‘Godzilla vs. Kong’ review: Beast battles worthy of the big screen

The time is now. The day is here. After seven years,  Legendary’s MonsterVerse has finally reached the “vs.” stage. Remember how the old Japanese Godzilla films, with shoestring plots, had the lizard fight everyone but Apollo Creed? Now the reboot franchise is also kicking character development to the curb in favor of beast battles.

The first round, “Godzilla vs. King Kong,” pits ‘Zilla against his ultimate foe, and is far better than the tedious environmentalist screed that was “Godzilla: King of the Monsters,” a film darker than a Russian wake. I was a bit concerned at the start of the new one, though. Director Adam Wingard’s movie — out Wednesday in theaters and streaming on HBO Max — begins with a lazy Kong mulling about Skull Island and scratching his butt while the upbeat song “Over the Mountain, Across the Sea” plays. Pretty stupid. This franchise shouldn’t take itself too seriously, but it shouldn’t be a CBS sitcom pilot.