King Kong was the blockbuster film of the last year. And it"s an immensely visual film, with such a lot making it onto the screen. And so comes the inevitable making of book. Now these are usually very variable in quality. I've seen some extremely bad "Making Of" books, tacky rushed books that detract from the film they aspire to compliment. But also I have seen some good ones...

This is most definitely one of the good ones. Every aspect of the film and its development is covered here, from the initial planning director Peter Jackson and his co-script writer Fran Walsh undertook in 1996, through the initialise concept visualisations, the development of the sets and computer effects, the casting, and tricks of filming that lead to the wonderful re-imagining Peter Jackson brought to the screen last year.

And the tricks that the film-makers used are fascinating. The one section that really stands out for me is the reproduction of 1930s New York city. The amalgam of the one storey high street and the computer graphics adding on the higher floors and sky is incredible, and the merging of 1930s Manhattan buildings and stylings from old photos and modern video is superb.

But this is just one of the secrets of the film that are explained here - the model making, blending of these scale models with live action and computer generated backgrounds and creatures shows just how much work goes into a film like this. It's so impressive, the whole process of this film's development, and this book illustrates it all so wonderfully.

And then there is another fun thing to recommend this book. Andy Sertis, the man who "played" Gollum in the Lord of the Rings films, is once again called by Peter Jackson to provide the motion-capture acting for his film. This time Serkis is Kong, and so once again doesn't appear in a film. So in many ways this book is the only sighting you get of him in the Kong suit – and it's funny to see.

This is one "Making Of" book that is not going to reduce your enjoyment in the way that some of the lesser quality ones can. It's well researched, and given the amount of evidence of set access in the book I think it's easy to state it is going to be very accurate – again I've seen some unofficial tie-ins where I have to say I am dubious about some of its "facts". This one however has no such concerns, this is a definitive background volume to the King Kong movie.

Full of information, insights, photos and interest. Superb!

Synopsis
It was seeing King Kong as a young boy that made Peter Jackson decide to become a filmmaker. Now in 2005 he will fulfill another one of his ambitions with the release of King Kong, his own personal homage to the film that inspired him. Made with the same meticulous attention to detail and consummate on-screen storytelling that hallmarked all three Lord of the Rings films, King Kong will recreate all the tragic grandeur and epic scale of the original while emphasising the themes of conservation versus exploitation of nature that give the story a peculiarly contemporary resonance. Jackson will employ the latest technology to bring this timeless tale to cinematic life, and his Kong promises to be a unique and breathtaking creation. Following every step of the process, this book is the perfect on-set illustrated record of how King Kong was made. Starring Jack Black, Naomi Watts, Adrian Brody and Andy Serkis - who will bring to his portrayal of Kong the same extraordinary talent he brought to Gollum - King Kong is scheduled for worldwide release in December 2005.