***1/2 Kong Faces His Robot Double!

With the success of "King Kong vs. Godzilla", it was pretty much inevitable that Toho would make themselves another Kong movie. This time they stick to the format a little better, but also add one of those "evil villain trying to take over the world, again" plots. Although not technically a sequel to the other Kong movie, there are some familiar elements that survived in the Toho continuity, particularly the ever-popular Gorosaurus and the old robotic double scheme (used again with Mechagodzilla).

The insidious Dr. Who (not to be confused with the real Dr. Who) build himself an overly-elaborate piece of mining equipment he calls "Mechani-Kong". Unfortunately for him and him and his "country-will-not-be-named" sponsor, Madame Piranha (played by one of those Bond girls), the plan to extract "Element-X" near Who’s arctic base ends up just frying Mechani-Kong’s circuits. So the plan changes to instead get the real Kong to do the dirty work. King Kong himself happens to be at the time saving yet another damsel-in-distress from dinosaurs (in this case Gorosaurus). Kong wants to keep little Suzie for himself, but she has business elsewhere helping out Captain Nelson with his international man of mystery work (on their world-traveling submarine). Dr. Who ends up capturing Kong, as well as the cast of main characters who he plans on using to get Kong to mine the "Element X". Well things kind of break down when King Kong escapes, and while he’s making a pit-stop in Tokyo, Dr. Who sicks Mechani-Kong on him. They fight, Mechani-Kong captures Susan, both apes climb Tokyo Tower, and eventually Mechani-Kong falls down and breaks to pieces. Kong then finishes his job by sinking Dr. Who’s ship.

For the most part the whole James Bond type plot works out to produce a fairly entertaining plot. They travel the world (from the arctic to the tropics), use their nifty gadgets (such as the flying car), and get into battle of wits with evil masterminds. Adding to the legitimate entertainment is the generally sill nature to the whole thing. Dr. Who’s little schemes are as ludicrous as any, and watching the failures are about as fun as watching the successes. What the movie succeeds in doing is keeping you entertained throughout the movie, even through the slow parts, and even though much of it is blatantly stolen from other sources (mostly the original Kong movie). Although their is a number of plot themes that seem abandoned halfway and a number of points that seem like they were made up at the last second, for the most part the movie holds up pretty well and keeps the special effects parts glued to the movie as part of a congenial mass.

The special effects themselves are above average for the type of movie that it is. Granted, the bar hasn’t been raised very high, but they are still impressive in that they are slightly better then most daikaiju junk of the time. The suits are decently made, with King Kong looking better then before (but still silly), Mechani-Kong looking like a true robot duplicate, a certain sea-serpent that’s as impressive as it needs to be, and a particular dinosaur that steals the show. The various battles that Kong gets into are pretty good, not the best but still keeps us fans of monster fighting happy. The highlight of the movie is the clash of "Kongs" climbing up Tokyo Tower, which is pretty well done visual as well as keeping the tension of the moment. For the most part the special effects suit the slightly-cartoony nature of the plot, and the movie keeps the same sort of feel throughout.

Somehow an over-the-top bad guy using an inane plot to take over the world using King Kong and/or a robotic duplicate just seems to work in this case. The story is surprisingly deep but still light enough to keep people interested and sticks in enough memorable moments to end up with a decent movie. Rather you are laughing with or laughing at it, you could be in for a fairly fun ride.

Sometimes goofy but sometimes serious and generally entertaining plot

Better than average special effects for the time and place

Dr. Who in this movie makes for a great over-the-top criminal mastermind

A lot of good moments glued together with the overall story fairly well

Decently-made monsters getting into descent fighting scenes

Monster battle stuff could have been a bit better

A number of not-very-well-done special effects moments

Certain scenes are annoyingly moment-for-moment from the original "King Kong"

The music has been used in so many Godzilla movies that it distracts from the fact you are watching a Kong movie

A giant mechanical gorilla? Have you heard of conventional mining techniques?

Credits