Film Review: King Kong escapes

Release date: July 22nd 1967 (Japanese release), June 19th 1968 (American release).

Story: While their submarine is being repaired, Commander Carl Nelson, Lt Commander Jiro Nomura, and Lt Susan Watson visit a nearby island which they say is the home of the giant gorilla King Kong. Which is then proven true when Kong saves Susan from a dinosaur (Gorosaurus in it's first appearance. And would later turn up in the Godzilla films). When they get back to New York, Carl gets permission to return to the island and study Kong. But he and the others are unaware that the villainous Doctor Who (not to be confused with the British science fiction tv show of the same name) has kidnapped Kong and has taken him to the North Pole in order to dig out a radioactive ore called Element X. But Kong then escapes and heads to Tokyo. With everyone including a giant robot Kong going after him.

My thoughts: This movie was based on the Rankin Bass cartoon named the King Kong show. Which also has Mecha-Kong and Doctor who in it. And I too was surprised by the fact that the villain was named Doctor Who (which I thought was spelt Dr Hu). The downside to this is that everyone (including the English speaking cast) were dubbed over and some of the lines spoken can be a bit cheeses at times. But the kaiju stuff is entertaining. Mecha-Kong looks cool and the final fight between it and Kong on top of the Tokyo tower is exciting.

My score: Four stars.