Unfortunately, King Kong is a long movie (over three hours) and I couldn't help thinking that there are several parts that could have been trimmed down (or outright removed) to make it feel shorter; the ice-skating with Kong scene, for one. But overall, the story isn't bad, it's just long. All three of the main actors do a pretty convincing job.
The biggest issue is the visual differences between the HD version of this movie and its standard DVD version. I couldn't help but notice the CG animals and creatures were noticeably CG. Where the standard DVD had good blending between the regular film and the CG, the HD version makes it really obvious. Also with the HD come flaws in character makeup. I could actually make out the layers of makeup on Watts' face a lot better than on the normal DVD. This movie is proof that with the coming of HD, CG and makeup artists will have to be a lot better than they have in the past.
Quite frankly, if it hadn't come with the HD DVD player for my Xbox 360, I wouldn't have gotten this film in HD. Though the movie looks pretty good, I don't know if it's worth getting the player for.