Re: How close is "Kong" to a real gorilla?

[David Krentz <ddkrentz@charter.net>]

> On Dec 15, 2005, at 3:47 PM, Luis Rey wrote:

> With the exception of the monstrous (even for a monster movie)  
> brontosaur stampede (which truly seems about to break the bones of  
> everybody involved including the spectator), the rest of the high  
> speed acrobatic antics of  the colossal creatures show the design  
> vices of the CG wizards that made them...  all of them seem  
> virtually weightless so their realism becomes hollow!

  The brontosaurs did not have any muscles or bone simulation built  
in, which is a travesty.  They lost a great deal of weight and  
stress, and even intertia because of it.  You see them from the front  
a lot and it is evident no thoughts about corocoids or scapulas even  
crossed Weta digital's mind.
It is nice to have blend shapes (a sculpted musculature in different  
phases of strain) that the animator can dial up or down based on what  
the action calls for.  Of course if you don't understand the skeletal  
system, then you have no hope of good musculature shapes.  A lot of  
these things add up and their ommision on any level creates a big  
rubbery mass of animation that is making many directors shy away from  
using computer generated characters.

David Krentz

On Dec 15, 2005, at 3:47 PM, Luis Rey wrote:

> I have just survived yet another King Kong... this time is the most  
> over the top that has ever been made...I'm dizzy with such  
> relentless, overwhelming action speed, the special effects, the  
> creatures et al . I don't mind monsters as such but...agreeing  
> mostly with some of Mike's  observations, shall I add that there IS  
> such thing as the forces of gravity (even for monsters)?!
> With the exception of the monstrous (even for a monster movie)  
> brontosaur stampede (which truly seems about to break the bones of  
> everybody involved including the spectator), the rest of the high  
> speed acrobatic antics of  the colossal creatures show the design  
> vices of the CG wizards that made them...  all of them seem  
> virtually weightless so their realism becomes hollow!
>
> On 15 Dec 2005, at 20:07, Michael Skrepnick wrote:
>
>
> > I saw this epic yesterday ( I'm probably one of the few who was  
> > never enamored with the original film ).  However, this version is  
> > indeed an epic and although I have some reservations, is well  
> > worth seeing.
> >
> > As you say, it's unlikely in life that such a gargantuan creature  
> > would be capable of the physical feats it engages in ( trust me,  
> > the trailers don't even begin to describe the "antics" displayed  
> > through the entirety of the movie ).
>
> As I said at the beginning... a multi multi ton ape dancing on air?
>
>
> > Further, you will be left incredulous by the punishing "ride" the  
> > heroine is expected to survive, even when not in the midst of  
> > battles to the death with the other inhabitants of Skull Island.
>
> That is probably one of the most shocking parts of the movie... the  
> heroine should have had all her bones broken in a second of Kong's  
> mad ride!
>
> > However, it is a "movie" after all, and we are of course expected  
> > to "suspend our disbelief" as usual, no matter how much the  
> > content is in violation of our reason and sensibilities.  This is  
> > the only manner in which one can accept the liberties taken in  
> > dinosaurian anatomy in the film, as these are obviously outcast  
> > mutants from a long lost era and as an inbred population might be  
> > expected to suffer many "morphological" changes.
>
> Which unfortunately doesn't include the obvious: inbreeding  
> population evolving in an island (as is well documented) leads  
> invariably to dwarfism.
>
> Luis Rey
>
> Visit my website
> http://www.ndirect.co.uk/~luisrey