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Dino King 3D: Journey to Fire Mountain

An action-packed family adventure that combines the realism of Walking With Dinosaurs with the heart of Finding Nemo. Speckles, a ferocious tarbosaurus and his young son junior, mourning the... Read all An action-packed family adventure that combines the realism of Walking With Dinosaurs with the heart of Finding Nemo. Speckles, a ferocious tarbosaurus and his young son junior, mourning the loss of their family in an epic battle, roam the lands in search of food, adventure and p... Read all An action-packed family adventure that combines the realism of Walking With Dinosaurs with the heart of Finding Nemo. Speckles, a ferocious tarbosaurus and his young son junior, mourning the loss of their family in an epic battle, roam the lands in search of food, adventure and peace. Under the watchful eye of his dad, Junior is growing up healthy and strong, but with... Read all

Han Sang-Ho
Yoon-Mi Jang
Park Hee-soon
Erin Connor
David Collins
6 User reviews
2 Critic reviews

(English version)

All cast & crew
Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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Connections Follows Speckles: The Tarbosaurus (2012)

User reviews 6

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Apr 20, 2024
How long is Dino King 3D: Journey to Fire Mountain? Powered by Alexa
December 25, 2018 (South Korea)
South Korea
Official Website
Dino King: Journey to Fire Mountain
Dream Search Entertainment
See more company credits at IMDbPro

Technical specs

Runtime 1 hour 35 minutes

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Review: Dino King (Speckles the Tarbosaurus)

By sean markey.

First thing is first. What’s a Tarbosaurus ? It looks like a T. rex , walks like a T.rex and quacks(?) like a T. rex . For all intents and purposes it is a T. rex , but missed out on all the fame by way of being a relative that was born on the wrong continent. Dino King is an attempt by Korea (the nice Korea, not that other scary Korea where a dead guy rules the country) to readdress this lopsided balance. Tarbosaurus has been waiting nearly 80 million years for its long awaited shot at the big time and the chance to finally knock that overachieving big-shot of a cousin off its pedestal. Can it finally dethrone the ‘tyrant lizard king’?

Dino King (sometimes known as Speckles the Tarbosaurus and Tarbosaurus 3D ) is an attempt to tell an exciting character based story while sneakily educating children about the world of dinosaurs in the process (a truly noble endeavour). It’s not a bad story either. Unfortunately it just happens to be a horrible rip-off of Disney’s The Lion King (which, to be fair, wasn’t the most original story ever told). We are introduced to ‘Speckles’ (or 'Spot' depending on which version of the film you watch), a baby Tarbosaurus whose pride rules over the local eco-system. Speckles is destined to inherit this domain (his home looks quite a bit like Pride Rock) until one day a mean old Tyrannosaurus (exactly what the T. rex is doing in Asia is something of a mystery considering that particular species lived exclusively in North America – perhaps he is truly that much of a jerk that mere continents could not stop him from disturbing the peace?) assassinates his family by means of an orchestrated stampede, just like in The Lion King . To add insult to injury the villainous T. rex has a scar across his eye just like the bad guy from Disney’s aforementioned Serengeti-based epic (What was his name again? Oh yeah, SCAR!).

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Story continues below.

Sure enough, baby Simba Speckles flees into the wilderness where he meets a gooey eyed female of his own kind and they form an alliance with a view to overthrow the heinous Scar Tyrannosaurus . The Lion King is not the only children’s movie to be plundered by Dino King either. Entire scenes are lifted from both Disney’s Fantasia (if you’re going to rob from a company, you might as well take all the things!) and Don Bluth’s The Land Before Time . The fact that the film doesn’t even try to hide its rampant plagiarism is almost admirable. It is as if the makers of Dino Kin g are openly mocking the people they stole from, hiding behind an international copyright loophole like some sort of a schoolyard bully, safe in the knowledge that the tormented little boy with no arms or legs has no means of fighting back.

Now that it has been established that Dino King fails on a storytelling level due to its own unapologetic moral bankruptcy, it should also be judged based on its educational merits. Surely the film’s plagiarism could be somewhat excused in a for " the greater good ” kind of way if the content had informational value that could teach children the wonders of science? To its credit, Dino King does attempt to throw little factoids at the audience now and then as Speckles’ voiceover explains aspects of the world he lives in. Unfortunately, such factoids prove to be of dubious quality. The film is sprinkled with inaccuracies, making it hard to take any potentially genuine nuggets of information at face value. It is hard to tell whether this problem arose in translating the film into English or if it was just a case of poor/lazy research. Given the inaccurate dinosaur models, it is probably more to do with the latter.

It is also worth noting that Dino King is supposed to be set in Korea, yet none of the dinosaurs on show are actually known to have lived there. A few of them (including Tarbosaurus itself thankfully) did live in Asia, which is forgivable as it is not a huge stretch of the imagination to think that they may have popped up in Korea too. However, about half of the dinosaurs we see are American, which is peculiar and unnecessary since Korea has some unique dinosaurs of its own which do not feature at all for whatever reason. Poor Koreanosaurus and Koreaceratop s must be spinning in their eternal graves, betrayed by the very country they helped build (by fertilising the ground with their poo, obviously).

To the film’s credit, the special effects are of a fairly impressive standard. The dinosaurs all look good, if at times scientifically inaccurate ( Velociraptor was covered in feathers and it’s about time the world acknowledged it!) and the musical score has a nice variety to create various moods, even if it times it feels like they’ve taken ‘inspiration’ from Lord of the Rings and Hercules: The Legendary Journeys (which, in fairness, is a wonderfully obscure thing to rip off), among others.

Dino King has plenty of dinosaur-on-dinosaur action which is fairly entertaining, but once again not very realistic. One must wonder why a tyrannosaur with a mouth full of sharp teeth, capable of biting through bone, spends so much time trying to slowly shunt his enemies off cliffs and pushing boulders in their general direction blindly from atop hills like some sort of prehistoric precursor to Dick Dastardly. Sadly, Muttley (if you do not recognise this name it is likely that your childhood has been a complete and utter waste of time and your parents should be ashamed of themselves) had not gotten around to evolving yet, so a sniggering comedy sidekick of a dog does not make an appearance.

Speckles’ voiceover is also something of a hindrance. While thankfully the character’s lips don’t move like in Disney’s Dinosaur , at times he is clearly supposed to be ‘talking’ to other dinosaurs. At other points he is simply narrating through monologue. There is no real distinction between the two, which makes it more distracting than anything. It feels as if the writers could not decide whether to have the dinosaurs talk properly or have a traditional style narrator. In the end they settled for an amalgamation of both, which comes across as being a Jack of both trades, but a master of neither, a pretty good summation of the entire film.

Dino King tries to be both a piece of entertainment and an educational tool at the same time. Unfortunately for all concerned it falls very short of the mark in both respects. If you are looking for a nice kid friendly animated dinosaur film you should pick up The Land Before Time . If you want to watch a documentary full of interesting (and mostly accurate) facts while you feed your appetite for computer generated dinosaur based antics then you should give the BBC series Planet Dinosaur a look. If you are the kind of person who wants to revel in the mediocrity that is born of unoriginality, then Dino King is for you.

Try this if you like:

Walking With Dinosaurs 3D

Sean is Geek Ireland's resident dinosaur enthusiast, having been fascinated by prehistory since a time before he could read, speak or stand in an upright position (he still struggles to do at least one of these things on a daily basis). Known as one of the biggest dinosaur fans Ireland has ever produced, Sean has delivered talks on his favourite subject at many venues and events including the Irish Film Institute, the UCD Science Expression Festival, Tayto Park, Dublin Comic Con and even London's Comedy Store.

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Dino King Journey to Fire Mountain

Short takes

Not recommended under 5, parental guidance to 8 (scary visual images and violent themes).

This topic contains:

overall comments and recommendations
details of classification and consumer advice lines for Dino King Journey to Fire Mountain
a review of Dino King Journey to Fire Mountain completed by the Australian Council on Children and the Media (ACCM) on 26 May 2019 .

Overall comments and recommendations

About the movie.

This section contains details about the movie, including its classification by the Australian Government Classification Board and the associated consumer advice lines. Other classification advice (OC) is provided where the Australian film classification is not available.

ACCM review

This review of the movie contains the following information:

a synopsis of the story
use of violence
material that may scare or disturb children
product placement
sexual references
nudity and sexual activity
use of substances
coarse language
the movie’s message

A synopsis of the story

Junior, a young Tarbosaurus, is soft hearted and frightened of the other dinosaurs including those who are meant to be his prey. His father; Speckles, is both disappointed and embarrassed by his son’s fear and inability to act as a king of dinosaurs should. When Junior is abducted by a gang of vicious velociraptors Speckles sets off to find him. He is helped along the way by Cy, who wants revenge on the same group who abducted and presumably ate a friend of his and Fang (voiced by Erin Connor) who, like Speckles, is searching for her daughter. Meanwhile Junior finds himself being held captive with countless other young dinosaurs. They are forced to assemble each day and a number of them are randomly picked from the masses to be fed to a mutant dragon-like dinosaur and it’s young who live inside a fiery volcano. Junior builds an unlikely friendship with: Dusty - an allergic triceratops, Fang’s daughter Blue and a former bully named Blade. Together they form a plan to escape from Fire Mountain and find their way back home. Together they face dangers and monsters unlike anything they could have imagined and, while facing his greatest fears, Junior demonstrates courage and bravery which not only saves their lives but also earns him the respect of his father.

Themes info

Children and adolescents may react adversely at different ages to themes of crime, suicide, drug and alcohol dependence, death, serious illness, family breakdown, death or separation from a parent, animal distress or cruelty to animals, children as victims, natural disasters and racism. Occasionally reviews may also signal themes that some parents may simply wish to know about.

Separation of parents from children, and animal cruelty.

Use of violence info

Research shows that children are at risk of learning that violence is an acceptable means of conflict resolution when violence is glamourised, performed by an attractive hero, successful, has few real life consequences, is set in a comic context and / or is mostly perpetrated by male characters with female victims, or by one race against another.

Repeated exposure to violent content can reinforce the message that violence is an acceptable means of conflict resolution. Repeated exposure also increases the risks that children will become desensitised to the use of violence in real life or develop an exaggerated view about the prevalence and likelihood of violence in their own world.

There is some violence in this movie including;

There is frequent animated violence in the film where dinosaurs flight each other: ripping, slashing, biting, gouging and attacking in a bid to survive the longest.
One dinosaur’s claws are ripped from his body as he hangs on a rock wall. He and three others plunge to their deaths.

