Kong goes through a journey of self-discovery at the center of the Earth in Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire, a fast, loose, and largely fun sequel to Godzilla vs. Kong opening in cinemas throughout the Czech Republic and worldwide this weekend. Thanks to greater focus on at least one of its titular beasts, this one surpasses its predecessor as one of the best entries in Legendary Pictures’ MonsterVerse franchise.

Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire picks up where Godzilla vs. Kong left off: Godzilla has claimed the surface world as his own territory, relegating Kong to a lonely life in Hollow Earth as the last member of his species. But that doesn’t stop him from wanting more. A terrific cold open showcases Kong’s day-to-day life, from using clever traps to hunt prey to scrambling in search of the source of a familiar ape roar, only to discover it coming from a frog-like monster that mimics Kong’s call.

There’s a good 40 minutes of Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire that feature Kong as the protagonist in his own Planet of the Apes-like subplot, as he discovers an uncharted world filled with a colony of ape-like monsters. These include a benevolent child that becomes an adopted Son of Kong and Scar, the brutal red-haired ape leader that enslaves his own kind in a rock mine under threat of an ice-breathing dragon.

These Hollow Earth sequences unfold entirely without dialogue but are carefully detailed through grunts, nods, and a few cinematic tricks that allow us to follow Kong’s journey through his own eyes. They’re easily the best scenes not only in this film, but the whole MonsterVerse franchise.

And then the human characters come and deliver endless waves of exposition to tell us in pointless detail what we have already picked up on through subtle monster observation. Given the strength of the solo Kong sequences in Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire, one cannot help but imagine how much better these movies would if entirely told through the eyes of their titular monsters.

But in case you really need some humans to tell you what’s going on, monster scientist Ilene Andrews (Rebecca Hall) is back and tracking some more abnormalities in, uh, monster signals emanating from the center of the Earth. Adopted daughter Jia (Kaylee Hottle) – like Kong, the last surviving member of her Skull Island tribe – has been having visions that seem to match up with the signals, and the only one who can help make sense of it all, for some reason, is crackpot blogger Bernie (Brian Tyree Henry).

Joining them on a journey to the center of the Earth is monster veterinarian Trapper (Dan Stevens, sporting an Ace Ventura outfit and an amusing Kiwi accent) and gruff security honcho Mikael (Alex Ferns). And, well… that’s pretty much it. Despite the still-superfluous nature of these human characters, there are fewer of them in Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire, and they get less screen time than in previous entries.

Oh yeah, and Godzilla is around somewhere, too, curled up in Rome’s Colosseum until the script needs him to build up energy by devouring a French power plant and another titan in Antarctica in preparation for his big team-up with Kong at the finale. While the duo don’t exactly get along after the events of the previous film, an old friend makes a brief appearance to set them on the right path.

Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire has the unfortunate distinction to open just months after Toho’s serious-minded and legitimately great Godzilla Minus One, which really makes this thing stand out as the cartoon it is. That film’s sparse but memorable use of visual effects won it an Oscar, while this one drenches the screen in an almost overwhelming deluge of computer graphics.

Still, director Adam Wingard deserves credit for maintaining a consistent and largely appealing visual style. Like Godzilla vs. Kong, and unlike previous MonsterVerse entries, Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire largely takes place in brightly-lit environments instead of shrouding its creatures behind fog and darkness. The effects may be less convincing, in a sense, but the filmmakers know that audiences coming to a monster movie like this really want to see the monsters.

The New Empire‘s bright neon presentation, including Godzilla’s new purple sheen, really dazzles on the screen, especially during IMAX sequences (largely in Hollow Earth) that open up from a widescreen scope to a fuller 16×9 frame. And an excellent electro-synth score by Antonio Di Iorio and Junkie XL, together with some choice hits from the 70s and 80s, help create Wingard’s distinctive vision for the franchise.

Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire may be the most cartoonish MonsterVerse entry yet, but it delivers on the promise of its monster mash premise while paying homage to some of the older Toho classics. No one who voluntarily walks into this movie will leave it disappointed.

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