It's complicated... I really like the directing, acting and writing but, there are issues with the way it's shot that I just can't deny. As much as I love the storytelling and the fantastic performance but, there are also certain scenes that didn't need to exist.

This is a gorgeous movie made by a gorgeous spirit.

It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

It’s sentimental, ridiculously long and only occasionally funny

Silly, but sadly dull, story about a mad scientist who performs growth experiments on plants and animals, and eventually on his chimpanzee, Konga (you know, Konga/Kong, as in King Kong), who then grows to an enormous size to kill the scientist's enemies and eventually wreaking havoc on London. This could have been a fun low budget monster film along the lines of "Them" or "Tarantula," but it's mostly just boring and didn't even entertain me on a camp level.

If you don't take KONGA too seriously then you might just enjoy it as much as I did. It's a cheap rip-off of the KING KONG tale with a low budget and, best of all, it's British! Add to the mixture a demented scientist in the form of Michael Gough (HORRORS OF THE BLACK MUSEUM) and this is one film you'll be glad you watched. A light atmosphere makes this one extremely easy to sit through, indeed it flies by, and I enjoyed every minute.One of the best scenes is early on in the film where Gough is making a serum using the extracts from the dodgy plants he found. His saucepan bubbles over (the Bunsen burner must have been too hot!) and his pet cat drinks some of the spilt liquid. Gough immediately shoots the poor feline, claiming that it would have turned into a tiger. From this moment on we know the film is going to be cheap, cheerful and cheesy, with tongue firmly in cheek.The special effects in this film are remarkably poor, but this only adds to the unintentional hilarity. The exotic plants are obviously made of rubber and wood (in one you can clearly see the flap), and the transformation sequences where Konga grows bigger and bigger occur behind a mysterious mist which materialises before the camera just at these moments. It's easy to see that all of the explosions and transformations are super-imposed or back-projected on to the picture, but all of these downfalls help to make a "so bad it's good" feel to the film.Gough overacts shamelessly and copes with ridiculously bleached hair (in order to make him look older), the trendy teenagers are amusing (pop star Jess Conrad has a small role), and altogether this film is an entertaining and endearingly British slant on the KING KONG theme. This is an example of why I love the monster movie genre so much. In fact I would say that this is one of the most enjoyable monster films I've ever seen. Watch it and see why!

A cute baby chimp becomes the pawn in a mad scientist's game, turning larger and larger with assistance from the greenery of meat-eating plants. As the chimp grows, so does his species, as by the time he's man-sized, he looks more like a gorilla. Even the cutest baby gorilla looks nothing like a chimpanzee baby, no matter how close they are in relation. That is my only complaint in this above average science fiction thriller that has some genuine frights and some truly wonderfully over-the-top performances.Michael Gough is the mad scientist/professor, having been somehow mentally changed after a plane crash in Africa stranded him in the jungle for a year. Learning about man-eating plants and rescuing the baby chimp, Gough returns to his old job at the London England college and immediately makes waves with the dean who meets a violent end at the hands of the enlarged primate. His aging but beautiful assistant/lover (Marjo Johns) is at first horrified by what he's doing, but desperate to be in love, she stands by him, ultimately going mad by his interest in a young student assistant (Claire Gordon) who gets her own little introduction to one of Gough's experiments while fighting him off after he makes an unwanted pass. Of course, like "King Kong" (which utilized in different versions the Empire State Building and original World Trade Centers), there's a last minute interruption with the giant creature hanging outside the Tower of London looking on almost child-like at the gathering crowd.There's almost a sadness towards the treatment of the baby chimpanzee, obviously dependent on both Gough and Johns for affection and life's necessities, and the final moment is almost tear-jerking. The frights don't come from the chimp/gorilla's attacks on the victims (audiences were used to those from such films as "White Pongo", "Bride of the Gorilla" and "Gorilla at Large") but from the scenes in Gough's lab with the meat-eating plants. For that matter, there's no revelation of what happened with Gordon at the end of the film, so the audience is left wondering if she turned into Ellen Greene from "Little Shop of Horrors" or one of the arriving firemen managed to rescue her from a certain fate worse than death. Still, this does remain consistently entertaining even though the special effects showing Konga's sudden growths are less than adequate.

As stated in the movie trivia section, they did not hire George Barrows, they just hired his suit. I'm not surprised that it was returned in poor condition after breaking through the roof etc!An actor was selected on the basis of being able to fit into George's suit. This actor was Paul Stockman, who also played the zombie in Dr Blood's Coffin. They left the name uncredited to try and convince the audience that it was in fact a real giant gorilla.I've been trying to update the details of the movie with the correct credit, but not having much joy at the moment, any admins reading this?