Material that may scare or disturb children

Under five info.

Children under five are most likely to be frightened by scary visual images, such as monsters, physical transformations.

In addition to the above-mentioned violent scenes, there are some scenes in this movie that could scare or disturb children under the age of five, including the following:

As Speckles and Cy make their way through a dark ravine they are chased and attacked by huge prehistoric scorpions who keep trying to stab them with their poisonous tails. Speckles slashes them with his teeth, flings them through the air and rips them apart. He is stabbed and poisoned and collapses in pain a little while later.
Junior is looking for a place to hide and all he can see are glowing eyes in caves. He is scared and no one will let him in. The creepy eyes may frighten some young viewers.
A terrifying mutant dragon, unlike anything the dinosaurs have seen before rises from the volcano, dripping with fire, eyes glowing, teeth and arms trying to attack and kill Junior and his friends. The image is very scary, the music suspenseful and loud and the scene dramatic enough to frighten many young viewers.

Aged five to eight info

Children aged five to eight will also be frightened by scary visual images and will also be disturbed by depictions of the death of a parent, a child abandoned or separated from parents, children or animals being hurt or threatened and / or natural disasters.

In addition to the above-mentioned violent scenes and scary visual images, there are some scenes in this movie that could scare or disturb children aged five to eight, including the following:

There is intense, suspenseful music as a group of velociraptors chase Junior and pin him to the ground. When his father hears his cries, Junior is kidnapped and carried away while screaming for his Papa.
Dusty is singled out by the velociraptors and taken away to be eaten by the mutant dinosaurs in the volcano. There is nothing that Junior or Blue can do and they watch, helpless and guilt ridden, as he is lead to his death.
Junior is attacked by the monster as he tries to get everyone out of the cave. It looks like he has been killed. His father and friends are devastated and sobbing but then Junior suddenly wakes up.

Aged eight to thirteen info

Children aged eight to thirteen are most likely to be frightened by realistic threats and dangers, violence or threat of violence and / or stories in which children are hurt or threatened.

In addition to the above mentioned violent scenes, there are some scenes in this movie that could scare or disturb children aged eight to thirteen, including the following:

Aside from the above mentioned scenes there is nothing in this film that would frighten children between the ages of eight to thirteen.

Thirteen and over info

Children over the age of thirteen are most likely to be frightened by realistic physical harm or threats, molestation or sexual assault and / or threats from aliens or the occult.

There is nothing in this film that would frighten children over the age of thirteen.

Product placement

There is no product placement in this film.

Sexual references

The film contains no sexual references.

Nudity and sexual activity

There is no nudity or sexual activity.

Use of substances

There are no substances used in the film.

Coarse language

There is some coarse language in this movie, including:

There is occasional name calling including use of the words: “Crap,” “Losers,” “Heck,” “Jerk,” “Half-tail,” “Dummy,” and “Idiot.”

In a nutshell

Dino King Journey to Fire Mountain is an animated adventure that will appeal to dinosaur fans and younger children. Older audiences may find the simple animation, predictable plot and dry dialogue difficult to endure.

The main messages from this movie are to have courage, to trust in yourself and to understand that there are scary things in life but that a life spent hiding in the shadows is no life at all.

Values in this movie that parents may wish to reinforce with their children include:

Helpfulness

This movie could also give parents the opportunity to discuss with their children attitudes and behaviours, and their real-life consequences, such as.

Bullying and the terrible impact that this can have on others.
The importance of having parental acceptance and the damage that negative comments can have on children.
What to do if a child was ever taken against their will.

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CMA thanks the Romeo family for its support

Children and Media Australia (CMA) is a registered business name of the Australian Council on Children and the Media (ACCM).

CMA provides reviews, research and advocacy to help children thrive in a digital world.

ACCM is national, not-for-profit and reliant on community support. You can help .

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Movie Reviews

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Dino King Journey to Fire Mountain (2018) Stream and Watch Online

Watch 'dino king journey to fire mountain' online.

Need to watch ' Dino King Journey to Fire Mountain ' in the comfort of your own home? Tracking down a streaming service to buy, rent, download, or watch the Han Sang-ho-directed movie via subscription can be challenging, so we here at Moviefone want to do right by you. We've listed a number of streaming and cable services - including rental, purchase, and subscription options - along with the availability of 'Dino King Journey to Fire Mountain' on each platform when they are available. Now, before we get into all the details of how you can watch 'Dino King Journey to Fire Mountain' right now, here are some specifics about the Dream Search Contents and Company coLtd Korea Educational Broadcasting System EBS Next Entertainment World adventure flick. Released December 31st, 2018, 'Dino King Journey to Fire Mountain' stars Park Hee-soon , Ra Mi-ran , Kim Sung-kyun , Kim Eung-soo The G movie has a runtime of about 1 hr 30 min, and received a user score of 78 (out of 100) on TMDb, which compiled reviews from 107 respected users. Curious to know what the movie's about? Here's the plot: "Speckles a ferocious tarbosaurus and his young son junior mourning the loss of their family in an epic battle roam the lands in search of food adventure and peace Under the watchful eye of his dad Junior is growing up healthy and strong but with an overconfidence thanks to his young age After one encounter results in Junior being kidnapped Speckles embarks on an adventure to the ends of earth to find his son Encountering friend and foe ally and enemy Speckles will stop at nothing and will take on all corners to save his offspring" 'Dino King Journey to Fire Mountain' is currently available to rent, purchase, or stream via subscription on Tubi TV .

'Dino King Journey to Fire Mountain' Release Dates

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Eh What’s New On Netflix?

Netflix Review: “The Dino King”

Take a look at this poster.

Clearly this is an educational film right? It’s about the great circle of life, a dinosaur being raised by its parents and then having young of its own! Explaining the predator prey relationship to a new generation of viewers! My sister and I had an actual childhood, so we were completely uninterested until we read the movie description:

“A T-Rex attack took out his family. Now a young Tarbosaurus must learn to survive in a harsh winner-eats-all world.”

In the Action/Adventure section.

Which means that this is a revenge thriller with dinosaurs, which basically makes this the best movie ever. My sister and I glanced at each other and pressed play, preparing ourselves to see the best CGI movie since Inside Out. And maybe we set the bar a little high, but damn this was a surprisingly good movie.

It follows a baby Tarbosaurus named Speckles whose family consists of his mother, adult brother (named Quick) and juvenile twin sisters. Well . . . consist ed , because a rogue T-rex kills his entire family. Yes KILLS, because “took out” does not do the brutality of this movie justice.

To quote a subReddit, “nature is metal”.

Nature documentaries skip over this in rather blase fashion. Yes predators target the “sick, the weak and the young”, but they rarely show the full implications of that. Watching a baby gazelle get separated from its herd and then taken down by a lion, followed by a quick cut of it eating it is a pretty sanitized version of what’s actually happening.

Dino King keeps it “metal” while giving Speckles a voice.

It is heart rending to watch a little baby dinosaur crying out for his family as it witnesses his elders, their duty to protect him, systematically killed as the food chain takes its natural course. It forces the viewer to empathize, put their family members in their place. I imagine my sister, my mother and my father in a lawless place where someone bigger than them can slaughter them and have it be natural.

By the way, the T-Rex is called “One-Eye” because one of his eyes is scratched out with a big vertical scar.

So basically this is The Lion King IF the movie was way more realistic and with several times as much death.

The easiest compliment (or criticism) against CGI animation is whether it looks good. There’s a notable dearth of analysis on whether the animation is smooth or not, and that’s where Dino King hits a home run. The frame rate is smooth and the way the dinosaurs move is beautiful. In particular, the dinosaur vs. dinosaur duels look fantastic, with collisions and bites looking exactly as they should.

This is something that CGI anime like, say, Berserk or Knights of Sidonia should take note of. I’d rather have blocky textures and fluid animation than the world’s greatest slideshow.

There are only two real flaws, one of them understandable and one of them maddening.

This isn’t the highest budget of CGI, but they put the detail where it counts. The dinosaurs are extremely well detailed, as is most of the fauna. Where the CGI fails is on flat ground and rocks. You heard me. It doesn’t break the movie by any means, but next to the detail of the dinosaurs and fauna the flat ground and Fischer-Price rocks is jarring.

What really threatens to derail the movie at times is the writing.

Speckles has the only speaking part in the movie, which is great because the movie only needs to be told from his viewpoint. Even the voice acting isn’t bad, and some quick IMDb research from my sister revealed that the actors are Veronica Taylor (baby Speckles) and C.D. Barnes (adult Speckles)!!!

Oh, I mean Ash Ketchum and Prince Eric from The Little Mermaid .

Speckles’ speaking parts are written similarly to the dinosaurs of Land Before Time , in that he expresses human emotions and thought processes but still has the limitations of being a dinosaur. He’ll express fear, love, and loyalty but also be bamboozled the first time he encounters a tar pit. And again, this all works really well.

But unlike the Land Before Time franchise, Dino King is unbelievably dark. Which means there are certain lines of dialogue that are either:

a) toned down as not to be too adult

b) so silly it hurts

An example of the former is when Speckles refers to a pack of velociraptors as “creeps”. In a movie that is very upfront about the brutality of life before law, it’s a little weird to refer to a predatory gang that kills everything it encounters in such a tame manner. I get that motherf***ers may be a bit much, but what about “savages”?

But it’s the latter issue that really takes the cake.

There is a moment in the movie in which Speckles, orphan who has had to struggle for everything, wins his first dinosaur duel to protect someone. It is an inspiring moment, to which he throws back his head and yells,

“I AM SPECCCKKLLLESSS!!!”

It is even more stupid than it sounds. Hilarious, but takes away from the gravity of the moment, no?

I suspect it’s an issue with the film originally being South Korean. The Netflix version only has English so I have no way to compare, but I’m guessing the dialogue is a little better. I’m assuming their version of “Speckles” sounds way more badass when shouted into the air.

Ultimately though, Dino King is good. I’d recommend a little bit of whatever poison fancies you, just to dull some of the cringe-worthy parts but you can watch it sober too. It’s dark, it’s mature, the climax is heart-pounding and it’s one of the real hidden gems of Netflix.

Customer Reviews, including Product Star Ratings help customers to learn more about the product and decide whether it is the right product for them.

To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. Instead, our system considers things like how recent a review is and if the reviewer bought the item on Amazon. It also analyzed reviews to verify trustworthiness.

