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Showa Series
"Godzilla, King of the Monsters"
Release Date: 1954
Running Time: 80 minutes
Monster Apperances: Gojira
Rating: ****1/2
My Thoughts: A great movie (for
this time period), filled with the darker sides of the begining of the atomic age. This film mainly tells about how a giant
sea creature, Godzilla, as born out of atomic test firing. Godzilla soon runs rampant throughout Japan, destroying everything
in his path like any kaiju worth his gold would do. Eventually he's stopped by Doctor Serazawa's oxygen destroyer (I'm not
sure if I spelled his name right), but sacrifices himself to keep his weapon a secret. This is the 1st Godzilla movie and
a MUST have for any Godzilla fan, see it with or without Raymond Burr.
"Godzilla Raids Again"
Release Date: ????
Running Time: ????
Monster Apperances: ????
Rating: ????
My Thoughts: Never Seen Movie . . .
"King Kongvs. Godzilla"
Release Date: 1663
Running Time: 91 minutes
Monster Apperances: Godzilla, King Kong, & Giant Squid
Rating: ***1/2
My Thoughts: Godzilla rises out of the Artic Sea and then makes a
bee-line towards Japan. Meanwhile a Tokyo company sends a group of explorers to Skull Island, and they eventually capture
Kong. After Kong is captured they attempt to haul him to Tokyo, for money of coarse, but gets free. King Kong and Godzilla
face off once in the mountains, with Godzilla being the winner. They eventually are brought back together, with help from
the humans, and fight to the finish. King Kong and Godzilla fight to a stand still and begin to roll down a mountain, both
crashing into the sea. King Kong emergers from the water, seemingly the victor. I own this movie, but I personally am not
a fan of this one; since the big guy supposedly loses.
"Mohtra vs. Godzilla"
Release Date: 1964
Running Time: 88 minutes
Monster Apperances: Godzilla & Mothra (Like you didn't know that
already)
Rating: ***
My Thoughts: This movie isn't really a "bad" one, I just loath
the fact that this Godzilla has EYE BROWS! Yes, you read correctly, this Godzilla has freakin' eye brows. A giant egg washes
up on the shore of Japan, and some rich business men buy it for their own benefit (like any real business men would do) Meanwhile,
Godzilla pops out of the ground he was stuck in from the last movie (which doesn’t make sense because he was last seen
falling into the ocean?). Some reporter people go to Infant Island to ask for Mothra’s
help. She readily agrees, and goes to fight Godzilla; the fact that you didn’t know is that she’s dying. After
fighting Godzilla for a while, Mothra dies; then, two Mothra larvas pop out of the egg that was in Infant
Island, and go defeat Godzilla. I dislike the idea of this, even if it was to make
the movie longer, the fact that Godzilla could be beaten in a battle by two larvas is insane! This movie isn’t perfect,
though. There are some other parts that are kind of weird, but most can be written off as culture clash. The special effects
aren’t perfect, either. Godzilla’s lip seems to be a bit jiggly. Also, in the missile scene, the people on the
ships seem to be a bit of a bad aim (How could you miss something as big as Godzilla!?).
  "Ghidorah, The Three Headed Monster"
Release Date: 1965
Running Time: 83 minutes
Monster Apperances: Godzilla, Rodan, Mothra, & King Ghidorah
My Thoughts: A giant, mysterious meteorite lands in Japan
(what else is new?). Meanwhile somewhere else in the world, a princess from some other country has her plane blow up, but
mysteriously survives (I'm betting alien interference). She comes back claiming to be a Martian, and prophesizes the attack
of a space monster. Some people decide to help her and bring her mind back, but only end up learning that she is really a
Martian; actually the descendent of one who came to Earth 3,000 years ago when Ghidorah destroyed Mars. Some people from the
county she’s from try to assassinate her (must not have been popular), but fail and end up shocking her back to normal.
