King Kong (12A) stars Naomi Watts, Jack Black, Adrien Brody, Thomas Kretschmann, Kyle Chandler, Evan Parke, Jamie Bell, Andy Serkis, Colin Hanks. Director, Peter Jackson's; 187 mins Rating nnnnn'

IT WAS beauty that killed the beast." Peter Jackson's long-held dream to remake the 1933 RKO classic, a dream which first took shape when he was a 12-year-old boy growing up in New Zealand, is finally realised more than 30 years later with this hugely entertaining, big budget spectacular.

The screenplay, co-written by Jackson, Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens, remains true to the spirit of Merian C Cooper and Edgar Wallace's original story.

It also springs the same narrative leaks: how does the crew of the good ship Venture manage to transport the chloroformed Kong onto the tiny vessel?

And more pressingly, how does the ship stay afloat all the way back to New York?

The new film simply fades to black after Kong's capture and cuts straight to the opening night of the creature's appearance on Broadway. Such is the magic of the movies.

King Kong is set in 1933. New York City is in the icygrip of the Depression and vaudeville actress Ann Darrow (Watts) desperately needs to earn money to eat.

By chance, Ann meets megalomaniac raconteur-filmmaker Carl Denham (Black), who hastily casts her as his heroine in a new adventure film written by playwright Jack Driscoll (Brody).

Boarding a ship under the command of Captain Englehorn (Kretschmann), Ann and the crew - including first mate Hayes (Parke) and his ward Jimmy (Bell) - sail off in search of mythical Skull Island.

They discover a lost civilisation of dinosaurs and bloodthirsty natives, dominated by a 25 feet tall, 8,000 pound silverback gorilla called Kong,

The special effects work, accomplished by the same team who toiled on The Lord Of The Rings trilogy, is truly extraordinary.

Kong is a majestic and utterly believable creation: the detail of his facial movements conveys so much emotion and he interacts beautifully with the live action elements.

Action sequences are jaw-dropping, including a Brontosaurus stampede and a dizzying battle between Kong and three Tyrannosaurus rex.

Occasionally, Jackson's ambitious creative vision exceeds the technology and the computer trickery loses the veneer of realism: the implausible sight of a Skull Islander pole-vaulting onto the Venture during a storm being an obvious case in point.

The 1933 version of King Kong beat its chest to a sprightly 100 minutes.

Jackson's version snarls and roars to almost double that, and truth be told, this King Kong is overlong.

An entire action sequenceinvolving a battle between the crew and swarms of giant arachnids, beetles and bugs should have been swatted.

Watts lights up the screencapturing the desperation and sadness of her wannabe starlet. Her scenes with the giant gorilla are magical, building to the emotionally devastating finale atop the Empire State Building.

Black adds a comic dimension to Carl and Brodyis a likeable human hero, with colourful supporting turnsfrom Bell, Kretschmann et al. When Carl is preparing to make his voyage, he bills Skull Island as "the mostspectacular thing you've ever seen."