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Movie Reviews

Tv/streaming, collections, great movies, chaz's journal, contributors, the heart of a big gorilla.

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It was beauty killed the beast.

There are astonishments to behold in Peter Jackson's new "King Kong," but one sequence, relatively subdued, holds the key to the movie's success. Kong has captured Ann Darrow and carried her to his perch high on the mountain. He puts her down, not roughly, and then begins to roar, bare his teeth and pound his chest. Ann, an unemployed vaudeville acrobat, somehow instinctively knows that the gorilla is not threatening her but trying to impress her by behaving as an alpha male -- the King of the Jungle. She doesn't know how Queen Kong would respond, but she does what she can: She goes into her stage routine, doing backflips, dancing like Chaplin, juggling three stones.

Her instincts and empathy serve her well. Kong's eyes widen in curiosity, wonder and finally what may pass for delight. From then on, he thinks of himself as the girl's possessor and protector. She is like a tiny beautiful toy that he has been given for his very own, and before long, they are regarding the sunset together, both of them silenced by its majesty.

The scene is crucial because it removes the element of creepiness in the gorilla/girl relationship in the two earlier "Kongs" (1933 and 1976), creating a wordless bond that allows her to trust him. When Jack Driscoll climbs the mountain to rescue her, he finds her comfortably nestled in Kong's big palm. Ann and Kong in this movie will be threatened by dinosaurs, man-eating worms, giant bats, loathsome insects, spiders, machineguns and the Army Air Corps, and could fall to their death into chasms on Skull Island or from the Empire State Building. But Ann will be as safe as Kong can make her, and he will protect her even from her own species.

The movie more or less faithfully follows the outlines of the original film, but this fundamental adjustment in the relationship between the beauty and the beast gives it heart, a quality the earlier film was lacking. Yes, Kong in 1933 cares for his captive, but she doesn't care so much for him. Kong was always misunderstood, but in the 2005 film, there is someone who knows it.

As Kong ascends the skyscraper, Ann screams not because of the gorilla but because of the attacks on the gorilla by a society that assumes he must be destroyed. The movie makes the same kind of shift involving a giant gorilla that Spielberg's " Close Encounters of the Third Kind " (1977) did when he replaced 1950s attacks on alien visitors with a very 1970s attempt to communicate with them (by 2005, Spielberg was back to attacking them, in " War of the Worlds ").

"King Kong" is a magnificent entertainment. It is like the flowering of all the possibilities in the original classic film. Computers are used not merely to create special effects, but also to create style and beauty, to find a look for the film that fits its story. And the characters are not cardboard heroes or villains seen in stark outline, but quirky individuals with personalities.

Consider the difference between Robert Armstrong (1933) and Jack Black (2005) as Carl Denham, the movie director who lands an unsuspecting crew on Skull Island. A Hollywood stereotype based on Cecil B. DeMille has been replaced by one who reminds us more of Orson Welles . And in the starring role of Ann Darrow, Naomi Watts expresses a range of emotion that Fay Wray, bless her heart, was never allowed in 1933. Never have damsels been in more distress, but Fay Wray mostly had to scream, while Watts looks into the gorilla's eyes and sees something beautiful there.

There was a stir when Jackson informed the home office that his movie would run 187 minutes. The executives had something around 140 minutes in mind, so they could turn over the audience more quickly (despite the greedy 20 minutes of paid commercials audiences now have inflicted upon them). After they saw the movie, their objections were stilled. Yes, the movie is a tad too long, and we could do without a few of the monsters and overturned elevated trains. But it is so well done that we are complaining, really, only about too much of a good thing. This is one of the great modern epics.

Jackson, fresh from his "Lord of the Rings" trilogy, wisely doesn't show the gorilla or the other creatures until more than an hour into the movie. In this he follows Spielberg, who fought off producers who wanted the shark in " Jaws " to appear virtually in the opening titles. There is an hour of anticipation, of low ominous music, of subtle rumblings, of uneasy squints into the fog and mutinous grumblings from the crew, before the tramp steamer arrives at Skull Island -- or, more accurately, is thrown against its jagged rocks in the first of many scary action sequences.

During that time, we see Depression-era breadlines and soup kitchens, and meet the unemployed heroes of the film: Ann Darrow (Watts), whose vaudeville theater has closed, and who is faced with debasing herself in burlesque; Carl Denham (Black), whose footage for a new movie is so unconvincing that the movie's backers want to sell it off as background footage; Jack Driscoll ( Adrien Brody ), a playwright whose dreams lie Off-Broadway and who thrusts 15 pages of a first draft screenplay at Denham and tries to disappear.

They all find themselves aboard the tramp steamer of Capt. Englehorn ( Thomas Kretschmann ), who is persuaded to cast off just as Denham's creditors arrive on the docks in police cars. They set course for the South Seas, where Denham believes an uncharted island may hold the secret of a box office blockbuster. On board, Ann and Jack grow close, but not too close, because the movie's real love story is between the girl and the gorilla.

Once on Skull Island, the second act of the movie is mostly a series of hair-curling special effects, as overgrown prehistoric creatures endlessly pursue the humans, occasionally killing or eating a supporting character. The bridges and logs over chasms, so important in 1933, are even better used here, especially when an assortment of humans and creatures fall in stages from a great height, resuming their deadly struggle whenever they can grab a convenient vine, rock or tree. Two story lines are intercut: Ann and the ape, and everybody else and the other creatures.

The third act returns to Manhattan, which looks uncannily evocative and atmospheric. It isn't precisely realistic, but more of a dreamed city in which key elements swim in and out of view. There's a poetic scene where Kong and the girl find a frozen pond in Central Park, and the gorilla is lost in delight as it slides on the ice. It's in scenes like this that Andy Serkis is most useful as the actor who doesn't so much play Kong as embody him for the f/x team. He adds the body language.

Some of the Manhattan effects are not completely convincing (and earlier, on Skull Island, it's strange how the fleeing humans seem to run beneath the pounding feet of the T. rexes without quite occupying the same space). But special effects do not need to be convincing if they are effective, and Jackson trades a little realism for a lot of impact and momentum. The final ascent of the Empire State Building is magnificent, and for once, the gorilla seems the same size in every shot.

Although Naomi Watts makes a splendid heroine, there have been complaints that Jack Black and Adrien Brody are not precisely hero material. Nor should they be, in my opinion. They are a director and a writer. They do not require big muscles and square jaws. What they require are strong personalities that can be transformed under stress. Denham the director clings desperately to his camera, no matter what happens to him, and Driscoll the writer beats a strategic retreat before essentially rewriting his personal role in his own mind. Bruce Baxter ( Kyle Chandler ) is an actor who plays the movie's hero, and now has to decide if he can play his role for real. And Preston ( Colin Hanks ) is a production assistant who, as is often the case, would be a hero if anybody would give him a chance.

The result is a surprisingly involving and rather beautiful movie -- one that will appeal strongly to the primary action audience, and also cross over to people who have no plans to see "King Kong" but will change their minds the more they hear. I think the film even has a message, and it isn't that beauty killed the beast. It's that we feel threatened by beauty, especially when it overwhelms us, and we pay a terrible price when we try to deny its essential nature and turn it into a product, or a target. This is one of the year's best films.

Roger Ebert

Roger Ebert was the film critic of the Chicago Sun-Times from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, he won the Pulitzer Prize for distinguished criticism.

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Film credits.

King Kong (2005)

Rated PG-13 for frightening adventure violence and some disturbing images

187 minutes

Naomi Watts as Ann Darrow

Jack Black as Carl Denham

Adrien Brody as Jack Driscoll

Thomas Kretschmann as Capt. Englehorn

Colin Hanks as Preston

Andy Serkis as Lumpy

Evan Parke as Hayes

Directed by

Peter Jackson
Philippa Boyens

Based on a story by

Merian C. Cooper
Edgar Wallace

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15 Kaiju You Should Know (That Aren’t Godzilla or King Kong)

There’s no question that Godzilla and King Kong are kaiju A-listers. Whenever the King of the Monsters and the Eighth Wonder of the World face off, it’s a big deal. Their first bout in the ’60s was one of the most important fights in cinema history , and their rematch in 2021’s Godzilla vs. Kong was one of the first blockbusters to do solid business after the pandemic. They’re set to share the screen again in Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire , the latest MonsterVerse flick that will have them teaming up instead of fighting.

But, although these two giant monsters are the biggest ones (maybe not literally, but you get it), they’re not the only kaiju around. Godzilla and Kong have starred in almost 50 movies, including three major crossovers — what about all the other monsters waiting for their chance to smash some buildings? There are other kaiju worth knowing from both sides of the Pacific (and even a few weird ones in Europe).

Here then are 15 kaiju who deserve to be mentioned in the same breath as Godzilla and Kong — preferably while screaming in terror as they stomp through a city. We’ll start with the only other true contender to the pair’s dominance as kaiju icons and then take stock of other monsters, roughly arranged by their historical significance and importance. (Although Rodan and Mothra, two very famous kaiju, made their debuts in stand-alone films, they were folded into the Godzilla series and, as a result, have gotten enough representation to be left off this list.)

Film Appearances: Gamera, the Giant Monster (1965), Gamera vs. Barugon (1966), Gamera vs. Gyaos (1967), Gamera vs. Viras (1968), Gamera vs. Guiron (1969), Gamera vs. Jiger (1970) , Gamera vs. Zigra (1971), Gamera: Super Monster (1980), Gamera: Guardian of the Universe (1995), Gamera 2: Attack of Legion (1996), Gamera 3: Revenge of Iris (1999), Gamera the Brave (2006)

Maybe one day Gamera, a giant fire-breathing turtle with gnarly tusks and the ability to retract into his shell and fly like a spinning, jet-powered UFO, will get a chance to go claw-to-claw with Godzilla or Kong. Until then, he’ll have to settle for being the third-most-famous giant monster.

Created in the 1960s as a clear attempt for Daiei Film to have a franchise to compete with Godzilla’s popularity, Gamera starred in a series of mostly cheap-looking flicks that are probably best known in America for getting riffed on several Mystery Science Theater 3000 episodes. In the ’90s, though, the turtle was revived for a trilogy of films that are widely regarded as some of the better kaiju movies of any sort, boasting some of the best suitmation ever filmed and human drama to match the monster action.

Would It Stand a Chance Against Godzilla or Kong? Yes, absolutely. We’re overdue for a Gamera-Godzilla crossover.