While all this is happening, Godzilla and Rodan pop up again and start fighting each other (like any kaiju would do). One
of the Mothra larva comes and persuades them to help fight Ghidorah; they eventually decide to gang up on him, and force him
to retreat. This movie was pretty well done, even though the plot is very good but is a bit far-fetched at times. Turning
Godzilla and Rodan into good guys was a, well, good idea. It sets the series up for the rest of the decade. The main part
that was good about this movie is the way it flows; just about everything in it just flows right for the rest of the movie.
It had its
problems though; they spend more time on human plot instead of monster plot (which isn’t good for most monster movies).
Then again, what would you rather have, good human plot or poorly done monster scenes? The few monster scenes they had were
done well, but it’s apparent that they didn’t have much money to make any more scenes with monsters. Ghidorah
himself was made very well; however, being the title monster, it didn’t get much of a part. Although the movie was good,
it didn’t seem like a good introduction to this new monster. He didn’t seem to put up much of a fight. Then again,
it was three against one.
  "Godzilla
vs. The Sea Monster"
Release
Date: 1968
Running
Time: 82 minutes
Monster
Apperances: Godzilla, Mothra, Ebirah, & Giant Condor
My
Thoughts: The movie begins with somebody’s brother gets lost at sea. Two months later, that person, two
of his friends and a bank robber somehow get on a boat to search for him. They crash on an island populated by a group of
people bent on world domination through atomic weapons, called the Red Bamboo (although it is never said in the movie); they’re
even protected from outsiders by a giant lobster called Ebirah (they don’t say that either), they control it through
a special juice made out of special berries that is being processed by captives from Infant Island. The castaways wake up
Godzilla, who was sleeping in a nearby cave. Through Godzilla’s destruction, the breaking and entering abilities of
the bank robber, and the help of Mothra, they save the Infant Island
slaves. Godzilla beats up Ebirah, tries to pick a fight with Mothra, and then jumps off the Island
before it blows up. It’s quite obvious that they didn’t change the script much after the decision to put Godzilla
in to replace King Kong. Godzilla exhibits some strange behaviors because of it (rock throwing, not much atomic breath, goofy
movement, looking at beautiful girls, being scared of an atomic explosion, and him picking his nose). He also got the original
format of having giant animals attack him (Giant octopus, giant condor, giant lobster, etc). Even though he acts like Kong,
he still uses his atomic breath in the fight scenes. Although he doesn’t act like Godzilla at times, it makes Godzilla
look more flexible and sometimes better looking. Speaking of looks, although it is the same suit as the last movie, somehow
it wore out a bit. He looks a bit like the Cookie Monster from Sesame Street
(^_^). Despite the fact that it is basically a King Kong movie, it is still distinctively Godzilla. The plot is good and more
in-depth than most movies. It runs on a non sci-fi format, which set Godzilla up for the next movie (Son of Godzilla). It
also has some more Mothra stuff in it, including a full grown Mothra. Despite the fact the plot and main concept were good,
the title monster, Ebirah, wasn’t. It’s just a big lobster, nothing special. It fights pretty well, but not much
of a challenge for Godzilla. This movie also seemed to set itself up for a sequel (Red Bamboo still around elsewhere, Ebirah
not killed (unless he died of starvation before his claws grew back or died in the explosion), but a sequel never came, which
shows something about the popularity of the movie. The fight scenes were so good that they were re-shown in "Godzilla’s
Revenge".
  "Son of Godzilla"
Release Date: 1969
Running Time: 84 minutes
Monster Apperances: Godzilla, Kumonga, Kamacuras, & Minilla
Rating: ***1/2
My Thoughts: The movie begins
with a bunch of scientists are doing weather experiments on a tropical island. In an accident with one of the experiments,
they make the atmosphere of the island like a dessert, and make the already large Mantises on the island even bigger. The
Gimantises dig up a huge egg, and it hatches a baby Godzilla. Dad eventually comes to the rescue, and two of the three Gimantises
are set on fire (which is still pretty to watch). After some cute baby Godzilla scenes, he gets tripped by Godzilla and learns
to breathe his thermonuclear ray (with help from his dad, i.e. Him stepping on his tail). Eventually the scientists wake up
a giant spider known as Aspiega. A battle ensues with little Godzilla, who ultimately has his father come to the rescue (.
