Good news from the silver screen: the big monkey is back and better than ever.

Thanks to Peter Jackson, who seems bent on plying the dangerous waters of adapting beloved classics to his own cinematic vision (and getting away with it), "King Kong is more than a rehash, it's a treat.

When movie audiences were first introduced to the tale of a Hollywood film crew stumbling upon the giant ape in 1933 it was a happy meeting of a great pulp story and a dazzling new animation technology. Most people had never seen a vividly imagined world brought to life in this way and the movie was a huge success. Like "Star Wars" decades later, "King Kong" became an instant icon of popular culture.

Today, with all of the breakthroughs in computer animation, one would think that a "King Kong" remake would be a no-brainer. But wait a minute, there's a trap built into this amazing new capability. The modern movie patron is a much more sophisticated consumer of special effects than his 1930's counter part. We're a little bit tougher to wow. For example, the story of "King Kong" (both the original and the remake) employs a cadre of inconveniently hungry dinosaurs but, hey, so did Jurassic Park and Jurassic Park II - and Jurassic Park III for that matter. In retelling "King Kong" as a computer animated tale Jackson is up against a "been there, done that" response from his audience.

The genius of Peter Jackson is that he has such an inventive eye for blending plot-line with special effects. He gives us the spectacle without losing sight of the story - and he seems to be having a lot of fun along the way. After one marathon battle between Kong, and a Tyrannosaurus Rex, the hapless heroine, Anne Darrow (Naomi Watts) finds herself thrown over a cliff dangling from a vine (everyone seems to end up dangling from vines in this movie) only to discover the T-Rex that got tossed over the edge before her is also tangled in some vines swinging lazily back and forth snapping at her like a hungry chicken. The scene is both comical and harrowing at the same time.

The other challenge that Jackson faces is that he has to make Kong himself more than a special effect. Kong is the leading man of this film and needs to show a little charisma. Jackson has another trick up his sleeve and this time it's Naomi Watts as Anne Darrow. Watts develops such a chemistry with Kong it's hard to believe she accomplished that working against a green screen. She keeps Kong's character in the story rather than superimposed over it.

If there is any flaw in this movie it suffers from what my grandmother used to refer to as "too much Christmas" - it over indulges in the goodies it creates. The original King Kong had the built-in advantage of restraint because the time-consuming stop-frame animation had to be used sparingly. With the enormous fire-power of computer animation at his disposal, Jackson is able to flood us with one eye-popping scene after another. The result is a movie that is too long by about half an hour, and starving for a few quiet moments to punctuate the action. It would be interesting in this case to see a "director's cut" that removed scenes rather than added them. My guess is that a little editing is the difference between Jackson's "King Kong" being a really good movie and a classic like its predecessor.

But if you're nine years old and in possession of a hearty supply of popcorn, that's probably just a quibble. For adults there are moments of genuine poetic elegance to carry you through. The original "King Kong" managed to bring a surprisingly touching pathos to the movies finale even though we were watching a five-inch stuffed monkey getting plopped off the side of a miniature Empire State Building. Jackson, with a vastly different technical medium, captures a similar emotional chord as Kong disappears into the canyons of New York's streets and planes hover over head. You just gotta love the big guy even though we keep saying goodbye to him in the end.

Bruce Bulloch reviews movies coming to the Admiral Theatre on a regular basis and can be reached at wseditor@robinsonnews.com