Film Appearances: Gorgo (1961)

Another Godzilla wannabe whose name starts with “G,” Gorgo, was the title kaiju of a British-Irish film from 1961 that has a lot going for it (if you can overlook the brutally stiff upper lips that render every human character drabber than the London sky). Gorgo, who resembles Godzilla with larger claws and finned ears that are, frankly, kind of cute, is captured and sold to a London circus … only for his much, much larger mother to smash through Big Ben and rescue her baby. Featuring detailed miniatures and exciting sequences of destruction, Gorgo proudly stands as Europe’s best kaiju — and it was notably released in glorious color one year before Godzilla and Kong made the jump from black-and-white in King Kong vs. Godzilla .

Would It Stand a Chance Against Godzilla or Kong? Probably! Gorgo’s mama is big and tough, and she could put up a fight versus her more-famous American and Japanese counterparts. Would she win? Eh.

Rhedosaurus

Film Appearances: The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms (1953)

While Gamera and Gorgo were inspired by Godzilla, the giant fictional dinosaur from The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms can boast the opposite. Indeed, if Toho Studios had the time or the budget, they would have preferred to use the same stop-motion animation that the great Ray Harryhausen used to bring the Rhedosaurus to life the year before Godzilla stomped onto the scene via the much cheaper suitmation method. (Kong was originally a stop-motion creature in his 1933 debut, brought to life by Harryhausen’s mentor, Willis O’Brien.) Defrosted from the Arctic ice thanks to a nuclear test, the big dino lays waste to New York, toppling buildings and bringing with it a deadly prehistoric plague that’s frankly scarier in the COVID era than the giant monster is.

Would it Stand a Chance Against Godzilla or Kong? Assuming that Godzilla and Kong aren’t vulnerable to the prehistoric disease in the Rhedosaurus’s blood, they’d probably win this fight, but it would be cool to watch.

Brontosaurus

Film Appearances: The Lost World (1925)

How big does a creature need to be to qualify as a kaiju? A normal dinosaur, like the type seen in Jurassic Park , isn’t big enough nor monstrous enough to be a kaiju. However, special considerations must be made for a brontosaurus who trashes London in the climax of the 1925 silent film The Lost World . Arguably the first-ever cinematic kaiju, The Lost World ’s brontosaurus is deserving of mention in any list of giant monsters for its historical stature, regardless of how tall the dino actually was compared to some of the other kaiju on this list.

Would It Stand a Chance Against Godzilla or Kong? While Kong was more or less dinosaur size in his film debut, even that much smaller ape could’ve beaten a big herbivore. The much, much larger modern incarnations of Godzilla and Kong wouldn’t even register the brontosaurus.

Film Appearances: Cloverfield (2008), The Cloverfield Paradox (2018)

The spindly limbed creature from Cloverfield (and the very end of the underwhelming Cloverfield Paradox ) is by far the most influential new kaiju creation of this century. There was speculation that J.J. Abrams was actually making a Godzilla movie in the early days before Cloverfield ’s release during the very secretive, very viral marketing campaign, but Cloverfield is its own thing. While most kaiju movies focus on the monster’s origin and the brave army men or scientists who are trying to defeat it, Cloverfield ’s shaky-cam POV keeps the audience as in the dark as its characters. In that sense, it’s perhaps the most realistic kaiju movie.

Would It Stand a Chance Against Godzilla or Kong? Clover’s body shape isn’t that dissimilar from some of the monsters that Godzilla and Kong have fought in the MonsterVerse films. It would be a good fight.

Pacific Rim ’s Kaiju

Film Appearances: Pacific Rim (2013), Pacific Rim Uprising (2018)

The 20th century’s other new contribution to the kaiju film canon (and the movie that probably introduced a lot of viewers to the term “kaiju”), Guillermo del Toro’s Pacific Rim is an earnest and kick-ass homage to giant-monster movies and the related giant mecha genre. However, if we’re being honest, the giant robots called Jaegers that humanity uses to fight the kaiju spawning from a rift in the depths of the Pacific are more memorable than the monsters.

Would It Stand a Chance Against Godzilla or Kong? Steven DeKnight, director of the far inferior Pacific Rim sequel, Uprising , tweeted that he had a plan to merge the Pacific Rim and MonsterVerse franchises, both of which are produced by Legendary Pictures. That plan never came to fruition, but that there was any talk of it goes to show what a natural match these various kaiju would be in a fight.

Film Appearances: Them! (1954)

There are a bunch of creature features from the ’50s about oversize, irradiated bugs, but 1954’s Them! , about a colony of giant ants in the New Mexico desert, is the first and the best, making it worthy of special representation. While American movies tended to be understandably more blasé about using the atomic bomb as a monster-making MacGuffin than Japan did with Godzilla, Them! is set in the shadow of the Trinity Test and is more serious than most. Plus, it has fun special effects and an eerie, excellent use of sound.

Would They Stand a Chance Against Godzilla or Kong? The whole hive might present a bit of an issue, but it seems doubtful that Them! ’s ants would be marching to victory.

Quetzalcoatl

Film Appearances: Q: The Winged Serpent (1982)

One of the rare original kaiju to be created between the current boom of giant monsters and the creature-feature kaiju phase of the ’60s, Q features a draconic Aztec god who decides to make a nest for itself in the Chrysler Building. While the stop-motion that brings Quetzalcoatl to life is impressive ( Q is one of the last kaiju movies to primarily use stop-motion animation before CGI took over), the film almost has more of a slasher-movie vibe, as the dragon attacks New Yorkers out of nowhere and then hides in its lair. A city of millions of people and none of them seem to notice the comings and goings of a giant monster until it’s too late.

Would It Stand a Chance Against Godzilla or Kong? Quetzalcoatl’s ultimately killed by normal ol’ gunfire at the end of Q , which suggests it wouldn’t be much of a fight.

Film Appearances: Yongary, Monster From the Deep (1967), Yonggary (1999)

Yongary was South Korea’s stab at a Godzilla of their own, and although the 1967 film is the easily mocked subject of a pretty good Mystery Science Theater 3000 episode, there are worse kaiju movies from that decade — including some real stinkers in the Godzilla and especially the Gamera franchises. The original movie is simultaneously at its best and its worst during a sequence when Yongary inexplicably dances to surf rock alongside the plucky young boy protagonist. (He does not dance in the ’99 movie, which boasts some seriously not-ready-for-primetime CGI and lacks the earnest charm of the original.)

Would It Stand a Chance Against Godzilla or Kong? Tragically, Godzilla might actually be a better dancer than Yongary.

Film Appearances: Pulgasari (1985)

The story behind Pulgasari is more monstrous than the actual creature, a giant metal-eating monster that terrorizes feudal Korea and represents the evils of capitalism, sort of. In 1978, Kim Jong-il had South Korean Shin Sang-ok and his wife kidnapped and “re-educated” in North Korea to make propaganda films. Kim, who was the heir to rule North Korea at the time, was a big fan of Godzilla , and Pulgasari was the fourth and final movie Shin made before escaping eight years of captivity. Kim even tricked a bunch of people who did special effects for Godzilla movies, including suitmation actor Kenpachiro Satsuma, into working on Pulgasari . Despite the dubiously acquired behind-the-scenes talent, Pulgasari is quite bad as a film, but you gotta marvel at North Korea’s signature kaiju.

Would It Stand a Chance Against Godzilla or Kong? Capitalism wins again, as Pulgasari doesn’t have what it takes to tango with Godzilla or Kong.

Film Appearances: Troll Hunter (2010), Troll (2022)

Troll Hunter and Troll are not part of the same franchise; the former is a mockumentary about a man whose job it is to hunt mythological trolls in Norway, and the latter is a pretty fun Netflix release about a giant stone troll stomping toward Oslo. Still, both are very fun examples of a country taking its mythology and applying those legends to the kaiju format. Troll Hunter is the more inventive of the two movies while Troll follows the basic beats of a ’50s or ’60s monster flick in a charmingly clichéd way.

Would They Stand a Chance Against Godzilla or Kong? This would be pretty sick, actually. Godzilla hasn’t ever really fought a monster made out of stone before. Godzilla x Kong x Troll when???

Film Appearances: Daimajin (1966), Return of Daimajin (1966), Daimajin Strikes Again (1966)

Is something a kaiju if it’s a big human rather than a giant monster? With respect to The Amazing Colossal Man (1957), Attack of the 50 Foot Woman (1958), and Ultraman and the rest of the Kyodai Hero subgenre, they’re not quite what we’re talking about when discussing famous kaiju (though Ultraman certainly fought his fare share of them). The giant stone demons in the Daimajin series, three movies from the same studio behind Gamera, are closer to the kaiju spirit. The title creatures, which are summoned to overthrow warlords in feudal Japan, are just inhuman enough to distinguish themselves.

Would They Stand a Chance Against Godzilla or Kong? Given that they’ve only gone up against swords, bows and arrows, and other technology from feudal Japan, it’s unclear how a Daimajin would fare against an average tank that Godzilla or Kong would easily shrug off.

Film Appearances: Konga (1961)

If Gorgo was the U.K.’s pretty good riff on Godzilla, Konga is the isles’ very bad take on King Kong. Featuring an oddly complex plot about a botanist who develops a serum that turns his pet chimpanzee into a gorilla-size henchman he sics on his critics, Konga doesn’t even make its titular ape grow to kaiju proportions until the climax. There is something charming, though, about seeing what is clearly just a man in a gorilla suit be played so straightforward and earnestly like a special effect.

Would It Stand a Chance Against Godzilla or Kong? Assuming that Kong has no qualms about fighting one of his own species, Konga won’t last long.

Film Appearances: Reptilicus (1961)

Reptilicus was Denmark’s attempt to get in on the kaiju craze of the early ’60s and, frankly, it shouldn’t have. Even more so than Konga , Reptilicus is a laughable effort, and it’s a wonder that it took until the Netflix revival for Mystery Science Theater 3000 to lambast it. A Danish mishmash of plots and tropes from other, better monster movies, Reptilicus is maybe the least-convincing kaiju in any movie, never looking like anything but the silly rubber puppet it was. Despite, or perhaps because of, Reptilicus ’s infamous badness, it’s a definite kaiju classic.

Would It Stand a Chance Against Godzilla or Kong? No. I don’t need to elaborate.