. . again). Godzilla and his son eventually burn Aspiega and go to leave the island. The scientists freeze the island before
the two kaiju can get off, and are both go into hibernation. This movie was apparently made just for fun because of the entire
cute baby Godzilla scenes; it also shows the kinder side of Godzilla, even though he still gets mean at times. Main problem,
however, is that the Godzilla plot is rather short; it spends most of the time on the humans. If they wanted to, they could
have made the entire movie without Godzilla even being in it. Other than the fight scenes, the movie was rather boring. You
maybe able to watch this movie every six months, but twice in a row are not a smart idea. The cute baby Godzilla scenes were
rather cute, but just added to the boredom. As a whole, though, there isn’t much to say about this movie. It’s
cute, weird, and fun. It’s pathetic all the way, but leaves with a warm, fuzzy feeling afterwards. If you are a fan
of the extremely serious Godzilla format, don’t watch this movie unless you have to. If you don’t mind a silly
Godzilla movie, go right ahead and watch it. It’s not that bad.
  "Destroy All Monsters"
Release Date: 1969
Running Time: 86 minutes
Monster Apperances: Godzilla, Rodan, Anguirus, Gorosaurus, Minilla, King
Ghidorah, Mothra, Kumonga, Baragon, & Varan
Rating: ****
My Thoughts: The
year is 1999 (yeah right!), and all the monsters in the world have been captured and put on Monster
Island. Then, space aliens from Kilaak (a small planet in the asteroid belt), decide
to let the monsters loose on the world, destroying the old so the can make a new (just like any other alien civilization).
Through a series of events involving "1999" technology like spaceships, the monsters are freed from alien control. The monsters
go to the alien’s secret base near Mt. Fugi,
and gang up on the space monster Ghidorah. The base is destroyed, saving the earth! Yippee! This movie has it all! It’s
got strange sci-fi stuff, a bunch of monsters, aliens bent on conquering the earth, a giant monster fight, monster destruction,
and even ray gun fights! It has everything for everybody’s taste. The special effects in this movie were done very good.
They even strayed away from stock footage, only having one small scene, the part of Ghidorah appearing. The special effects
in the one Tokyo attack scene were done so well, it rivals some movies in the
Heisei Series. The plot is pretty darn good also. It gives a Godzilla movie that much needed caring for the rest of the world.
It may have gone far fetched at times, but since it is set in the "future", it is excused. As a whole, this movie is very
good, one of the best. It’s a true fan favorite, but even good for casual watchers. Go ahead, buy it, and then make
the rest of your family watch!
  "Godzilla's Revenge"
Release Date: 1971
Running Time: 69 minutes
Monster Appearances: Godzilla, Minilla, Gabara, Anguirus, Gorosaurus,
Manda, Kumonga, Giant Condor, Ebirah, & Kamacuras
Rating: *
My Thoughts: Unanimously agreed on to is the
worse Godzilla movie ever made! I’m not sure what they were thinking when they made this one, but it was lame. It may
not be totally awful, but it’s still the worse of the lot. A little kid named Ichiro has a rotten life. He is plagued
by bullies and his parents are never home. He escapes reality by sleeping all the time, dreaming about Godzilla (how he was
able to induce what he dreams about, I may never know. Although I wish I could do the same). He dreams about Godzilla fighting
other monsters and having himself met a size-changing talking Manila. After he
persuades Manila to fight a monster version of his own bully, he works up the
courage to face a couple of bank robbers that have kidnapped him. He then beats up his bully, and is a jerk towards some guy
doing painting work. The main concept of having some kid dream of Godzilla and see a bunch of Godzilla fights is pretty good,
but other than that this movie sucks! The main concept is OK, but did they have to make it so painfully boring? Despite the
fact that the Godzilla and Manila vs. Gabara fights were fairly good, the rest
were just stock footage. Although it is nifty to have a kid dream up a talking Minilla, it just ends up into being a goofy
Barney look-a-like! As a whole there isn’t much to say about this movie. It is a terrible movie that appeared to be
slapped together. It is boring and has half the movie in stock footage. It has its good points, but their just not worth it.
