Taking into consideration that "King Kong Lives" is a movie from the mid-1980s, then it is actually not too bad. Sure, if you compare it with the "King Kong" movies seen today, then this is just utter rubbish and obviously people in animal suits and lousy attempts of blending shot scenes to make it appear like these are in fact massive apes.
But hey, yeah this is a cheesy movie. Of course it is. I mean, this is a 1986 movie about King Kong after all. Of course it reeks of being a campy and cheesy movie. Isn't that the appeal of these older "King Kong" movies?
The storyline is adequate, and actually have more contents to it than the movies of recent years that have King Kong in it. That is kind of odd though, I think, as movies evolve into CGI spectaculars that slack on the storylines.
Sure, it was fun to watch Linda Hamilton and John Ashton stumble about in this movie. Granted, it wasn't stellar performances by either of them, but then again, the contents of the movie weren't exactly all that solid to begin with.
"King Kong Lives" is a watchable movie, for sure. But it was hardly an outstanding movie. Nor is it a movie that has withstood the trials of passing time particularly well, because the effects are horribly outdated.
I believe that if you sit down to watch "King Kong Lives" once, then it is hardly a movie that you will be returning to a second time around.
My rating of directors John Guillermin and Charles McCracken 1986 movie "King Kong Lives" settles on a four out of ten stars.