On March 10, 2017, Kong: Skull Island was released, having a storyline much different from that of the King Kong movies that precede it. Aside from Kong: Skull Island, the latest King Kong movie was released back in 2005, following the typical and expected storyline.

Without completely spoiling the movie for those who have not yet seen it, the basis is that two characters ask for military escorts to explore a dangerous and seemingly uninhabited island. The island is known as Skull Island because of its aerial view resemblance of a human skull. While Kong: Skull Island followed the basis of who King Kong has been known to be and did have a familiar plot, the new and improved version took a different approach, which I found to be rather displeasing.

For starters, I was upset to find that Kong’s love for the lead female role, played by actress Brie Larson, was not as strongly seen in the newer version as it was previously. There were only a few encounters between Kong and Larson’s character, an accomplished war photographer named Mason Weaver.

In previous movies, Kong’s infatuation with the female character leads him to protect her at all costs, even going as far as kidnapping her. While Kong did protect Weaver, something in me expected more from the relationship between the two very important characters. Weaver simply standing before Kong or gently touching his nose did not elicit a connection as deep as I was used to watching.

In addition, the newer film was much more science and graphics based, considering that it was filmed entirely in three dimension. There were a countless number of utterly terrifying and cringe-worthy creatures, ranging from giant, poisonous spiders, to beast never before seen or heard of. And at the mention of giant, every single animal or creature featured on Skull Island was inhumanely gigantic. Because of terrifying nature of the creatures being thrown at me through the 3-D effects, I felt myself more nervous and anxious than drawn in by the new movie’s advancements.

Though it personally disappointed me, 74% of Rotten Tomatoes’ views voted to liking the movie, which is just about a quarter more than half. Despite this fact, Rotten Tomatoes’ critics give credit for an entertaining and engaging movie, but acknowledge that Kong: Skull Island came nowhere near matching up to the original classic.