

Also this is not a sequel to King Kong Vs Godzilla, Kong in this film is a myth found to be real (and utilized to dig out a cavern for bizarre reasons that just get funnier the more you think about it).

As a last note for anyone interested in King Kong in any of his incarnations seek out Ray Mortons book "King Kong The History of a Movie Icon" released recently. He actually set aside a chapter of the book detailing this film.

Yes, there is a difference in American King Kong and Japanese King Kong. Japanese Kong is much bigger and stronger and would be ashamed to be taken down by planes. Also, he would not climb the Empire State building, he would most likely annihilate it. He is back after his fight with Godzilla to once again save the day to some extent. It has been awhile since he last grace the screen since that fight, but somehow he manages to get tangled in a plot by some madman to dig up stuff in a mine. This madman already has the formidable MechaKong at his disposal, but MechaKong is incapable of digging in said mine thanks to something down there that causes it to malfunction. So they capture the real monkey and somehow hypnotize it to dig for them. Still you know in the end there is going to be a showdown between Kong and his mechanical counterpart. A fairly decent movie from the company of Toho, however I will always like Godzilla the best. Still, they have enough monsters and some pretty good fights to keep one entertained. I do believe this was Japanese King Kong's last movie, which is a bit sad, I would have loved to have seen a reemergence during the Hensei Godzilla movies and had Godzilla get some revenge for that earlier loss. MechaKong is rather cool, but not as cool as MechaGodzilla, mainly because MechaGodzilla just had way to many cool weapons and was a way more impressive fighting machine.

I've seen this film a number of times growing up. Most recently in '94. I can't wait to see it again! I loved it. Loved it all. The bad guy was scary when I was young but was down right hip when I saw it when I was older. The characters were pretty much weak and the story was weak but when "Kong" gets mad and starts kicking butt; I just enjoy the ride. I don't recommend this as a "feel good" movie. Nor is it a "cinema experience" of note. It is entertaining and fun if you're a "Kong" fan like me. The props and costumes are old school and cheap! Brings back all sorts of fun memories. The soundtrack was also cool too. Excellent inspiration for aspiring Avant-Garde types. I loved this film!