

Mighty Joe Young
Directed by Ron Underwood
As a child living in Africa, Jill Young saw her mother killed while protecting wild gorillas from poachers led by Andrei Strasser. Now an adult, Jill cares for an orphaned gorilla named Joe -- who, due to a genetic anomaly, is 15 feet tall. When Gregg O'Hara arrives from California and sees the animal, he convinces Jill that Joe would be safest at his wildlife refuge. But Strasser follows them to the U.S., intent on… From TMDB
90 reactions from 3 sources (Bluesky, TMDB reviews, Mastodon) · newest Oct 26, 2026 · last updated Oct 27, 2026 · How this works
Audience score
Sentiment labels for these sources are still being hand-checked; no score yet.
| Source | + | − | = |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bluesky * | 13 | 5 | 69 |
| TMDB reviews * | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Mastodon * | 0 | 0 | 1 |
* shown, not counted in the score (label accuracy below our 85% bar or not yet audited).
What people are saying
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At a glance
Mighty Joe Young is a 1998 adventure family action film, directed by Ron Underwood, starring Charlize Theron, Bill Paxton and Rade Šerbedžija.
- 80 people have posted about this film on Bluesky, TMDB reviews, Mastodon
- posts span Oct 24, 2018 to Oct 26, 2026
Assembled from TMDB, Wikidata and Steam fields and our own counts, nothing written by a model. Method
90 public posts have mentioned Mighty Joe Young so far, but it needs 10 opinionated reactions from checked sources before it gets a score. Seen it? Post your take.
Reactions
60 of 90 · most liked firstNERD INFERNO is out on April 28th from @darkhorse.com. Every day until then I'm posting something from the 648-pg magilla. TODAY: Pg 1 of "Mighty Carl Jung" a retelling of the movie Mighty Joe Young with Swiss psychiatrist and psychoanalyst Carl Jung standing in for the giant ape. A personal fave.
neutral · AI labelView post →Today's review covers the dinosaur fantasy THE GHOST OF SLUMBER MOUNTAIN (1918), which got special effects guy Willis O'Brien noticed for THE LOST WORLD, which led to his work in KING KONG and MIGHTY JOE YOUNG. moviessilently.com/2025/11/23/t...
neutral · AI labelView post →#watched MIGHTY JOE YOUNG (1949) Most of the key figures involved in the production of KING KONG (1933) return for a more kid-friendly remake (of sorts). It's trite but charming with deft stop-motion animation by Ray Harryhausen, Willis O'Brien, and Pete Peterson.
neutral · AI labelView post →#scifi #movies #filmsky #cinema #RayHarryhausen 🎬 "Mighty Joe Young" (1949) ... was Harryhausen's debut as a special effects artist in a major film. He worked with his mentor, stop-motion pioneer Willis O'Brien (King Kong 1933). King Kong's Robert Armstrong (Carl Denham) stars in this clip.
neutral · AI labelView post →Watching MIGHTY JOE YOUNG
neutral · AI labelView post →Tfw you conflate Meet Joe Black with Mighty Joe Young and you find yourself asking somebody, "What's the movie where Brad Pitt played a big monkey?"
neutral · AI labelView post →Only good thing about "The 3:30 Movie" was its promotion, which sometimes led to theme weeks. One week of films such as "Planet of the Apes," "Mighty Joe Young," etc., was famously packaged (by a young up-and-comer named Brandon Tartikoff) as "Gorilla My Dreams Week."
neutral · AI labelView post →#Director: #RonUnderwood This guy's #filmography is... wild. Never seen City Slickers. Mighty Joe Young sucks. Pluto Nash fucking really sucks. Holiday in Handcuffs, why do I even know that, I've never seen it... Like, #Tremors is lightning in a bottle, clearly. Never caught it again. #FilmSky
negative · AI labelView post →Did you know about the specialized visual effects film stock that was made by Eastman Kodak to deal with red fringe artifacts? --> How VFX legend Hoyt Yeatman and his tests being done for 1998’s ‘Mighty Joe Young’ led to the SFX 200T film stock. beforesandafters.com/2025/07/30/d...
neutral · AI labelView post →i think about this movie weekly (and not just when i confuse it with Mighty Joe Young)
neutral · AI labelView post →Hey a Godz- ... An animated king ko- .... a Mighty Joe Young movie came out that year
neutral · AI labelView post →Name a black and white film: nobody says the name in the QRPs 😅🤷🏻♂️ mine's Mighty Joe Young (1949) source: gifer.com/en/K6XT
neutral · AI labelView post →I remember "Million Dollar Movie". The series would show the same movie for a week, switch it out for another on Saturday morning. It's how I watched one of my favorite old movies, "Mighty Joe Young" 6 times. I even learned how to play "Beautiful Dreamer" on my little toy piano.
positive · AI labelView post →Can't sleep. Today's first movie is Mighty Joe Young (1949) 🍿
neutral · AI labelView post →I want the ape to commit atrocities. Think Mighty Joe Young meets A Serbian Film.
