Skull Island is the latest installment of the MonsterVerse, building on the lore around King Kong and the many monsters that inhabit his eponymous island. Netflix's new animated television series attempts to do something new and different with the franchise, and while the show's not yet over, it has fallen flat in some areas.
As enjoyable as Skull Island can be, the series has disappointed fans with various elements. While fans of the MonsterVerse may enjoy a light-hearted and comedic Kong-centered TV show, there are plenty of reasons for potential viewers to skip Skull Island.
10 Skull Island's Human Characters Have No Real Conflict
Skull Island's first season struggles to give its human characters any real conflict. Initially, Irene and her mercenaries are introduced as antagonists, but Skull Island eventually reveals they are another group seeking a child lost at sea. While this twist itself is compelling, the show never properly adjusts its plot thereafter.
Even after Skull Island confirms Irene is trustworthy, several characters still work against her, believing her to be the enemy. This case of mistaken identity becomes the show's excuse to stretch out the season's plot for several more episodes, as two groups of characters compete to achieve the same ends. The rivalry between Irene and the other main characters is ultimately pointless since their goals don't vary in the slightest.
9 The Kaiju Battles are Few and Far Between
Audiences have gotten used to seeing Kong fighting some huge threats in his film appearances. While Kong does indeed engage in several epic kaiju battles in Skull Island, these fights don't occur nearly as often as an eight-episode season would warrant.
One of the most exciting prospects of Skull Island was that it was animated. With this medium, there was an array of possibilities that the show could explore when it comes to monster fights. However, the show never really pushes the envelope in this regard. Instead, Skull Island chooses to spend more time building up to a handful of kaiju battles than actually showing them.
8 Skull Island Tries To Be a Comedy
One of the strangest aspects of Skull Island is its tone, which is far lighter than the MonsterVerse movies. The series leans more toward a comedy by injecting eccentric characters, quirky conversations, and sarcastic dialogues into the series. However, this clashes with the carnage that is playing out onscreen.
Not only does Skull Island's humor not fit the horrific events depicted in the series, but it also very rarely lands. The jokes don't always make sense in the scenes, and the tone is confusing.
7 Skull Island's Story Is Tired
Skull Island's plot will feel quite familiar to most viewers, most likely because they have seen the same plot points play out in countless other movies and television shows before. The eight-episode series rarely feels any different from the other four MonsterVerse movies that precede it.
That's not to say that Skull Island doesn't have interesting moments. Cap and his crew becoming stranded on Skull Island at the end of the first episode is a compelling scene, and in Episode 8, Kong and the sea monster finally fight in an epic showdown. However, the rest of the series includes formulaic adventures as the heroes encounter strange animals, watch nameless mercenaries die, and continue to the next plot point.
6 Kong Is Barely in Skull Island
If audiences were perplexed when 2014's Godzilla and 2016's Kong: Skull Island hid the monsters until the final act, then they certainly won't be pleased with how Skull Island handles Kong. Despite existing in the boundless medium of animation, Skull Island features precious little of Kong in its eight episodes.
In a franchise where monsters are supposed to be the protagonists, Skull Island chooses to sideline its chief monster in favor of underdeveloped human characters. While Kong gets plenty to do in the final two episodes of Skull Island, he isn't involved in any events that occur beforehand. There are several episodes of the series in which Kong doesn't appear at all.
5 Skull Island Repeats Kong's Storyline
Longtime lovers of the MonsterVerse know that Kong is more human than monster, as he forges meaningful relationships with humans on several occasions throughout the franchise. This made for a major character moment in Godzilla vs. Kong, where he bonds with the young Jia. Skull Island fails to build on this storyline and instead chooses to just do it over again.
In Episode 7, viewers see a flashback of Kong's history with an island girl. This unnamed character is, for all intents and purposes, simply a different version of Jia. The addition of this storyline adds little to Kong's character that audiences didn't already know and instead acts as yet another filler episode.
4 Skull Island's Characters Have Little Character Development
Although the characters in Skull Island all have fun and whacky personalities, the show does very little to flesh them out over the course of the season. While Skull Island has only got eight episodes under its belt so far, the characters aren't very well-developed.
The worst example of this problem is Skull Island's main character, Charlie. The character begins the series wanting to go to college, despite his father's wishes. The series never bothers to flesh out why he wants to go to college or even what he wants to study, merely that he wishes to go. By the end of the season, his father finally accepts his wishes. Unfortunately, this character arc was predictable and doesn't even explain Charlie's storyline. His wish to go to college never had anything to do with the show's premise in the first place.
3 Skull Island Ignores MonsterVerse Canon
If audiences are going into Skull Island hoping for some major connections to other MonsterVerse movies, they will definitely be disappointed by the series. The show includes only one real reference to Kong: Skull Island in its second episode, and it largely ignores anything else that has occurred in the MonsterVerse.
Even Godzilla vs. Kong, one of the best MonsterVerse movies and a massive turning point in the franchise, isn't referenced in the series. Skull Island never even makes it clear when in the franchise's timeline it takes place. If it takes place after Godzilla vs. Kong, the show confuses the franchise's canon. If it takes place before, then audiences can expect another prequel about Kong's origin before going toe-to-toe with Godzilla.
2 Skull Island Offers No Hints for the MonsterVerse's Future
The MonsterVerse has a bright future ahead with Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire set to hit theaters in 2024. As the last MonsterVerse project ahead of this upcoming film, Skull Island could have easily introduced some teases for the Godzilla x Kong, but the animated series missed that opportunity entirely.
Skull Island has no plot points obviously tied to any other movies in the MonsterVerse. Instead, the animated series chooses to act as a self-contained story. This isn't necessarily a bad decision, but since Skull Island doesn't tell a captivating story in its first season, some connection to the upcoming projects would have been nice.
1 Skull Island's Cliffhanger Makes No Sense
Perhaps the most mind-boggling decision made in Skull Island's first season is its nonsensical cliffhanger. After finally reuniting with her mother after spending years on a deserted island, Mae Whitman's Annie suffers an injury in the show's final episode. Eventually, she wakes up in a hospital bed with her mother by her side, only to be shocked and horrified to discover herself in a regular city.
This final moment in Skull Island's finale builds up to one of the most underwhelming reveals ever. The revelation that Annie is in a city surprises precisely no one, as her mother was quite clear throughout the season that she wished to bring her daughter home. Skull Island pretends as though this is a bad development for Annie's character, even though it is difficult to argue that she'd be better off on Skull Island.