YMMV / The Son of Kong

• Awesome Music: Max Steiner returns as composer and still conveys the large bombastic scope as its predecessor.
• Sequelitis: It’s widely considered inferior to the original, although in this case it's less because the movie itself is bad, and more because the original is considered a masterpiece and this one is So Okay, It's Average.
• Tear Jerker: Kiko's Heroic Sacrifice, as he dies saving Carl.
• Too Cool to Live: Since having a giant ape friend wouldn't be very feasible once he's off the island and just provide a Sequel Hook, Little Kong ends up dead after saving his new human friends in the sequel.
• Tough Act to Follow: This film had insurmountable odds against it from the very beginning. The original film is considered a landmark in movie history, universally acclaimed for its groundbreaking special effects and use of a fully orchestrated score. On top of having to make a follow-up to that, the budget got halved from the original and the production only given ten months. It's no wonder Son of Kong is much less well known than the first film.
• Visual Effects of Awesome: Despite the rushed nature of the film with far less time and budget to make the effects, the special effects remain a highlight of the film, even if not as good as those of the first film. Notably, Kiko manages to be every bit as expressive as King Kong himself.

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