[Skull Island Netflix Review] Animation Monster that is made a very children’s movie.

Skull Island is an animated Netflix production based on the films from the Legendary Pictures and Warner Bros. Pictures universe, which is a spinoff of Kong: Skull Island from 2017. The project is helmed by Brian Duffield, who previously worked as a writer for Love and Monsters and The Babysitter, and he takes on the role of writer and director for this animated feature. The story revolves around a group of individuals who find themselves stranded on Skull Island, where they encounter Kong and a multitude of gigantic creatures in this extraordinary location.

Skull Island Netflix Review (No spoilers)

 

For those who were expecting this to be an intense and dark fantasy film like Kong: Skull Island, the animated version might be a disappointment. This adaptation leans more towards being an animation for children rather than catering to adult audiences, despite being rated 14+. It falls short in terms of the weight and substance of its content compared to Netflix’s animated series Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous, which successfully captures the thrilling and frightening atmosphere of the original films. In the case of Skull Island, it lacks the essence of the original film and veers away from it, ultimately resulting in a less satisfying outcome.

The flaws of this film become evident right from the start with the storytelling. It begins abruptly with a mysterious young girl being chased on a ship before she escapes onto a small boat. She then encounters another ship before it is attacked and sunk by squid-like creatures. Suddenly, the characters from both ships appear on the seemingly inaccessible Skull Island. From there, it turns into an attempt to sell strange and peculiar creatures on the island, as if they had hired a child to design these monsters. Each creature is more akin to Pokémon rather than being genuinely frightening or menacing. The film lacks genuine horror or any intense scenes, resembling a children’s movie with minimal brutality. The animation work appears rough, and there are no notable monsters from the original film despite being a production affiliated with the original franchise, which is quite perplexing.

 

The story two groups of characters. One group consists of professional soldiers who initially seek a mysterious young girl. The teenage male protagonist joins forces with the young girl, and both groups pursue each other while trying to survive on an island. However, the plot is relatively straightforward and lacks significant importance. In fact, the story seems to be more focused on Kong than anything else.

Kong has been reimagined, although it still draws inspiration from the Hollow Earth theory where Kong is the ruler of the island and worshipped by humans as before. However, the narrative differs significantly from the original film. A young jungle girl character has been added as a companion to Kong, and their relationship is portrayed in a flashback towards the end of the story. This is done to create a vengeful battle against the giant squid that appears at the beginning of the story. In this version, Kong can almost communicate with humans and makes attempts to help them throughout the plot. He is not portrayed as a highly monstrous creature, which diminishes the sense of awe and fear from the original version.

The animation consists of a total of 8 episodes, each lasting 20 minutes, and ends with to continue in Season 2. Although the quality of this work may be poor, Netflix is likely to approve its continuation because it is a low-budget production that leverages the reputation of the Monsterverse franchise to attract viewers. Additionally, the release of the movie Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire in 2024 is expected to significantly boost the viewership of this animation.

 

Including other English reviews