Upon further review

I was ready to dismiss this film right off the bat simply because I'm no fan of remakes, sequels, prequels and general movie rip-offs. But lately, I've been hearing some very good word of mouth about this movie and I must admit I admire that director Jordon Vogt-Roberts has brought the film in at one hour and 55 minutes (1:18 if you include the closing credits), which is only 11 minutes longer than the great 1933 original, but 72 minutes shorter than Peter Jackson's bloated, self-indulgent remake. In an interview with the Miami Herald, the director was quoted as saying "I wanted to keep it short. Fargo was 95 minutes. I miss the days of brevity in film."

I've also heard the movie has a number of comedic touches, many of them the result of some improvising by John C. Reilly.

Variety's Owen Gleiberman says it's more like a Jurasssic Park movie than a King Kong spinoff, and, if viewed in that way, it's ten times superior to Jurassic World and actually on a par with Steven Spielberg's original. That's saying quite a bit. "Skull Island is more action-based and less ambitious than either of the 'King Kong' remakes: the snarky, overblown, justly reviled 1976 knockoff or Peter Jackson’s good but still not good enough 2005 retread,” Gleiberman writes.

I must admit, however, I do have some concern over whether the helicopter sequence is a homage or a ripoff of Apocalypse Now.