Bottom line is: don’t watch this movie unless you have to.
  "Godzilla vs. Hedorah"
Release Date: 1972
Running Time: 85 minutes
Monster Apperances: Godzilla & Hedorah
Rating: ***1/2
My Thoughts: This
movie does to pollution what the original "Godzilla" did to nuclear bomb testing. It does a little more than just say "Pollution
is bad, it will make a giant monster!” It shows the horrors of pollution so well, it’s almost painful. Oh well,
it’s got a spiffy Godzilla battle! Pollution spawns a hideous monster named Hedorah. He comes from space, and grows
from pollution. It attacks Japan to feed, but Godzilla comes
to fight it. It runs off, and returns bigger and more powerful. It heads to Mt.
Fugi, with Godzilla right after it. They fight, and Hedorah walks into a human
trap that dries it out. Godzilla rips what appear to be eggs out of Hedorah, and dries those out to. The drying apparently
isn’t enough, and a smaller Hedorah pops out of it. Godzilla "flies" after it, and dries it up for good. It has a great
plot fit to everyone, and great special effects featuring no stock footage, giving it more of a big budget feel. In this movie,
Godzilla sets himself fully as a good guy. Hedorah itself is a major challenge, which is probably why Godzilla wanted to fight
it, but it may be for the reasons the kid said it was. Hedorah is big, highly poisonous, and a very powerful monster, they
did a good job of designing it. I have always considered that Hedorah has done the highest death toll and damage total of
any of the original Godzilla movies (nearly killing everybody in a single city!). He even did a lot of damage on Godzilla
(he’s probably going to get lung cancer later in life because of this). Of course, all this death and destruction add
to the allegory on pollution. "Pollution is dangerous, clean it up!" Despite its good point on the allegory of pollution and
one of the best Godzilla battles of the classic series, the movie isn’t perfect. The main battle was great, but the
first one dragged on forever. Also, the movie gets severely weird at times. There are many scenes thrown in that are just
plain odd. There is one scene were the kid dreams of Godzilla burning up water pollution, and creating air pollution! There
is also a few really odd out of place cartoons slipped in. These weird scenes really destroy the plot flow, and look a bit
like commercials. Plus, the title song "Save the Earth" gets a bit annoying after a while. Well, at least it is dubbed, unlike
the rest of the Godzilla songs of the 70’s. As a whole, I though this movie was done very good. It may get weird at
times, but the rest of the stuff is worth it. If you can find it, buy it. It’s a most see for fans of the classic Godzilla.
 "Godzilla vs. Gigan"
Release Date: 1977
Running Time: 89 minutes
Monster Apperances: Godzilla, Gigan, Anguirus, King Ghidorah, Mothra,
Rodan, Kumonga, Kamacuras, Gorosaurus, Minilla, & Gaira
Rating: ***
My Thoughts: Giant
intelligent cockroaches from Nebula Space Hunter M want to take over the Earth. They secretly come to Earth, put on human
"uniform", and start a big corporation to have a control tower so they can send Ghidorah and their own monster (Gigan) to
Earth, destroy it, and make it their own. Godzilla and Anguirus show up, and a battle starts. The tower being controlled is
shaped like Godzilla, and it even shoots a laser beam out of its mouth. Godzilla gets back up, and chases off the space monsters.
