This was on HBO Go finally, so I watched it.
What was good:
The music was outstanding since it's set at the end of Vietnam. The action is decent, especially the finale rumble. The cast was good, and overall the acting was great with what they had to work with. The female lead wasn't the damsel in distress being carried by Kong the entire flick, although they managed a tasteful call back at some point in the film.
What was bad:
For a PG-13 film, they really didn't push the boundaries. Not that they should have, but there are a few adult themed settings that are watered down to PG levels. It just felt bizarre and awkward. The story was super cliche to where you want to roll your eyes at some parts. "Lets go find this former military badass wilderness tracker in a shady Asian brothel/club where he beats down two guys with a pool stick right when we walk in, and then demands 5x the money offered for a job he knows nothing about". The CG was extremely dated... I'm talking about the first Jurassic Park film kind of dated. I feel a part of that is that the movie was made for 3D first with a bunch of cliche cheap screen pops to make the audience jump, and the obligatory throw something at the screen in slow motion. After looking it up, I understand why the other creatures looked the way they did. They were inspired by Miyazaki films. Most of it was cool, but the main opposition looks like something I've seen before that I can't recall, mixed with the smiling creatures that are in the shitty 1997 Evangelion movie.
Final Conclusion:
It wasn't terrible, it could have been better with modern CG not tailored for 3D. It sure as hell didn't convince me that King Kong was on Godzilla's level. The MUTOs were way more imposing, and Godzilla was way more menacing. In a head to head match Godzilla would win by sneezing. If they swapped places, Godzilla would have easily destroyed the creatures of Skull Island, I'm not too sure King Kong could have defeated even a single MUTO... much less be of any help vs. King Ghidorah in the future. In the squad of Godzilla, Mothra, and Rodan, King Kong is like Bruce Wayne without money. Big G might need to call up Jet Jaguar for this one.