Anne Hathaway

Film Appearances: Well, lots of them, but she’s only a kaiju in one, Colossal (2016)

Anne Hathaway is our beloved theater-kid queen, but she was only King Kong–size in one movie, Colossal . In it, she plays an adrift, underachieving adult whose alcoholism manifests as a giant monster that lays waste to Seoul when she’s drunk. (Jason Sudeikis co-stars; he’s a giant robot.) Although primarily a heady comedy-drama with a definite sci-fi slant, Colossal makes a pretty good kaiju movie out of its metaphors.

Would They Stand a Chance Against Godzilla or Kong? Hathaway has won one Academy Award and been nominated for another. This puts her ahead of Godzilla, who only has the one win and no other nominations, but behind Kong, who won three Oscars for Peter Jackson’s 2005 movie plus one more win and two noms for the 1976 King Kong .

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The 13 Best Shows and Movies for Your Dino-Obsessed Kid

I t frustrates my youngest son that he's still too young to watch Jurassic Park while his older brother has now seen it twice and watches the Netflix spin-off Camp Cretaceous regularly. However, the future paleontologist/astronaut/doctor/first responder (he likes jobs) can watch plenty of dino-centric content appropriate for his age, with much of it falling into the educational realm.

We're Back: A Dinosaur Story (1993)

It's a plot similar to Jurassic Park : A scientist wants modern children to experience dinosaurs, so he makes them friendly and intelligent and sends them to '90s New York City, where they befriend two kids. But the scientist has an evil brother who wants to turn the creatures into their true, monstrous selves. Marketed as a family-friendly animated alternative to Spielberg's PG-13 scare fest, it has a lot for kids to like, but adults may find it lacking.

Where to stream: Digital rental

Dinosaur Train (2009)

A family of Pteranodons adopts a young T-rex named Buddy. When the curious creature wants to learn about other dinosaurs, he and his family hop aboard the titular train. Produced by The Jim Henson Company and PBS, this delightful animated show is educational without alienating its young audience. Parents will learn some new things, too!

Where to stream: PBS Kids, Prime Video, Digital rental

Walking With Dinosaurs (2013)

Like Jurassic Park , this film, about a dinosaur who overcomes adversity to become the leader of his herd, features realistic-looking CGI characters. However, the movie takes its title from the excellent BBC documentary series of the same name, making its depictions of dinosaurs (mostly) scientifically accurate for the time.

Baby: Secret of the Lost Legend (1985)

Young kids won't care that the titular brontosaurus, brought to life by stop-motion, doesn't hold a candle to today's special effects. On the other hand, parents will get lost in the nostalgia of this '80s classic about a paleontologist couple trying to protect the young dino from an evil scientist.

Andy's Prehistoric Adventures (2016)

This British TV series, in which a museum worker goes back in time and gets into misadventures with dinosaurs and mammoths, is aimed toward the preschool set with its 15-minute episodes and fun, goofy tone.

Where to stream: Pluto TV

Dinosaur Island (2014)

There's lots of fun for the entire family in this British adventure film about a mysterious crystal that teleports items from different periods on an island. However, the big draw is it might be the first to show feathers on a Tyrannosaurus, something seemingly unheard-of in movies in which the big-headed lizard with tiny arms is supposed to look and be menacing.

Where to stream: Pluto TV, Tubi, Freevee, Roku Channel, YouTube, Digital rental

Dino Dan/Dino Dana (2010, 2017)

Dan—and, in the sequel series, Dana—are young paleontologists-to-be who can see the creatures they are studying in the modern world. What sets these two Canadian television programs apart from other dino-centric shows is their focus on how scientific thinking plays a role in helping the main characters learn more about prehistoric creatures.

Where to stream: Prime Video

Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs (2009)

As it was the first film in the Ice Age series in 3D, the producers decided to up the game for the mammoth Manny, sabre tooth Diego, and Sid the sloth by mixing up time periods and throwing dinos into the mix. Your kids will learn very little about the prehistoric or ice ages by watching this film, but at least they'll have some fun.

Where to stream: Disney+, Digital rental

Dino Ranch (2021)

This award-winning animated children's show released its third season last September. It has become so popular among its preschool audience that a stage show chronicling the adventures of the Cassidy family's dino sanctuary toured across America last year.

Where to stream: Disney+, The Roku Channel, Digital rental

Lego Jurassic World: The Secret Exhibit (2018)

Is pairing Lego with the Jurassic World franchise a clever way to sell toys to children? Yes. Is it also a fun way to introduce kids to a series of movies that they aren't old enough to watch yet? Also yes. Plus, there are plenty of Easter eggs and in-jokes referencing the previous films in the series to keep parents entertained, too.

Where to stream: Peacock, Digital rental

Amazing Dinoworld (2019)

This documentary series, which premiered on the educational streaming service Curiosity Stream , focuses on the latest discoveries that paleontologists have made about creatures in the prehistoric age, many of which contradict what we've become accustomed to in the movies.

Where to stream: Fubo TV, The Roku Channel, Tubi, Curiosity Stream

The Land Before Time (1988)

We wouldn't be doing our jobs if we didn't include this '80s animated classic. At times tragic and heartwarming, the film, produced by Spielberg and George Lucas and directed by Don Bluth, follows a young Apatosaurus and his friends searching for greener pastures, but a hungry T-rex is on their tails. The film inspired 13 sequels and a television show, but the original is the best by far. Try not to cry.

Where to stream: YouTube, Digital rental

Prehistoric Planet (2022)

Dinosaur documentaries get the David Attenborough treatment in this eye-popping five-part series that uses up-to-date research and photorealistic effects similar to those used in the remakes of The Jungle Book and The Lion King. A second season premiered the following year.

Where to stream: Apple TV+

The 13 Best Shows and Movies for Your Dino-Obsessed Kid

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I loved this show as a kid and i still think it's amazing., legitimately one of the best shows from my childhood, half-baked and nonsensical, not for kids, mostly a missed opportunity.

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‘Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes’ | Anatomy of a Scene

The director wes ball narrates a sequence from his film..

I’m Wes Ball, director of “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes.” This is a little sequence in the very beginning of the movie after our trio of apes here, Noa, Soona and Anaya, have just had a little adventure and they’re on their way back to their village, where we get to meet the life of Eagle Clan and where Noa and his family reside, this little isolated existence. And we get to see the way the apes live in this world with their eagles. And and how this ritual of collecting their egg, which they’re going to raise as companions, which is part of the way the Eagle Clan kind of works in their culture. And the goal was really just to set up a world that was wonderful, that was ultimately going to be forever changed when the course of events leads to Noa’s village being attacked for the most part, everything you see here was actually shot with the actors. We shoot it twice, we shoot it once with the actors and all of their little performance things and the camera movement and everything. So we are shooting a regular movie. It just happens to be that these guys are wearing these kind of strange suits along with the cameras and the dots on their face that captures all the performance. And then I have to go in and then re- duplicate those shots without the apes, which is where I choose. Whatever performance I choose now gets dropped into the scene itself. So this isn’t something where we just kind of animate the characters after the fact. We’re actually on location and they’re there in their digital costumes, essentially, acting out everything you see on camera, with the exception of, say, background action, there’s a group of apes in the background playing what we called monkey ball, and just we did that all on stage. So that’s kind of the beauty of the power of this process, is that we can populate this whole scene with hundreds of apes. But we only needed a handful of apes on set. This is Dar, Noa’s mother, who’s a fantastic character, played by Sara Wiseman, who did a great job. “I knew you would climb well.” “He waits.” And this character of Noa here, you kind start to see this relationship that he has with his father, which is an interesting kind of relationship that I imagine a lot of people could relate to. They don’t know quite how to communicate with each other, but there’s obviously still love there. It’s an interesting process where I can take all these different little elements and layer them all together and stack them into this — what you see is the end result here, this little idyllic community.

By Alissa Wilkinson

For a series with a goofy premise — what if talking apes overthrew humanity — the “Planet of the Apes” universe is uncommonly thoughtful, even insightful. If science fiction situates us in a universe that’s just different enough to slip daring questions past our mental barriers, then the “Apes” movies are among the best examples. That very premise, launched with talking actors in ape costumes in the 1968 film, has given storytellers a lot to chew on, contemplating racism, authoritarianism, police brutality and, in later installments, the upending of human society by a brutal, fast-moving virus. (Oops.)

Those later virus-ridden installments, a trilogy released between 2011 and 2017, are among the series’ best, and well worth revisiting. The newest film, “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes,” picks up exactly where that trilogy left off: with the death of Caesar, the ultrasmart chimpanzee who has led the apes away from what’s left of humanity and into a paradise. (The scene was a direct quotation of the story of Moses leading the Israelites to the Promised Land, but dying before he could set foot there.) The apes honor his memory and vow to keep his teachings, especially the first dictum — “ape not kill ape.” Caesar preached a gospel of peacefulness, loyalty, generosity, nonaggression and care for the earth; unlike the humans, they intend to live in harmony.

The teachings of peaceful prophets, however, tend to be twisted by power-seekers, and apparently this isn’t just a human problem. “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes,” directed by Wes Ball from a screenplay by Josh Friedman, leaps forward almost immediately by “many generations” (years matter less in this post-human world), and the inevitable has happened. The apes have fractured into tribes, while Caesar has passed from historical figure to mythic one, a figure venerated by some and forgotten by most.

That there even was a Caesar is unknown to Noa (Owen Teague), a young chimpanzee whose father, Koro (Neil Sandilands) is leader of his clan and an avid breeder of birds. That clan has its own laws, mostly having to do with how to treat birds’ nests, and that’s all that Noa and his friends Anaya (Travis Jeffery) and Soona (Lydia Peckham) have known.

But then one day tragedy strikes, in the form of an attack on the clan by the soldiers of Proximus Caesar (Kevin Durand), the leader of a clan of coastal apes. Noa finds himself alone, searching for his clan, who have been carted away. On his journey Noa meets a human (Freya Allen) who, like the other humans, doesn’t speak.

At this point in the evolution of the virus, mutations have rendered any surviving humanity speechless and dull-witted, living in roving bands and running from predators; to the apes it’s as preposterous to imagine a talking human as a talking ape is to us. But he also meets Raka (Peter Macon), who believes himself to be the last of the faithful followers of Caesar’s peaceful teachings, even wearing Caesar’s diamond-shaped symbol around his neck. (Eagle-eyed viewers will recall that the symbol echoes the shape of the window in the room in which Caesar was raised as a baby.) Noa learns from Raka. And when he finds what he’s looking for, he realizes he has an important job to do.

