"You don't say no to Godzilla. He's had my back forever," says Jackson, who plays chief warrant officer Jackson Barnes in the big-budget sequel.

"It's about time I returned the favor."

The 2014 Godzilla film brought the giant reptile back into pop culture in a major way, and the follow-up might as well be the Avengers of giant monster movies.

Only instead of superheroes, audiences will get a face full of super-duper creatures, with Godzilla throwing down against classic foes from the old Japanese cinematic canon like the winged Mothra, fiery Rodan and three-headed golden dragon (and resident alpha) Ghidorah.

Not to mention there is some old-fashioned human family drama, with animal behaviorist Mark Russell (Kyle Chandler) dragged into the fray when his estranged paleobiologist ex-wife Emma (Vera Farmiga) and daughter Madison (Millie Bobby Brown) are captured by a mysterious organisation.

It's about to get more epic, though.

Next year brings the next chapter in the MonsterVerse, Godzilla vs. Kong (out March 13, 2020), where the G-man throws down with the gigantic great ape King Kong from 2017's Kong: Skull Island - the first time they've shared the big screen since 1962's "King Kong vs. Godzilla."

But before that must-see matchup, let's answer the burning questions heading into King of the Monsters:

Is it connected to the last Godzilla?

You bet: The previous film had the iconic thunder lizard saving humanity - and San Francisco - from a couple of giant insect-y creatures.

This time around, the cryptozoological organization Monarch has found other "Titans" cropping up around the globe, and the humans have to figure out which side they're on in the middle of apocalyptic destruction.

It's safe to say, though, sticking with Godzilla is probably pretty smart.

"He's truly mythic almost in that Joseph Campbell sense," says director Michael Dougherty of the noted author's writing about the "hero's journey."

Why should we care about the humans?

The storyline with Farmiga's and Brown's characters is "hugely important," Dougherty says, and veers away from other popcorn movies featuring "lots of characters with daddy issues (Looking at you, Iron Man and Batman.)

"You don't see too much on the mother/daughter side of the spectrum.

"When you introduce maternal struggles into science fiction, it shifts things ever so slightly, so they do become a little bit more poignant and emotional."

Brown notes that "human interaction" is just as important as the giant monsters for Dougherty.

"He has this vision and passion and rode with it."

Is there a deeper message to be had?

Godzilla movies have always been about more than the monster mashes.

Back in the day, he was an enormous metaphor for the atomic age, and in King of the Monsters, the issue du jour - just like in real life - is climate change.

"Godzilla is here, in my own personal view, to come and say, 'Look around, look what you're doing and stop it. Fix what you've done here,' " Chandler says.

"You can see why the franchise would last forever because there's always a period in some decade where we're screwing something up."

Godzilla: King of the Monsters is in Australian cinemas now.