Mighty Joe Young is a 1998 American live-action epic adventure film based on the 1949 film of the same name about a giant mountain gorilla brought to a wildlife preserve by a young woman who raised him and a zoologist to protect him from the threat of poachers until one decides to seek his revenge and capture and kill Joe.

It was directed by Ron Underwood and starred Bill Paxton, Charlize Theron, Rade Šerbedžija, Naveen Andrews, Peter Firth, Regina King and David Paymer.

As Andrei Strasser (Šerbedžija) leads a group of poachers to storm the mountains, Ruth's friend, Kweli (Robert Wisdom), alerts her to the men as she is putting Jill to bed.

When the locals attempt to poach the animal, Joe, now grown nearly 15 feet tall, and weighing over 2,000 lbs, emerges from the jungle to free the creature.

Joe uses his immense size to disable the vehicles and nearly kill his pursuers, after which they collect what remains of their gear and retreat back to civilization.

Jill, meeting Strasser, does not recognize him as he poses as a conservationist, telling her that Joe would be better off in his wildlife refuge in Africa, claiming he would have more space and freedom.

On the way to the airport, while being followed by Gregg, Jill notices Strasser's missing fingers and recognizes him as the poacher who killed her mother in Africa 12 years earlier.

The project was set up in March 1995 by studio chairman Joe Roth and Walt Disney Pictures president David Vogel.

[3] In most of the film, Joe was portrayed by creature-suit performer John Alexander, who wore a radio-controlled animatronic gorilla mask and full body suit created by special makeup effects artist Rick Baker and his crew at Cinovation Studios.

To achieve those scenes, Alexander often acted on miniature sets surrounded by blue screen; special effects house DreamQuest Images then composited him into footage shot earlier.

For the digital Joe, special effects houses DreamQuest Images and Industrial Light and Magic worked on different scenes, using the same model provided by Baker.

Many of these performances were achieved by key-frame animation, but to portray the digital Joe running and jumping, motion-capture data from an infant chimpanzee were used.

[7] Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film 3 stars out of 4, saying, "Mighty Joe Young is an energetic, robust adventure tale: not too cynical, violent or fragmented for kids, not too tame for adults.

The reviewer praised the effects and acting that went into Joe's rendition, saying that children will sympathize with the character, as well as with Theron's and Paxton's romantic pairing.

"[10] Colin Fraser of eFilm Critic gave it 3 stars, saying, "Strictly for ten-year-olds, Mighty Joe Young has its ample heart in exactly the right place.

"[11] Among those who criticized the film included Maitland McDonagh of TV Guide, who gave the film 2.5 stars out of 4, believing it would be too shallow for adult viewers and too serious for children, adding that "Joe himself is an amazing creation-- less personable, to be sure-- than the original lovelorn King Kong, but a far more fully realized character than any of the flesh and blood humans by whom he's surrounded.

"[12] Paul Clinton of CNN gave it negative reviews, saying, "Great scenery, cartoonish villains, huge leaps of suspended belief and mouthwatering shots of Charlize Theron are in plentiful supply in Mighty Joe Young.

"[13] Stephen Holden of The New York Times gave the film generally unfavorable reviews, saying, "Mighty Joe Young, directed by Ron Underwood from a screenplay by Mark Rosenthal and Lawrence Konner, is saddled with dialogue so wooden that Mr. Paxton and Ms. Theron almost seem animatronic themselves.

"[14] Dustin Putman gave it 2 stars out of 4 and a negative review, saying, "Mighty Joe Young is an agreeable time-waster for older kids (it's much too violent for the youngest viewers) and perhaps some adults, but in a season when children could also choose to see the marvelous The Prince of Egypt and adults could pick any number of far superior films, Mighty Joe Young simply pales in comparison.