History Film / KingKong2005

* BusFullOfInnocents: While going berserk having broken free of his chains at the theater, Kong bumps into a bus and he tries breaking it open to see if Ann's inside. Jack diverts Kong's attention just in time.

* ArtisticLicensePaleontology: Although excusable in earlier works as [[ScienceMarchesOn science marching on]], the dinosaurs and most other prehistoric lifeforms all emulate RuleOfCool, primarily as an artifact of the original movie. It's explained in the documentary that the creatures on Skull Island are different from known dinosaurs because they have had 65 million years in which to evolve into their current forms. [[JustifiedTrope Evolution marches on]].

* ShownTheirWork: King Kong himself was painstakingly designed to emulate real gorillas in term of behavior, facial expression and anatomy, beating his chest with cupped hands rather than punching his chest. The vastatosaurs also silently stalk Ann like actual predators, don't make a loud thud when they move, and only roar when they encounter Kong.

* PrefersGoingBarefoot: Ann does not express the slightest hint of discomfort despite sprinting through rocky jungles in her bare feet. She even seems more comfortable without shoes.

* AlwaysABiggerFish:
** The heroine hides from a huge carnivorous lizard in a hollow log, and it tears at the wood to try to get her. Suddenly it stops, and she seems safe... until ''half'' the same lizard is seen dangling from the jaws of a ginormous ''V. Rex'', which just bit it in two.
** At one point in the extended cut, the film crew is attacked by a swarm of giant aquatic centipedes while rafting across a lake, but the centipedes all quickly retreat when they sense the approach of a ''[[SeaMonster Piranhadon]]''.
** Kong himself is a near constant example of this trope in the first half of the movie, as he repeatedly kills a number of animals that are trying to eat Ann Darrow. He's probably the only animal on the island capable of killing a fully-grown ''V. rex''.

* FeatheredFiend: In the World of Kong book and a deleted scene, Skull Island's plains is dominated by South American Terror Birds. Brutornis for example, is ''3.5 meters tall''. In the grass plains, both Brutornis and Zeropteryx are apex predators in their biomes.

* EverythingTryingtoKillYou: From giant terror birds, to an assortment of extremely large, hungry and angry dinosaurs, to small animals filled with infectious disease and poison, to extremely hostile native, and arthropods so big and viscous it gives the Carboniferous a run for its money. Skull Island is not for the brave of heart.

* PajamaCladHero: Throughout her time on Skull Island, Ann Darrow walks around in her pajamas and [[DoesNotLikeShoes bare feet]], but it's {{justified}} with [[DamselInDistress her getting kidnapped by Skull Island's human inhabitants in her sleep]].

* AdaptationalContextChange: The scene of first contact with the natives is considerably different, as the crew witnessing the initial sacrifice ceremony is completely omitted, and instead of the natives just yelling at them to leave, they violently attack them, killing two people (though in fairness, Denham didn't give a good first impression). It's also indicated that the natives chose Ann as a sacrifice specifically after she screamed, and Kong roared in response, whereas in the original, they just choose her arbitrarily because of her appearance.

* AdaptationalContextChange: The scene of first contact with the natives is considerably different, as the crew witnessing the initial sacrifice ceremony is completely omitted, and instead of the natives just yelling at them to leave, they violently attack them, killing two people (though in fairness, Denham didn't give a good first impression). It's also indicated that the natives chose Ann as a sacrifice specifically after she screamed, and Kong roared in response, whereas in the original, they just choose her arbitrarily because of her appearance.

* AdaptationalHeroism:

* AnachronismStew: In opening scene, primates from Central Park zoo are shown in natural looking, densely planted environment. Such exhibits became possible only in modern zoos (and likely animals were filmed in the wild, except obviously captive orangutan playing with sack, and chimpanzee)

* IdiotBall: If the creatures of the island just left him and Ann alone, Kong would do the same to them. The only reason that Kong ''murders them'' is because ''they'' picked the fight. They pushed all the buttons...

* {{Flanderization}}: The film goes out of its way to remove every positive character trait Carl Denham had in 1933, and replace them with something negative.

* BittersweetEnding: Just like the [[Film/KingKong1933 original]], New York is saved from Kong's rampage, but he's just as much a victim, having been kidnapped from his home against his will. Plus, Ann has to bear the guilt that she's partially responsible for this. This version makes it even more tragic, as it emphasizes that Kong is a lonely, frightened animal more than a monster, and Ann is truly distraught by his death. It's hinted that Ann and Jack will at least be get a shot at happiness together, though.

* {{Expy}}: Jack Black himself has noted similarities between Carl Denham and Creator/OrsonWelles. (Welles actually worked on a documentary about South America called ''It's All True'', which was cancelled when he was fired by RKO.)

** It's difficult to see during the fight with the final ''Vastatosaurus rex'', but Kong actually '''bites the vastatosaur's tongue off''', then spits it out and resumes fighting. The film covers it up by cutting from a close-up view to a mid-range shot from an obscured angle so fast it's somewhat difficult to spot. Look closely in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-f5iMDXvcA this clip]], though, about 48 seconds in.

** The film executives at the beginning (excepting Zelman) are portrayed as boorish with no sense of art, but their frustration with Carl asking for more money to film on location while having nothing but animal footage to show for his film is understandable. Likewise their move to scrap the picture and use the filmed material for stock footage is reasonable from a business perceptive, even if it's personally devastating to Denham.