Two apes and a woman with serious looks stand near a body of water.

“Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes” is not quite as transporting as the previous trilogy, perhaps because the apes now act so much like humans that the fruitful dissonance in our minds has mostly been mitigated. It’s simpler to imagine the apes as just stand-in humans when they’re all talking, and thus easier to just imagine you’re watching, say, “The Lion King” or something.

But there’s still a tremendous amount to mull over here, like Proximus Caesar, who borrows the idea of Caesar to prop up his own version of leadership. The real Caesar was undoubtedly strong and brave, but Proximus Caesar has mutated this into swagger and shows of force, an aggression designed to keep his apes in line. He is not brutal, exactly; He is simply insistently powerful and more than a bit of a fascist. Every morning, he greets his subjects by proclaiming that it is a “wonderful day,” and that he is Caesar’s rightful heir, and that they must all work together as one to build their civilization ever stronger.

Visual cues indicate that Proximus Caesar’s kingdom is modeled partly on the Roman Empire, with its colonizing influence and its intention to sweep the riches of the ancient human world — its history, its labor, its technology — into its own coffers. By telling his version of Caesar’s legacy, Proximus Caesar makes the apes believe they are part of some mighty, unstoppable force of history.

But of course, history has a habit of repeating itself, whether it’s ancient Rome or Egypt, and in Proximus Caesar’s proclamations one detects a bit of Ozymandias : Look on his works, ye mighty, and despair! “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes” is set in the future, but like a lot of science fiction — “Dune,” for instance, or “Battlestar Galactica,” or Walter Miller’s “A Canticle for Leibowitz” — there’s a knowing sense that all this has happened before, and all this will happen again.

That’s what makes “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes” powerful, in the end. It probes how the act of co-opting idealisms and converting them to dogmas has occurred many times over. What’s more, it points directly at the immense danger of romanticizing the past, imagining that if we could only reclaim and reframe and resurrect history, our present problems would be solved. Golden ages were rarely actually golden, but history is littered with leaders who tried to make people believe they were anyhow. It’s a great way to make people do their bidding.

There are some hints near the end of “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes” of what might be next for the franchise, should it be fated to continue. But the uneasy fun of the series is we already know what happens, eventually; it was right there in the first movie, and the warning it poses remains bleak.

At the start of the 1968 film, the star Charlton Heston explains, “I can’t help thinking somewhere in the universe there has to be something better than man.” You might have expected, from a movie like this, that “better” species would be these apes. But it turns out we might have to keep looking.

Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes Rated PG-13, for scenes of peril and woe and a couple of funny, mild swear words. Running time: 2 hours 25 minutes. In theaters.

Alissa Wilkinson is a Times movie critic. She’s been writing about movies since 2005. More about Alissa Wilkinson

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All the king kong movies, ranked.

With the release of 'Godzilla x Kong: New Empire,' here's a ranking of the 13 Kong movies — worst to best.

By Richard Newby

Richard Newby

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GODZILLA X KONG: THE NEW EMPIRE, Kong, 2024.

The Eighth Wonder of the World!

King Kong has been a global pop-culture icon for more than 90 years, and the great ape shows no signs of slowing down. While most audiences are familiar with just a few Kong entries, you might be surprised to know there are 13 Kong films, including the most recent entry to the Monsterverse: Godzilla x Kong: New Empire , which, despite the second billing, is very much a Kong-centric film. Across television, film, comics and novels, Kong has yet to be aped, though other primates have certainly tried.

Below, I make the climb down from where the original Kong met his tragic fate and rank his films, from near-death experiences to satisfying safety. Here they are, worst to best.

13. Kong: Return to the Jungle (2006)

The third animated Kong film, and the second to follow Kong: The Animated Series , is just about as bottom of the barrel as you can get in the Kong saga. Made with “state-of-the-art CGI Animation!” as the DVD proclaims, Return to the Jungle has headache-inducing visuals that look like test animation from the early days of the PlayStation 2. In the film, Kong is captured by an evil hunter who plans to put Kong, and the dinosaurs of Kong Island in a special zoo, and it’s up to Kong’s friends, Jason (Kirby Morrow), Tann (Scott McNeil), and Lua (Saffron Henderson) to rescue him. Even as a franchise completionist, this was dire. But you’re in luck, so are the next two!

12. The Mighty Kong (1998)

The missing element of King Kong (1933) was that it wasn’t a musical, you say? Well, 1998’s The Mighty Kong solves that. The direct-to-video animated film is essentially a rapidly paced, poorly edited remake of the original movie, starring Dudley Moore in his final role as Carl Denham. You might suppose it was made for kids, and I guess that was the intention, only it’s so boring, so focused on the weirdly mature romance between Ann and Jack, while also being overly silly, that it’s not clear who this was made for. There is clearly an aim to draw in the Disney crowd, with Jodie voicing Ann and The Sherman Brothers ( The Jungle Book , The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh , Mary Poppins ) writing the songs. But, there’s not an earworm in the bunch. Oh, and Kong falls from the Empire State Building and lives, forever trapped in this musical misery.

11. Kong: King of Atlantis (2005)

The first follow-up to Kong: The Animated Series is blissfully not made with “state-of-the-art CGI Animation!” and instead just traditional hand-drawn animation. Kong, who is not the original Kong, but a clone whose DNA was stabilized with the DNA of his human brother, Jason, struggles to protect Kong Island from the threat of a rising Atlantis. The concept of Kong being manipulated by a snake-woman sorceress to replace the world above with the fabled sunken one is the kind of Edgar Rice Burroughs/Robert E. Howard-esque storytelling Kong could thrive in. But alas, the pulpiness is overridden by shallow storytelling and, if you can believe it, musical numbers. Again. The songs here largely rely on nonsensical rhyming and repeated refrains that pad the film’s runtime to a hour and 9 minutes, when 25 minutes would’ve sufficed.

10. King Kong Lives (1986)

We’ve made it out of the animated era of Kong to arrive at, well, a live-action film that frankly isn’t much better. The sequel to King Kong (1976), King Kong Lives brings back director John Guillermin for a dull affair that finds Kong alive after his fall from the World Trade Center, and in need of a heart transplant. How does a giant ape get a heart transplant? Well scientists, led by Dr. Amy Franklin (Linda Hamilton) engineer an artificial one. But there’s not enough blood to keep it pumping, so adventurer Hank Mitchell (Brian Kerwin) returns to the mysterious island from the previous film and finds a female Kong and captures her, just like that. Dubbed Lady Kong, the female ape takes part in a successful blood transfusion, before she and Kong escape from the lab where they are pursued by the army led by the mustache-twirling Lt. Col. Archie Nevitt (John Ashton). While it finally seems like there might be some excitement in store, it’s largely a bore, undercut by frequent attempts at comedy. How does one make giant apes facing the military boring, despite explosions and primate bloodshed? For a film that was intended to be an emotional romance, the only thing moving about King Kong Lives is the restlessness your body goes through while watching it.

9. Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire (2024)

The latest entry in Legendary’s Monsterverse once again brings Kong and Godzilla together, but this time as allies instead of enemies. Much like Adam Wingard’s previous film, GvK , the movie is far more interested in monster fights than human characters. Some of the fights are cool, while others are a bit wild with the camera movements, making it difficult to track where the creatures are spatially. There are large swaths of the film that take place in the Hollow Earth, where the human characters, Dr. Andrews (Rebecca Hall), Bernie (Brian Tyree Henry), Trapper (Dan Stevens) and Jia (Kaylee Hottle) are absent, and Kong and his compatriots might as well have been gorilla-sized, robbing the film of the human perspective needed to give the titans scale. And when humans do become the focus, they largely exist to either provide exposition or relief. While there are elements of what could’ve been a strong Kong movie, including his finding a surrogate son in Suko, GxK s hoves Godzilla into the mix where he doesn’t do much other than undercut the drama in Kong’s fight against the villainous giant primate, Skar King who, even with his captive kaiju, the ice breathing Shimo, is not a threat big enough to require the team-up between the two in the first place.

8. King Kong Escapes (1967)

Following Toho’s hit, King Kong vs. Godzilla (1962), Toho partnered with the then-current owners of Kong, Rankin/Bass, and director Ishirō Honda to develop a film loosely based on Rankin/Bass’ cartoon series, The King Kong Show . The result is a weird, albeit fun, mishmash of genres that sees the evil, Bond villain-inspired Dr. Who (Hideyo Amamoto) build Mechani-Kong for the sole purpose of excavating a site in the North Pole where the radioactive Element X is hidden. Mechani-Kong fails, and Dr. Who decides no imitators will suffice, he needs the real Kong. Hypnotized, Kong does Dr. Who’s bidding until Kong’s latest human love interest Lt. Susan Watson (Linda Jo Miller) breaks him out of his trance, just in time for a showdown with Mechani-Kong. The plot is simple, but there’s still fun to be had with this entry. Originally Toho had planned for Ebirah, Horror of the Deep (1966) to be a Kong installment as well but after disagreements over the choice of director, Rankin/Bass dropped out and Horror of the Deep became a Godzilla film, though it still feels very much like a Kong film.

7. Godzilla vs. Kong (2021)

The fourth entry in Legendary’s Monsterverse series brings the two titans together again for the first time in nearly 60 years. Wingard’s film focuses heavily on the monster fights, but loses the humanity and thematic reckoning with the continued effects of nuclear power on the environment of the modern world that defined the previous three entries. Yes, the fights between Godzilla and Kong are fun to watch, but there’s a lack of awe as a result of the majority of the human cast being sidelined or cut out of the film entirely. Where is Jessica Henwick? Madison Russell (Millie Bobby Brown) doesn’t get any character development, and the new characters introduced like Nathan Lind (Alexander Skarsgård) and Ilene Andrews (Rebecca Hall) are ciphers. Some subplots go nowhere and characters, like Ren Serizawa (Shun Oguri) aren’t even connected to very obvious threads from previous films that would’ve added some layers. It’s a film cut to pieces in post-production, and none of it amounts to anything more than “big monsters, crash, bang, crash,” which can be entertaining for a while, but it doesn’t feel in tune with the Monsterverse as it previously existed.

