Wholy cow!
(Sorry, just trying to see it with my mind's eyes...)
I could have taken the Hobbit from PJ, just to see how he could make it. To see, whether there were a learning process that could be sold to the big guy -producers and the marketmen.
I saw King Kong from dvd about a month ago (or something). Even the 70's version with its ecological agenda almost ruining the film was better... (Not that ecological agendas are bad, on the contrary, but pushing ideologies too much spoil films - like pushing the cause of the consumerism as an identity destroys most of the hit movies of today)
King Kong was like PJ in the LotR: looks nice but feels shallow & hollow.