Before the monsters fight, there is a nifty back plot featuring a mystery to be solved, and a cartoonist. After the back plot
is over and the monsters fight, the movie gets really good. The choreography with the scenes is done very well. Everything
seems to fall in place just right. The part of the monsters destroying Tokyo had
great special effects, and enough explosiveness to rival movies of the future series. The part of the monsters fighting was
done very well. Not only did it have a lot of memorable scenes, but the whole part has a nifty serial feel to it. Of course,
you have to have watched this movie a zillion times to see it, but this movie has a special feel that most movies don’t
have. Although it’s really spiffy for the most part, it has its problems. Godzilla and Gigan don’t use their special
weapons much, which is rather disappointing; also, Anguirus could have had a bigger part. The main problem with this movie
is stock footage. Stock footage is annoying as it is, but when the movie is set a night where as the stock footage is set
during the day, it gets even more annoying. They toned down the light on the footage, but it isn’t enough. However,
most little kids wouldn’t notice. This is especially true for little kids that never saw the movies in question. I didn’t
when I was a kid, and so I didn’t notice. I grew up since then, and now the stock footage is hurting. Oh well, at least
having stock footage saves money so the rest of the parts can be even better. As a whole, this is a great movie. It has its
problems, but the nifty experience more than makes up for it. It is a great movie, and a key part of the Godzilla series.
  "Godzilla vs. Megalon"
Release Date: 1976
Running Time: 78 minutes
Monster Apperances: Godzilla,
Megalon, Jet-Jaguar, Gigan, Anguirus, Rodan
Rating: **
My
Thoughts: An advanced underwater race of people called Seatopians (maybe the
same people of the original Mothra/Battra fiasco?); mad about atomic testing, sends out their monster, Megalon, to destroy
the earth. The need something to guide it, so they steal a flying robot named Jet Jaguar from some inventor guy. The good
guys retake control of Jet, and send it to go get Godzilla. It tells Godzilla to come, goes back, grows to a big size, and
starts fighting Megalon. Gigan comes, and then Godzilla gets there. They fight, Godzilla and the goofy looking robot wins.
Well now, that wasn’t too good. In fact, is really good at all. Main problem is that Jet Jaguar is a robot. Now only
is it goofy looking, it’s a rip-off of Ultraman. And then there is Megalon, the giant beetle with four limbs; it isn’t
that bad of a monster, but it is still goofy looking. Not only that, the plot is goofy too. It has a lot of car chase scenes,
but with the goofy music in the background, it ends up goofy. There is also a lot of scenes that end up goofy, like the goofy
dolphin boat and the goofy "how did they survive that" flying box scene. Or, how about that goofy Godzilla drop-kick scene?
Plus, there’s that goofy kid. Bottom line of the paragraph is: this movie is goofy. The movie is not totally goofy,
though. It is also pathetic, stupid, and just plain bad. OK, so it isn’t a total waste. There are a few really cool
scenes slipped into the bad special effects and stock footage. Plus, the main battle was pretty cool. So maybe this movie
is the stupidest, lamest, most pathetic, and goofiest of all the Godzilla movies, but at least it’s not as bad as Godzilla’s
Revenge! Basically, only watch it if you have too. Buy it if you want a few Godzilla movies around, it’s cheap and very
common. Actually, if you like Godzilla movies a lot, you probably would have about a half a dozen of them laying around because
friends and family members probably bought them for you! It’s not their fault; they just don’t realize that the
worse movies of a popular series get made by so many different companies because it’s cheap to buy the rights to it!
  "Godzilla
vs. Mechagodzilla"
Release
Date: 1977
Running
Time: 80 minutes
Monster
Apperances: Godzilla, Mechagodzilla, King Caesar, Anguirus, & King Ghidorah
Rating: ***
My
Thoughts: According to a legend of Okinawa, a monster will come
to destroy the Earth, and two monsters will come to stop it. It comes true, but Godzilla is the monster? Then another Godzilla
pops up. How could this be? Oh, one is actually a robot created by spacemen that look like Godzilla (sounds like a sci-fi
movie). What was the point of Mechagodzilla looking like Godzilla? Who knows? Anyways, they both get beat up. Mechagodzilla
is repaired, and Godzilla lets himself get struck by lighting. A big dog-lion named King Caesar is raised up through back
plot and singing, and it fights Mechagodzilla. Godzilla comes and after getting beat up again, he turns himself into an electromagnet
through the lighting he absorbed (I thought Godzilla was weak against electricity? Must of changed that), and pulls Mechagodzilla
to him. Godzilla rips off Mechagodzilla’s head, and everything blows up. Godzilla and King Caesar go back to where they
came from. OK, so the whole movie is a bit silly. OK so the movie has one to many human fight and gun fight. OK, so there
are plot holes and inaccuracies. OK, so having a giant monster being a guardian to a certain group of ancient people isn’t
original. OK, so the aliens look like planet of the ape rejects. Big Deal! The movie is still, well, pretty darn fun. The
monster fight is one of the funniest and funniest of them all. This movie seems to be designed for the kids, but you don’t
have to be one to appreciate it. Also, there are a few scenes that are absolutely spectacular. It also seemed to have more
explosions then even some of the ones on the Heisei series. Plus, Mechagodzilla was designed very well. It didn’t even
look like a guy in a metal suit. It was even able to do more special moves than the movies just before it. And here’s
a treat: virtually no stock footage! This movie may not have had the best plot or best concept, but it was really well made.