neutral · AI labelView post →Name a monster film where you side with the monster. Mighty Joe Young (1949)
neutral · AI labelView post →The one I don't remember had gorillas because I had nightmares of gorillas as a child, so possibly "Mighty Joe Young". I don't remember watching it though. I do remember those damn talking trees in the "Wizard of Oz". The flying monkeys weren't as scary. www.tiktok.com/@ozhistory/v...
neutral · AI labelView post →Iconic Movie Scenes: The Burning Orphanage scene. Mighty Joe Young (1949) If you've never seen it now is your chance. A thrilling 8 minute ride youtu.be/p2wdWRxlRmY?...
neutral · AI labelView post →It was my seventh birthday and my parents offered me a choice for the trip to the cinema: Mighty Joe Young or The Rugrats Movie. I was so paralysed by indecision that I got to see neither. A day I often look back when struggling to make a choice and/or when I justify to myself doing a double bill.
neutral · AI labelView post →You know what’s a Disney movie that doesn’t get talked about enough? Mighty Joe Young I love that movie real bad!
positive · AI labelView post →Tonight! Pinball Women Ottawa hosts a King Kong: Myth Of Terror Island pinball machine launch party at House Of TARG! On theme, TARG presents screenings of King Kong on June 29 and 30, and Mighty Joe Young on June 29 and July 2! mayfairtheatre.ca/movie/king-k... mayfairtheatre.ca/movie/mighty...
neutral · AI labelView post →June 27 - July 3! -A Nice Indian Boy- 3rd Week! -The Life Of Chuck- 5 Stars! (Saturday Evening Post) -The Warriors- 10/10! (Film Threat) -King Kong- 5 Stars! (BBC) -Mighty Joe Young- "a classic" (Midnite Reviews) -The Ritual -The Rocky Horror Picture Show -Saturday Night Sinema -The Encampments
neutral · AI labelView post →Our friends and neighbours at House of TARG present a pair of giant ape stop-motion classics, in honour of their new King Kong: Myth Of Terror Island pinball machine! King Kong - June 29, 30 Mighty Joe Young - June 29, July 2 mayfairtheatre.ca/movie/king-k... mayfairtheatre.ca/movie/mighty...
neutral · AI labelView post →Have you seen the original Mighty Joe Young? Genuinely brilliant work by Harryhausen and just a really fun giant ape film. Once went to a screening of King Kong with Harryhausen as speaker afterwards.
positive · AI labelView post →I'm thinking Mighty Joe Young was the best movie ape. youtu.be/46AyCmufOs8?...
positive · AI labelView post →add “between my legs” to a movie title Mighty Joe Young Between My Legs ... this one is gender neutral 🥸
neutral · AI labelView post →I always forget how sweet and wholesome Mighty Joe Young is, while also killing poachers. Great movie.
positive · AI labelView post →#Svengoolie Today's Movie: Mighty Joe Young For day 4 of my Sven-a-Day October, I went back to my childhood where I'd wake up early on Saturdays, watch cartoons all morning, eat a huge bowl of chocolate frosted sugar bombs, and in the afternoon watch the Creature Feature. Good times!
neutral · AI labelView post →Sweet! Mighty Joe Young (1998) is free to stream on Tubi! And it's a Disney movie, which is rare outside their own channel. It stars Bill Paxton, Charlize Theron, Rade Serbedzija, Peter Firth, David Paymer, & Naveen Andrews. Directed by Ron Underwood Music by James Horner #movies 🎬 #NowWatching
neutral · AI labelView post →Sunday June 29! 3:30pm -The Encampments- Presented by INSAF UOttawa, SJP CU, and the Palestinian Youth Movement And, House Of TARG presents both: 6:15pm -King Kong- 4/4 Stars! (Roger Ebert) 5 Stars! (BBC) 8:45pm -Mighty Joe Young- "a masterpiece" (Encyclopedia of Fantastic Film And Television)
neutral · AI labelView post →Ottawa Pinball Women hosts a King Kong: Myth Of Terror Island pinball machine launch party at House of TARG on June 25! On theme, TARG presents screenings of King Kong on June 29 and 30, and Mighty Joe Young on June 29 and July 2! mayfairtheatre.ca/movie/king-k... mayfairtheatre.ca/movie/mighty...
neutral · AI labelView post →Mighty Joe Young is in this weird spot of being a kind of sequel but more of a spiritual successor film. Wasn't on the same scale as a giant either. Stop motion effects were definitely more refined though.
neutral · AI labelView post →For some reason I thought Mighty Joe Young was a movie about a guy that turned into a gorilla. It's not even close to being that entertaining.
negative · AI labelView post →I... I'd watch that movie. Though it might work better with Mighty Joe Young.
neutral · AI labelView post →Growing up in the NYC area, we had the annual Thanksgiving Apes tradition: watching Mighty Joe Young, King Kong, and Son of Kong. It was always at the same time, which meant getting called to dinner halfway through Son of Kong. It was many years before I was able to watch the rest of that movie!
neutral · AI labelView post →I remember Million Dollar Movie. That's where I made sure I watched Mighty Joe Young seven times! Love that original movie too.
neutral · AI labelView post →Loud as hell soundtrack. Not on album, but Mighty Joe Young on stage at The Green Mill was such a cool moment in this Chicago Postcard of a film.
