King Kong is everything Sky Captain wishes it was-- definitely the best Pulp Adventure in recent memory, maybe the best to be put to the screen. The characters are fun, the action is good, and it's quite probably the most visually stunning movie I have ever seen-- catch it in theaters. Skull Island is definitely the heart of the film-- things start to drag ass once they move things back to New York, but at three hours things are bound to lag at some point. The Tender Moments between Anne and Kong don't really appeal to me, but at three hours you're bound to need a piss break somewhere, so it works out.
Don't take the kids, though. Things get pretty extreme on Skull Island.