Anybody who likes Godzilla movies should watch this, at least just to see Mechagodzilla. Most kids who are Godzilla fans would
absolutely love this movie. It has the classic, fun; Godzilla saves the Earth feel throughout. Anybody who liked the concept
of the last 3 movies will like this one. I recommend it to everyone who remembers Godzilla as a kid.
  "Terror of Mechagodzilla"
Release Date: 1978
Running Time: 78 minutes
Monster Apperances: Godzilla, Mechagodzilla II, Titanosaurus, Manda, King Ghidorah, Rodan,
& King Caesar
Rating:
***
My Thoughts: Godzilla’s popularity has for
some reason fallen to practically nothing. In order to dig them out of the hole they somehow got themselves in, Toho brings
back Inoshiro Honda to direct the next movie. Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough, and this was the last of the original
Godzilla series. Those dang space aliens came back to repair Mechagodzilla. While they’re doing that, they get help
from the disgruntled Professor Mafuni. His cyborg daughter controls Titanosaurus, a really big aquatic dinosaur. Once Mechagodzilla
is fixed, they send it and Titanosaurus to, of course, Tokyo. Godzilla shows up
to fight both of them, and with some help from the humans, wins. Toho got in a hole by making Godzilla save Tokyo
from aliens. So what do they do? They keep the same plot and just change the director. Although this was a good movie, it
wasn’t what they needed to save themselves. A goofy alien with goofy helmets who control giant monsters and send them
to Tokyo, but get beat up by Godzilla with help from humans isn’t the most
original plot. Despite its lack of series saving, it is pretty good. The special effects are the best in the old series. The
plot is more in-depth than the last few movies. The fighting is really well done and very explosive. It seems that like the
last movie, they got a lot of fireworks at an after Forth of July sale, because there are tons of explosions.
The scene where Godzilla meets Titanosaurus for the first time and the scene where Godzilla is running through all the explosions
to get to Titanosaurus are some of the most spectacular of the series. The whole movie was pieced together very well; just
about everything works out right. The only problem is the main concept. The monsters in this movie were designed very well,
Mechagodzilla looks better than ever. Titanosaurus looks good and works good, but acts like a big goof. He’s an idiot,
but that’s actually good. Finally a stupid goofy monster that works well when being goofy. He isn’t very powerful,
but that’s a good thing because then Godzilla stands a chance of defeating two monsters. Godzilla wasn’t in pain
when Titanosaurus flapped his tail around to make a whirlwind, he was laughing! One thing I can’t figure out, why is
something that lives in the ocean is weak against sonar? Dolphins and a bunch of other sea creatures us sonar all the time.
That makes no sense. As a whole, this movie was well made. It may not have been enough to save the series, but it still was
good. It’s a most watch for people who like Godzilla movies. Go out and get this one, I doubt you will be disappointed.
Heisei Series
"Godzilla 1985"
Release Date: 1985
Running Time: 91 minutes
Monster Apperances: Godzilla
Rating: * * * * *
My Thoughts: After
a nine year break, Toho decided to bring Godzilla back. Instead of the goofy shows that they used to do, they decided to go
back to the format of the original movie, and pretend the others never existed. Godzilla pops up again after thirty years.