6. King Kong vs. Godzilla (1962)

The third Kong installment and third Godzilla installment saw the icons come to blows. The result was the most-attended Godzilla film in Japan, until Godzilla: Minus One (2023), when a pharmaceutical company captures Kong to use as their spokes-ape until Godzilla awakens and frees himself from an iceberg. At that point, the Japanese military decides to use Kong as a weapon against Godzilla. Despite Godzilla being on his home turf, the giant reptile was still a villain at this point in the franchise, so despite Kong being an American creation, he triumphs over Godzilla. The battle includes the famous scene-turned-meme, in which Kong shoves a tree, trunk-first, down Godzilla’s throat. But battle aside, there is some greater significance to the film in how it explores pharmaceutical consumerism through exploitation and dehumanization. The film also launched the popular “Godzilla vs.” formula, which carried the Toho productions well into the 21st century.

5. The Son of Kong (1933)

Released just nine months after the sensation of King Kong , Son of Kong is a much slighter film (running at just 69 minutes) and was made as a cash-grab. Despite that, director Ernest B. Schoedsack manages to deliver a very entertaining B-movie that follows Kong’s offspring along with the publicly despised Carl Denham (Robert Armstrong). With the threat of prison looming over them, Denham and Captain Englehorn (Frank Reicher) make for the seas and pick up a stowaway, Hilda (Helen Mack), and the rumor of buried treasure on Skull Island along the way. Upon his return to Skull Island, Denham befriends a giant albino ape whom he dubs Little Kong. The film is pulpier than the original, showcasing Little Kong’s fight against the island’s dinosaurs and a massive cave bear. But there’s something charming about Denham’s relationship with him and the film serves as a bit of a redemption for the infamous promotor. Despite its hasty production, Son of Kong doesn’t miss a step in its stop-motion effects, and much like the original King Kong , Son of Kong was also an influence on Peter Jackson, who owns one of the two existing Little Kong models.

4. Kong: Skull Island (2017)

The second installment in the Monsterverse, directed by Jordan Vogt-Roberts, takes Kong back to a time before he was King and was just a little fella. Ok, so not little exactly, but smaller and younger than the Kong we’ve come to know in the current entries. Vogt-Roberts populates Skull Island with strange creatures, including the Skullcrawlers, and an entire ecosystem of giant monsters, tackling the film with a monster-lover’s glee. But alongside those impressive creations, the film doesn’t refrain from a semi-serious consideration of Vietnam vets sent to explore the island, while still carrying the war with them. Though it contains plenty of visual references to Apocalypse Now , it never goes that deep or dark. Not that it necessarily needed to, but the only major flaw of the film is that the tone isn’t entirely consistent. But it does enough to provide an emotional connection to some of the characters, namely soldier James Conrad (Tom Hiddleston), anti-war photographer Mason Weaver (Brie Larson), Army Lieutenant Colonel Preston Packard (Samuel L. Jackson) and Hank Marlow (John C. Reilly) who survived on the island after crashing during WWII. The film also makes great strides in its portrayal of the Island’s indigenous people, who are protected by Kong. Also, Larry Fong’s cinematography makes for some of the most striking images in Kong’s cinematic history.

3. King Kong (1976)

The first remake of King Kong is the first Kong movie I had the experience of seeing, and thus I have a particular fondness for it, one that holds up upon rewatch. Starring Jeff Bridges, Jessica Lange and Charles Grodin, King Kong sails on the talent of its cast, along with the effects by Carlo Rambaldi and Rick Baker. While it doesn’t quite evoke the horror or thrills of the original film, it makes up for it with a sweeping romantic adventure that could’ve only been made in the ’70s. When Petrox Oil Company exec Fred Wilson (Grodin) discovers evidence of an oil deposit on a mysterious island, he plans an expedition to the island, despite the warnings of paleontologist, Jack Prescott (Bridges), who has heard legends of the island’s many dangers. After discovering an actress on a raft, Dwan (Lange), the only survivor of a yacht that exploded, Prescott has all the more reason to stay. The journey to the island doesn’t deliver on the promise of oil, but there is a great power there. Behind the giant wall built by a tribe of indigenous people, lives Kong. Refusing to come back to the States empty-handed, Wilson decides to capture Kong. Interestingly enough, Guillermin’s film borrows a key narrative element of King Kong vs. Godzilla . This time, instead of Kong being used as an advertisement for a pharmaceutical company, he’s the prize of Big Oil who use him as a crown-clad mascot, mockingly named King Kong. With charming chemistry between Bridges and Lange, the theatrics of Grodin, and a show-stopper of a third act that is wildly bloody, King Kong succeeds as both a remake of a timeless story and it’s a time capsule of a period defined by gas shortages, a President invested in big oil and the continued exploitation of the resources of stolen land.

2. King Kong (1933)

King Kong not only changed cinema, it made giant monsters a staple of our media, inspiring the creation of Godzilla , Mothra , Them! , Cloverfield , Pacific Rim and on and on the list goes. Considered to be one of cinema’s greatest achievements and a technical marvel that proved revolutionary for stop-motion, matte paintings rear-screen projection, and miniatures. There’s not a genre film in existence that doesn’t owe something to King Kong .

Directed by Merian C. Cooper and Ernest B. Schoedsack, King Kong f ollows documentarian Carl Denham (Robert Armstrong) who has his sights set on a new film, shot at a far and exotic location. After hiring struggling actress Ann Darrow (Fay Wray), Denham sets off the ship, The Venture, along with Captain Englehorn (Frank Reicher) and his first mate, Jack Driscoll (Bruce Cabot) to Skull Island where they meet an indigenous tribe who decides to sacrifice Ann to their god, Kong, leading to Fay Wray’s iconic scream. Denham, Jack and several crew members search for Ann on the island, encountering dinosaurs and all manner of extinct life forms. Dated as some of the effects are now, the film still feels thrilling, and the narrative so involving that we invite a suspension of belief so that we might believe in the magic of what’s on screen, just like the audiences of 1933. By the time we arrive at that iconic ending, of Kong atop the Empire State Building, Ann clutched in his hand, as the Biplanes swarm him, it’s nearly impossible not to feel compassion for this monster, to project our humanity onto this model figure and turn him real while we submit to the chills that take over when Denham offers the film’s final, tragic statement, “No, it wasn’t the airplanes. It was Beauty killed the Beast.”

1. King Kong (2005)

No, it’s not as influential, nor revolutionary, as the 1933 film, but Peter Jackson’s King Kong is a giant beating heart that’s not only a love letter to the original film, but to everything that made Peter Jackson the director Peter Jackson — the horror, the fantasy, the imaginary world and theatric considerations of love.

The Lord of the Rings Trilogy is his magnum opus, but King Kong feels like his most personal film, his gift to the 9-year-old boy he once was whose life was changed by seeing the 1933 film. Jackson had worked towards this film since 1996, and you could almost call it obsession not unlike Carl Denham’s (Jack Black) to deliver something on a scale the world had never seen, but also something definitive to his journey as an artist. As the most expensive movie ever made at the time, it’s one of those ambitious swings where a director puts the entirety of himself on display and you can feel it in every frame.

The plot follows the same beats as the 1933 film, but Jackson finds numerous places to expand on the characters, their relationships and the world of Skull Island, all backed by Andrew Lesnie’s rich cinematography, composer James Newton Howard’s enthralling score, and the epic and emotional storytelling of co-writers Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens. When I saw it, I felt something akin to what audiences felt watching The Wizard of Oz (1939) for the first time. Like stepping out of the real world and into one of pure imagination, a land of endless discoveries where every monster-kid could find something to captivate them. Dinosaurs, giant insects, hidden temples and Kong (Andy Serkis) himself. Kong’s relationship with Ann (Naomi Watts) contains a kind of lyrical beauty, compared to her more practical, though no less engaging, romance with Jack (Adrian Brody). There’s an ice-skating scene between Ann and Kong before the climax of the film, and knowing the tragedy to come, it’s one of the most heartbreaking scenes in 21st-century cinema. As far as remakes go, this is one that not only expands on the original in some exciting ways, but it gives the audience better insight into the filmmaker.

Head here for a ranking of all the Godzilla monsters.

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‘Tiger King’ Ruling Could Limit ‘Fair Use’ of Video Clips in Documentaries

By Gene Maddaus

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Joe Exotic speaks at the funeral of his husband Travis Maldonado in a scene from the Netflix series 'Tiger King.'

Filmmakers are warning that a recent ruling in a copyright suit against Netflix over its “ Tiger King ” docuseries could restrict the use of video clips in documentaries, and upset a long-held understanding of what constitutes “fair use.”

The 10th Circuit Court of Appeals, based in Denver, ruled in March that the use of a 66-second excerpt from a funeral video was not “transformative” under the Copyright Act. The three-judge panel remanded the case to a lower court to determine if Netflix violated the copyright of Tim Sepi, the videographer who shot the scene.

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“It’s a big deal,” said attorney Chris Perez, a co-author of “Clearance & Copyright,” a film industry guide to rights clearance issues. “It disrupts the common practice that documentary filmmakers have been employing for the last couple decades.”

Documentaries often pay to license archival footage. But sometimes the copyright holder cannot be found, or refuses to grant a license, or demands too high a price. In those cases, the filmmakers may invoke the “fair use” exception under the Copyright Act, which allows the use of copyrighted material under certain conditions, especially if the use is “transformative.”

True crime documentaries — which have exploded over the last decade — often rely heavily on old news clips or online video obtained without a license.

In the “Tiger King” case, the filmmakers used a clip of zookeeper Joe Exotic giving an off-color eulogy of his husband while dressed in a clerical collar. The original 24-minute video was livestreamed and posted on Exotic’s YouTube page.

“Tiger King” was released in March 2020, and it became an instant pandemic-era hit .

Sepi, who had worked for Exotic as a videographer, sued Netflix in September 2020 in federal court Oklahoma, alleging that the filmmakers had taken a clip from the funeral, along with seven other clips, without his approval and without any credit.

The judge ruled that the funeral clip — shot after Sepi resigned — was “fair use” because the filmmakers had added their own perspective to Sepi’s raw material, thereby transforming it into something new.

The 10th Circuit overturned that portion of the ruling, finding that the filmmakers were not commenting on Sepi’s footage. Instead, they were using Sepi’s footage to comment on Exotic, which the panel found was not sufficiently “transformative” of the original work.

“In other words, the purported commentary did not ‘comment’ on the original composition, but rather targeted a character in the composition,” wrote Judge Jerome Holmes, on behalf of the panel. “Defendants simply wished to use Mr. Sepi’s Funeral Video to convey a new meaning or message — viz., commenting on and criticizing Mr. Exotic.”

