Barely OK King Kong reboot

Rating: 7/10 (10 March 2017)

Kong is basically a reboot of King Kong but with two main differences:
All the action takes place in Skull Island (where Kong was originally found).
Kong is less humanized than the original. Here he is a big monkey that protects its zone. Still his character is better defined than the rest; which makes sense since he is the real protagonist.
However; as interesting as it looks an island full of monsters, there is not much you can do after a while without being repetitive; so you need to include human conflicts in between (thus the A list cast ) and there is when the movie fails.
Characters are mostly unlikable and all of them under developed characters.
The charismatics Tom Hiddleston and Brie Larson have to deal with character that barely written. They are both quite capable so their chemistry works (but not thanks to the script). John C. Reilly, comedy skills and sympathy are wasted with very little opportunity to do anything interesting.
What John Goodman and Toby Kebbell are doing in this movie is almost a mystery. Their characters die pretty quick and nobody really cares. Kebbell also plays Kong; he is not bad but a far cry from Andy Serkis in Peter Jackson version (again it is probably not his fault since here Kong is a beast most of the time).
Samuel Jackson has done nutcase and bad guys before; he is efficient here but has done better in other movies.
Shea Whigham, Jason Mitchell and Corey Hawkins are the only characters that have a few (seconds of) good moments and interest; sadly the movie did not use them a little more.
In terms of FX and digital images; the quality is superb and some action scenes are really outstanding; but it barely cover half of the movie time (or less).
Making the Kong less human is an artistic decision. The original was, like Beauty and the Beast, a love history here is hinted but no more.
In brief; the movie is entertaining and fills out almost two hours of your time without making your brain work at all. But if you are looking for spectacular images and monsters; see The Great Wall. Is a little less brainless and the images are a work of art.
If you only want to see Kong; see this one but later get the Peter Jackson version and you will see the difference between a work of love and just a Disney mass marketed product.