Following the events of Godzilla Vs Kong, and somehow likely incorporating the events in Monarch from Apple plus, Godzilla X Kong is the latest in the American version of Godzilla mixing with Kong and other titans as a franchise. This sequel is directed by Adam Wingard, and starring Rebecca Hall, Brian Tyree Henry, and Dan Steven’s leading the human team. The world is finally at some kind of peace, as Kong is now in Hollow Earth, and Godzilla is left on the surface to fight off any titans that would seek to encroach on his domain. Basically, we’ve accepted that there’s a giant lizard that could step on you or your home at any time, and he’s the thing you root for in any above ground battles. In Hollow Earth (which is kind of a name that happens when you run out of names), Kong is the last of his kind, and seemingly lonely and fighting off his own monsters. Something in the world isn’t right, so our human cast heads to hollow Earth to figure things out, where they find out more about the deaf child and her connection to this world, people who used to worship Kong, and a lost community of massive gorillas being led astray. If Kong is to restore order in Hollow Earth, he must draw his former foe down to help him. That means, Mothra too, who is part of the holy trinity, but less referenced, and lacking title recognition.

The humans here are fine, as the actors are all decent in their own right. Though, after Godzilla Minus One managed to tell strong human stories against this backdrop, it does start to feel like the humans are a little unnecessary. Still, people come for Kong and Godzilla, and titan fighting. There’s more Kong in this film than Godzilla, and he’s more integral to the plot. But the film doesn’t short change the audience on the amount of strange creatures that attack without warning, above or below.

What I Look For In Audio Description: The title characters here are giant non-verbal works of fantasy. So, not only do we have to capture their movements, but there’s some effort that has to be made to make them feel like characters and not just giant monsters. because there must be a distinction between the good (Godzilla, Kong, Mothra), and the Baad and Ugly (Every other titan). Obviously, this is a VFX and action heavy film, so the audio description is doing a lot of heavy lifting. with so many things featured, especially in Hollow Earth, like wartDogs, the description can’t just say what something is, it often has to explain how it is different from the things in the world we typically know. Secondarily, there is also a lost tribe that doesn’t speak, and not only do we need to know what they look like, but their non-verbal communication requires more out of them, even if they are played by human actors. After that, we do have the same little girl from the last film who speaks entirely through sign language, and since we can’t read subtitles, her ASL has to be interpreted regardless of who she is talking to. Kong also uses ASL. lastly, we are given a few human characters, and their lives are put into peril, so tracking this really small cast is important. while this is a work of fantasy, requiring a lot of visual elements desribed here, most of the cast was in the last film and shouldn’t need extensive chracter description, and this takes place in what would be modern times, so costuming is less impressive. yes, there is a diverse cast, but this is also a sequel, so this isn’t the first time these characters have been on screen.

What It Does: Deluxe, and narrator Jedidiah Barton, excel in capturing the movement of Kong, and making him feel like a fully realized character with complex emotions. Godzilla is harder, and Mothra is featured less. But Kong is very well described. Some of the new monsters are described well in the various titan fights. there is a “juvenile” that is introduced during the film that spends a lot of time with Kong, and I needed size relativity for him. he’s new to the franchise and I wasn’t sure how big he was in relation to those around him, especially Kong. The humans are small, and rather quickly are reduced to just name actors, so following them becomes rather easy, and I had a good grasp of the tribe, what they looked like, and the ASL dubbing was done well. Barton’s voice also compliments the project, which adds as a benefit, reminding that voice casting for companies is so important.

Final Thoughts: My favorite in the franchise is Kong: Skull Island, so the increased screentime for Kong was appreciated. This doesn’t have well written humans, but the actors are doing their best with what they can. this film relies heavily on audio description, and the script truly does mostly deliver. My problem with the lack of creating a character for Godzilla is just a problem also with the script. He’s not really needed here until the last act of the film, so every time he’s shoe horned in, it is just to fight. Kong shows real emotion, and Deluxe captured that very well. This is a strong audio description track, and likely one of the best of the year. As a film, it’s fun, and it won me over more than I figured it would due to the focus on Kong.

Final Grade: B