Movie Reviews: King Kong Escapes
Evil genius Dr. Hu builds a robotic version of King Kong that he calls Mechani-Kong. He has been employed by Lady X, the leader of an unknown Asian country, to harvest a mysterious element known only as Element X. However, Mechani-Kong reacts badly to Element X and shuts down. Meanwhile, the multi-national crew of a submarine arrives at Mono Island to investigate reports of a giant ape living there. On the island the crew are attacked by a giant dinosaur called Gorosaurus. Fortunately, King Kong comes to their rescue and defeats Gorosaurus. once Dr. Hu discovers this, he has King Kong captured in order to dig up Element X. Kong is able to withstand the radiation, but will not be brainwashed into serving Dr. Hu. When Kong inevitably escapes, Dr. Hu releases Mechani-Kong after Kong.
Thankfully, this film is much better than the last film from Toho that had their version of King Kong in it. It probably helped that there weren't any of those annoying news reports that were added in by the American distributor to explain things that have just happened, because we ignorant Westerners couldn't possibly make up our own minds.
The King Kong suit is only marginally better than the one used in King Kong Vs. Godzilla. The suit doesn't look quite as tatty, but still looks rather goofy. Fortunately, Mechani-Kong is much better looking. Gorosaurus might just be a generic dinosaur, but the suit looks pretty impressive as well. Gorosaurus might have been defeated (maybe killed) in this film, but it would return in Destroy All Monsters and would also play quite a large part in the final battle against King Ghidorah.
Whit I found most amusing was the name of the evil scientist. Until recently, his name was transliterated as Doctor Who. This was probably unintentional, as the Doctor from Gallifrey wasn't that well-known outside of Britain when this film was made. Dr. Hu even bears a slight resemblance to William Hartnell's Doctor, which just makes it even funnier.
Three pointy hats.
Next time: Dracula 2000
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