I watched the 1933 and then the 2005 versions of Kong yesterday. I'm not a huge old film fan -- I haven't watched that many of the classics (Don't think I've ever seen all of Casablanca or Citizen Kane, and I just saw Gone With the Wind last year and thought it was way over-rated). But in this case K1933 is a much better film -- better story/writing and better acting. Now K2005 is an amazing spectacle, and Kong's agility is great fun. No regrets on the cost of admission, but the story really didn't work that well. I didn't buy the 'humanization' of Kong (won't go into details if you haven't seen it. And the movie seemed not to want us to dislike Jack Black's character but he really is dislikable. I loved Lord of the Rings, but I don't love K2005. I marvel at it, and will want to see it again. I am much more fond of K1933, and will be rewatching it again as well. And I was quite surprised at the special effects of the older version. If K1933 had avoided some of the facial closeups on Kong it would have worked even better -- I chuckled a few times on the closeups because then K1933 reminded me of the Bumble in Rudolf.

So, if you want amazing special effects, watch K2005. And if you want human characters you care about, watch K1933.