neutral · AI labelView post →My dad took me to see the '98 version of Mighty Joe Young. I don't remember anything about that movie but her.
neutral · AI labelView post →Now rewatching the 1949 movie “Mighty Joe Young” featuring Terry Moore, Ben Johnson and Robert Armstrong. From the makers of the original King Kong. One of my Dad’s favorite movies from childhood.
neutral · AI labelView post →SAME I was telling my partner after we finished it that it reminded me of Mighty Joe Young in that it was the first movie I ever saw as a kid that made me bawl because of death-related plots and I think this would be similar for me if I were a kid now
neutral · AI labelView post →The original "Mighty Joe Young" is a very important film for the history of monkey culture and needs be recognized as such.
neutral · AI labelView post →morning drive music. ca. 1967 Magic Sam Blues Band "West Side Soul" with Mighty Joe Young (see the movie Thief). #BluesClassics #Chicago
neutral · AI labelView post →Mighty Joe Young - this movie loomed large if you were 7 years old when it dropped
neutral · AI labelView post →I always get this film confused with Charlize Theron in Mighty Joe Young
neutral · AI labelView post →New episode with @nomfymoloi.bsky.social is available, which focuses on the 1998 adventure film Mighty Joe Young 🦍 linktr.ee/rdmoviespod
neutral · AI labelView post →youtube.com/shorts/EQFvU... Here's a sneak peek of Monday's episode with @nomfymoloi.bsky.social which focuses on the 1998 film Mighty Joe Young 🦍
neutral · AI labelView post →It was on a Thanksgiving in the 70's, when WOR-TV would have a monkey movie marathon: King Kong, Son of Kong, King Kong vs Godzilla, and Mighty Joe Young. The rhesus had escaped from a lab at Queens College and ended up hanging out on the fire escapes across the alley as we watched King Kong...
neutral · AI labelView post →This movie kind of scared me as a kid, but my mom always felt sorry for Joe :) Terry Moore in Mighty Joe Young (1949)
neutral · AI labelView post →173. Mighty Joe Young (1949). Boo to the climax suddenly shifting direction, & the ending downplaying the drama. But otherwise, even if the filmmakers didn't *fully* intend it: JFC this is dark. More than not it comes across as a horror film dressed up as a comedy, even if it loses steam at the end.
neutral · AI labelView post →m.imdb.com/title/tt0120... Thinking of this movie reminded me of Mighty Joe Young. Came out around the same time. Also Brendan Fraser's version of George of the Jungle.
neutral · AI labelView post →🎬 The Top 4 Action Movies Released on July 27! What's your fave? 1. Mission: Impossible - Fallout 2. Teen Titans Go! To the Movies 3. Mighty Joe Young 4. Sacrifice Check out all 44 movies released on this day at https://todayinmovies.com #TodayInMovies #Movies #Film #Action
neutral · AI labelView post →My mother - a very young lady at the time, took her youngest brother John to see Mighty Joe Young at the movie theater. She fondly remembered him excitedly exclaiming out loud about the giant ape (in the quiet of the movie house), "Look, Ro! You can see the crack of his ass!"
neutral · AI labelView post →The final film that stop-motion animator Willis H. O'Brien (King Kong, Mighty Joe Young, etc) worked on was "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World" (released posthumously in 1963). He animated the out of control fire ladder. #movie #filmsky #vintage #comedy #animation
neutral · AI labelView post →Mighty Joe Young, what a great movie!
positive · AI labelView post →What about the 1998 film Mighty Joe Young?
neutral · AI labelView post →A Few Good Men, Natural Born Killers, Forest Gump, White Men Can't Jump, Tin Cup, Cobb, Liar Liar, The Cable Guy, Point Break, Instinct, Nick of Time, A Class Act, Paulie a Parrots Tale, Mighty Joe Young Underwater Unit: All three Free Willys, Strange Days, Crimson Tide ,The Rock, Water World. FILM
neutral · AI labelView post →I haven't seen Charlize as Megan yet. I honestly just like to think of Charlize as she greets Mighty Joe Young in the movie. It's one of those adorable moments in life when my heart just about bursts.
neutral · AI labelView post →Feels like a missed opportunity that they never made a cinematic universe of 90s & 00s monkeys/apes movies. Imagine an Avengers-like movie combining: Ed Dunston Checks In Congo MVP: Most Valuable Primate Monkey Trouble Outbreak Planet of the Apes 2001 Mighty Joe Young King Kong 2005 28 Days Later
neutral · AI labelView post →Happy Birthday to Terry Moore! Terry played the lead in Ray’s first film, ‘Mighty Joe Young’ (1948). Starring as Jill Young, the gentle giant’s feisty human companion, she provides many memorable moments in this stop-motion classic movie. Many happy returns! #RayHarryhausen #terrymoore
neutral · AI labelView post →Happy David Paymer Monday! Here he is in Mighty Joe Young. Haven't seen this movie since I was a kid but I can't remember if Paymer and the monkey share a scene together. Huge missed opportunity if not.
neutral · AI labelView post →
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