Godzilla x Kong: generic goliaths grapple with glaring graphics

(**)& Godzilla and King Kong used to have a beef. Now that they’ve kissed and made up, there’s no real meat in this generic big creature smackdown.  Also, any production involving Godzilla or Kong now stands in the shadow of the Oscar-winning Godzilla Minus One. There’s no excuses anymore. If writer/director Takashi Yamazaki can craft a heartfelt script with three-dimensional characters. If Yamazaki, Kiyoko Shibuya, Masaki Takashi and Tatsuji Nojima can conjure eyeball-entrancing visual effects so stunning they garner the ultimate achievement in artistry, an Academy Award. Then any filmmakers who come after them can step up. If they really want to.  Brian Tyree Henry in Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire. Credit: NNPA Newswire Something is riling the titan Godzilla, who’s been comfortably curled up and napping in Rome’s Colosseum. On the other side of the world, the young girl Jia (Kaylee Hottle, Godzilla vs Kong) is feeling weird. Cryptically, something is bothering her. A weird vibe. She’s also worried about her friend King Kong, who’s on Skull Island, his home. He’s being watched over by a team of scientists and a veterinarian named Trapper (Dan Stevens, Beauty and the Beast).& Jia’s adoptive mom, Dr. Ilene Andrews (Rebeca Hall,...