In reaching that conclusion, the panel relied on the Supreme Court’s decision in the Andy Warhol case last year. In that case, the court limited the scope of the “fair use” defense, finding that the artist’s rendition of a magazine photo of Prince was not sufficiently transformative.

The Motion Picture Association, which represents the major studios, filed an amicus brief last week supporting Netflix’s request for rehearing, and arguing that the court had misapplied the Warhol case.

“The Panel’s unfounded and erroneous rule jeopardizes the ability of creators to create works that are grounded in or comment upon real-world people, places, and events,” the MPA’s lawyers argued. “There is a rich tradition of such works utilizing discrete portions of prior works as historical reference points or to illustrate underlying events.”

The International Documentary Association submitted its own amicus brief, along with other groups representing independent filmmakers. They argued that the ruling will “create a massive chilling effect on documentary filmmaking.”

“It will require documentarians to find and seek license deals from people who cannot be identified or have no interest in licensing their works,” they argued. “It will create massive transaction costs that will make documentary filmmaking prohibitively expensive. It will grant copyright holders unprecedented control over discussions of history and culture, turning copyright into a form of private censorship.”

In its ruling, the 10th Circuit also emphasized the “commercial” nature of Netflix’s use of the clip, noting that “Tiger King” was streamed by 34 million viewers in its first 10 days of release, and finding that weighed against a claim of fair use.

Sepi’s attorney, Andrew Grimm, likewise stressed Netflix’s commercial power in arguing that the streamer had taken advantage of his client. He noted that Sepi was paid just $150 per week, plus lodging in a trailer, while he worked at Exotic’s private zoo.

Perez, a partner at Donaldson Callif Perez, argued that nearly all documentaries — from the smallest independents to Netflix juggernauts — are made with some hope of a commercial payoff.

Since the Warhol decision, Perez said his advice to filmmakers on “fair use” has become slightly more conservative. He said that he advises against lifting footage from another documentary — as that is too similar to the intended use. And he said he warns to be careful when using still photographs.

But he said the “Tiger King” decision — if it stands — would go much farther in limiting filmmakers’ choices.

“It throws in a tremendous amount of confusion,” he said. “We’re really, really hoping this changes.”

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Dino King
Netflix Review: "The Dino King"
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Netflix Review: "The Dino King"

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All King Of Jurassic Dinasaurs Skills [DINO KING]
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Dino King
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The Dino King part 4 Spike & Sombra conversation
This Old Dinosaur Movie Is An Uncanny Nightmare

COMMENTS

Dino King
Rated 4.5/5 Stars • Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 01/21/23 Full Review Audience Member Dino King/Speckles the Tarbosaurus is good dinosaur film that has decent effects, a good score, and a sad story ...
Dino King 3D: Journey to Fire Mountain (2018)
Dino King 3D: Journey to Fire Mountain: Directed by Han Sang-Ho. With Park Hee-soon, Erin Connor, David Collins, Jacqui Duncan. An action-packed family adventure that combines the realism of Walking With Dinosaurs with the heart of Finding Nemo. Speckles, a ferocious tarbosaurus and his young son junior, mourning the loss of their family in an epic battle, roam the lands in search of food ...
Speckles: The Tarbosaurus
Speckles: The Tarbosaurus (점박이: 한반도의 공룡 3D: Jumbagi: Hanbandoui gongryong 3D; ENG: Speckles: Dinosaurs of the Korean Peninsula) is a 2012 3D South Korean computer-generated epic adventure drama film directed by Han Sang-Ho. The film was released under the title Dino King: An Amazing Adventure in the United States. The Dino King was released sometime after a two-part ...
Dino King 3D: Journey to Fire Mountain (2018)
An action-packed family adventure that combines the realism of Walking With Dinosaurs with the heart of Finding Nemo. Speckles, a ferocious tarbosaurus and his young son junior, mourning the loss ...
Dino King (Speckles the Tarbosaurus)
In the end they settled for an amalgamation of both, which comes across as being a Jack of both trades, but a master of neither, a pretty good summation of the entire film. Dino King tries to be both a piece of entertainment and an educational tool at the same time. Unfortunately for all concerned it falls very short of the mark in both respects.
Dino King Journey to Fire Mountain
In a nutshell. Dino King Journey to Fire Mountain is an animated adventure that will appeal to dinosaur fans and younger children. Older audiences may find the simple animation, predictable plot and dry dialogue difficult to endure. The main messages from this movie are to have courage, to trust in yourself and to understand that there are ...
Dino King Journey to Fire Mountain (2018)
Visit the movie page for 'Dino King Journey to Fire Mountain' on Moviefone. Discover the movie's synopsis, cast details and release date. Watch trailers, exclusive interviews, and movie review ...
Dino King: Journey to Fire Mountain
Encountering friend and foe, ally and enemy, Speckles will stop at nothing and will take on all corners to save his offspring. May 28, 2021. Speckles, a ferocious Tarbosaurus and his young son Junior, mourning the loss of their family in an epic battle, roam the lands in search of food, adventure and peace. Under the watchful eye of his dad ...
Amazon.com: Customer reviews: Dino King
Movie Review Summary: Dino King is a brave movie in that it isn't afraid to show some blood and violence as it no doubt was in the Dinosaur Days, where carnivores like T Rex would indeed gouge his teeth into his prey. When it's not gory at all, there is residual blood. That aside, it is similar to Walking with Dinosaurs in that the story is ...
Dino King
Meet Speckles. He's a Tarbosaurus, and lives a happy life in his forest home with his mom and siblings. Until one day, as he's just learning to hunt, he encounters One-Eye, a Tyrannosaur looking for a new place to live. His herd is attacked, leaving poor Speckles alone in the world. But when he meets Blue Eyes, another lonely and lost Tarbosaur, they become close companions - and then, over ...
Dino King Journey to Fire Mountain (2018) Stream and Watch ...
Released December 31st, 2018, 'Dino King Journey to Fire Mountain' stars Park Hee-soon, Ra Mi-ran, Kim Sung-kyun, Kim Eung-soo The G movie has a runtime of about 1 hr 30 min, and received a user ...
Watch Dino King
Dino King. It's a story between the strong father and the coward son, and love and conflict between them. The father is 'Speckles', the Tarbosaurus, who dominated the Eurasia lands during the Cretaceous period and the son, 'Junior' is the only child who is just scared to become a Dino king like his father. 1 h 34 min 2018. 7+. Action · Animation.
THE LION KING BUT WITH DINOSAURS
We're ending 2018 with my take on "Speckles the Tarbosaurus" AKA "The Dino King", every edgy kid's favourite dinosaur movie ever.Copyright Disclaimer, Under ...
Netflix Review: "The Dino King"
Watching a baby gazelle get separated from its herd and then taken down by a lion, followed by a quick cut of it eating it is a pretty sanitized version of what's actually happening. Dino King keeps it "metal" while giving Speckles a voice. It is heart rending to watch a little baby dinosaur crying out for his family as it witnesses his ...
Speckles Returns
Many years after Speckles finally killed his nemesis, One-Eye, and avenged his family, his son Junior is struggling to find the courage his father possesses ...
Amazon.com: Customer reviews: Dino King
Dino King › Customer reviews; Customer reviews. 4.3 out of 5 stars. 4.3 out of 5. 151 global ratings. 5 star 71% 4 star 8% ... My son asked if we could find a CG dinosaur movie, and we aren't yet ready for Jurassic Park. I happened upon this one and I'm glad I did.
Dinosaur King TV Review
January 7, 2023. age 5+. This show really holds up, watched it as. Kid and now 15+ years later rewatching it as an adult with my husband (for laughs and nostalgia), I surprisingly remembered most episodes. It's also really educational as it used over 30 different dinosaur names and teaches true facts about their lives.
King Kong movie review & film summary (2005)
It was beauty killed the beast. There are astonishments to behold in Peter Jackson's new "King Kong," but one sequence, relatively subdued, holds the key to the movie's success. Kong has captured Ann Darrow and carried her to his perch high on the mountain. He puts her down, not roughly, and then begins to roar, bare his teeth and pound his chest.
The 15 Best Movie Kaiju (That Aren't Godzilla or King Kong)
Roger Corman, King of B-Movies, Dies at 98 The prolific director and producer was a trailblazer in the world of independent film, and left a sprawling legacy. role call! Yesterday at 9:22 p.m.
The 13 Best Shows and Movies for Your Dino-Obsessed Kid
Prehistoric Planet(2022) The Jungle Book and The Lion King. A second season premiered the following year. If your kids are too young to watch "Jurassic Park," there are plenty of less-scary ...
Parent reviews for Dinosaur King
Helpful. J M. Adult. January 7, 2023. age 5+. This show really holds up, watched it as. Kid and now 15+ years later rewatching it as an adult with my husband (for laughs and nostalgia), I surprisingly remembered most episodes. It's also really educational as it used over 30 different dinosaur names and teaches true facts about their lives.
Dino King: Journey To Fire Mountain
About this movie. An action-packed family adventure that combines the realism of Walking With Dinosaurs with the heart of Finding Nemo. Speckles, a ferocious tarbosaurus and his young son junior, mourning the loss of their family in an epic battle, roam the lands in search of food, adventure and peace. Under the watchful eye of his dad, Junior ...
Dino King
After the fierce one-eyed T-Rex destroys Speckles' dino family, he is forced to grow up quickly so that he can take on the vicious predator. Games. Apps. ... Dino King. 2023 • 88 minutes. 5.0star. 1 review. 56%. Tomatometer. TV-PG. Rating. family_home. Eligible. info. $5.00 Buy. ... Ratings and reviews aren't verified info_outline.
Movie review: New 'Apes' explores exciting, vast 'Kingdom'
The recent Apes films utilize performance capture technology that allows human actors to play apes that look like real primates. After four movies, this technology is seamless, but Kingdom adds ...
'Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes' Review: Hail, Caesar
But then one day tragedy strikes, in the form of an attack on the clan by the soldiers of Proximus Caesar (Kevin Durand), the leader of a clan of coastal apes. Noa finds himself alone, searching ...
All 13 King Kong Movies, Ranked
10. King Kong Lives (1986) Lady Kong in 'King Kong Lives'. DeLaurentiis Entertainment Group/Courtesy Everett Collection. We've made it out of the animated era of Kong to arrive at, well, a live ...
'Tiger King' Ruling Could Limit Use of Video Clips in ...
Filmmakers are warning that a recent ruling in a copyright suit against Netflix over its " Tiger King " docuseries could restrict the use of video clips in documentaries, and upset a long-held ...

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