If you haven’t seen it yet, go see King Kong. It is a tribute to old-school captivating movies that take you away into a different world. A remake of the famous classic was a big feat, and although we’ve all seen remakes done before (and poorly, at that) I think this remake was really something special.

What made me happy was to see a fresh and seamless use of today’s special effects. Jackson was able to integrate some cutting-edge graphics without spoiling the realism or flow of the story.

I think the use of these effects was responsible and well done, because I often see today’s directors choosing to scenes just for the effects instead of using effects to improve an already great scene.

The characters are palpable, and are built well over the course of the movie, which is about 3 hours. Yes, three hours. A bit long, you might say, but if you stop and look back at all the truly great classics, they are all longer than 90, even 120 minutes.

It’s probably because the theatrical epic needs to have substance. It is a journey that should take you out of your world for longer than just 90 minutes. It’s a movie that is long, but doesn’t seem long, and when it is over you are a little sad that your journey has ended.

Overall, King Kong was a tribute to the epics — great movies like Citizen Kane, The Godfather, Casablanca — because it has brought back imagination to the big screen that has recently been suffering a complete lack of ingenuity in the wake of rapid special effects advancements.

I’d like to see more movies coming out like this one. It reminded me of how far our imagination can take us, and that’s something we should always appreciate and cherish.

A giant ape has feelings too. It takes a great director to show it.