Of all the things for which we owe film-loving "The Lord of the Rings" director Peter Jackson thanks, "King Kong" may be the most momentous. Not Jackson's remake, to be released Dec. 14. Judgment is still to come on that.

No, it's that the new "Kong" finally moved Warner Bros., which owns the RKO catalog, to release the original film on DVD. Which it has, in grand style: "King Kong — Special Edition."

It's a two-disc affair, and while the remastered transfer of producer/co-director Merian C. Cooper's 1933 drama about the discovery and botched exploitation of a giant ape is not as perfect as fans might have hoped, it is a decided improvement over a laser-disc version that impressed me a couple of decades ago. That means it's the best-looking "Kong" I or anyone who wasn't around when it was originally shown in theaters has yet seen.

Ray Harryhausen and Ken Falston provide the bulk of the Disc 1 commentary.

Disc 2 is mostly terrific, beginning with the new 57-minute documentary narrated by Alec Baldwin.

That's followed by a 2 1/2-hour doc, "RKO Production 601: The making of 'Kong,' the Eighth Wonder of the World."

'WAR OF THE WORLDS'

To admire how special effects have evolved in 70-odd years, look no further than "War of the Worlds" (DreamWorks), Steven Spielberg's take on the classic H.G. Wells space-invasion saga, starring Tom Cruise as a divorced working-class dad from Jersey who discovers how important his family really is to him when some long-hidden enemies from an unnamed planet invade from below before attacking from above.

Last year's "Polar Express," back in theaters this week, also gets the two-disc treatment (Warner) and, like "War of the Worlds," this adaptation of Chris Van Allsburg's children's book is best appreciated on a big screen, and especially in its 3-D incarnation.

A beautiful-looking film for grown-ups, Akira Kurosawa's 1985 drama "Ran" now looks as good as it should, courtesy of the Criterion Collection. With the samurai epic "Kagemusha," this adaptation of "King Lear" reset in feudal Japan is one of Kurosawa's two most striking color films, and those movies share a star in the legendary Ta-tsuya Nakadai, as the aging lord who divides his kingdom among three sons, much to his regret.

'SEINFELD' AND THE BEAV

The release of more "Seinfeld" on DVD is not the big news it was a year ago, which does not mean "Season 5" and "Season 6" (both Columbia-TriStar) will not be at the top of the year's box-set bestsellers; as with previous sets, there are loads of extras.

Also new this week: