KONG: SKULL ISLAND | FAMILY MOVIE REVIEW INFORMATION FOR PARENTS AND KIDS

"KONG: SKULL ISLAND"
(2017) (Tom Hiddleston, Brie Larson) (PG-13)

QUICK TAKE:: Action: A mixed entourage travels to a recently discovered island in the South Pacific and must contend with the various things they encounter there, including a giant ape known as Kong.

PLOT:

It's 1973 and Bill Randa (JOHN GOODMAN) is an official in a government entity known as Monarch who's been trying to prove the existence of monsters in the world for decades. With the Vietnam War winding down, he and geologist Houston Brooks (COREY HAWKINS) rush to convince a U.S. Senator to approve an expedition to a South Pacific island that's only just been discovered by satellites run by Victor Nieves' (JOHN ORITZ) firm. With biologist San (TIAN JING), anti-war photojournalist Mason Weaver (BRIE LARSON) and former British Special Forces agent turned mercenary tracker James Conrad (TOM HIDDLESTON) in tow, they're escorted there by United States Army Lieutenant Colonel Preston Packard (SAMUEL L. JACKSON) who's happy to have one more chopper mission now that his active duty in Vietnam will be over.

But he, the rest of his military unit that includes Chapman (TOBY KEBBELL), Mills (JASON MITCHELL), Cole (SHEA WHIGHAM), Slivko (THOMAS MANN) and others, along with the civilians are shocked when they arrive on what's actually a series of islands and begin setting off a number of seismic charges, all under Randa's false pretense of geological research. But what the explosions do is draw the ire of Kong, a Godzilla-sized ape that quickly makes waste of the chopper fleet.

With the survivors now on the ground and split up, they must contend with the islands' array of huge and monstrous creatures including some particularly dangerous lizard type ones known as "skull crawlers." That's the name given to them by Hank Marlow (JOHN C. REILLY), a fighter pilot who was shot down over the island during WWII and has lived there ever since with the local natives who revere Kong as their God. Packard doesn't feel the same way, however, as he wants to get revenge on the ape for destroying his fleet and killing many of his men. That puts him and his soldiers at odds with Conrad and the others who simply want to get off the island as quickly as possible.

WILL KIDS WANT TO SEE IT?: If they're into monster movies or are a fan of anyone in the cast, they probably will.

WHY THE MPAA RATED IT: PG-13: For intense sequences of sci-fi violence and action, and for brief strong language.

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