He heads for a nuclear submarine and a nuclear power plant, sucking up their energy. This causes cold war tensions, and Steve
Martin is sent to the Pentagon (he had to show up somewhere (^_^)). Godzilla then heads for Tokyo, destroying everything in his way.
The Japanese military sends out the Super X attack plane to shoot cadmium missiles in Godzilla’s mouth, which neutralizes
him. Because of an accidentally set off soviet nuclear missile, a counter missile is sent to destroy it over Tokyo.
The atmospheric nuclear blast revives Godzilla, who destroys the Super X. He is led to a volcano by special waves that sound
like a flock of birds, which trigger a conditioned response. Godzilla falls into the volcano, his fate unknown. This is one
of the best Godzilla movie ever made. It has its problems, but the good stuff outweighs the bad stuff more than the rest of
the series. It is the most dramatic movie of the serious. The whole movie has a dark, serious feel to it. Although I like
a silly monster fighting movie, I like a pure monster movie just as much. The special effects are some of the best work Toho
has done. Godzilla looks great, even believable! You can imagine he is real living creature in this movie. Some scenes are
utterly amazing and awe inspiring. OK, so you can see strings in some scenes, but other than that, it’s good. The Godzilla
vs. the Super X is one of the most amazing battles shot. The main reason I like this movie is the feeling I get when I watch
it. I watch it a lot, but it still gets better every time I see it. The movie springs a surreal feeling most other movies
don’t have. The extremely dramatic angle and dark feel makes this the best there is. Not only was the great epilogue
by Ramon Burr added, but so was that blood-curtailing cry Godzilla utters when he falls in the lava. I just can’t imagine
the ending without it, because it makes the ending so dramatic. I always liked a good ending, and the American version of
this movie is by far the best of the series. I only have one complaint about this movie: the starting sequence with the "Godzilla
ticks". It’s pointless, gross, and stupid. Otherwise, this movie is great.
  "Godzilla vs. Biollante"
Release Date: 1992
Running Time: 1 hour & 44
minutes
Monster Apperances: Godzilla &
Biollante
Rating: * * * 1/2
My Thoughts: Godzilla starts moving in his volcanic prison
(Japanese not very surprised that he survived). They want to create Antinuclear Bacteria using G-cells. One of the scientists
mixes G-cells and Rose cells together, combined with his daughter’s soul somehow, and Biollante is formed. A rival company
accidentally released Godzilla through explosions at the volcano, and Godzilla comes out. He beats up Biollante, who escapes
into space. He goes to Osaka, and destroys the Super X-2. He is injected by Antinuclear
Bacteria, but he is cold-blooded so it doesn’t work. They try to raise his temperature through artificial lighting,
but it doesn’t work. Biollante comes back bigger and badder, and ends up raising Godzilla’s temperature enough
to start the bacteria growing. Biollante goes off, releases the daughter’s soul, and Godzilla goes face first in the
ocean, which cools him off. Godzilla is alive but neutralized. He heads off to the ocean to rest. Yes, that was the short
version. Watch it yourself, it is really complicated. It is dramatic at times, but not nearly as much as the last one. The
special effects are really good. Biollante was designed very well. If you look closely at the background, you will notice
that the movie was very well made and spared no expenses. It flowed correctly, except for maybe the end. The Godzilla vs.
Biollante and Super X-2 were also pretty good. The Miki Saegusa character and G-force were put in and will play out through
the rest of the movies.
 "Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah"
Release Date: 1998
Running Time:
1 hour & 40 minutes
Monster Apperances:
Godzilla & King Ghidorah
Rating: * * * 1/2
My Thoughts: Some people from the 23rd century (at least from that point in time) traveled back in time to supposedly save Japan,
two are human and one is a cyborg. They went back in time to Godzilla’s creation, a dinosaur on Logos
Island in 1944. They transported it to the ocean so it wouldn’t turn into
Godzilla in the 1954 H-bomb test. However, they stuck creatures called Dorats on the island, and when they came back, King
Ghidorah had formed. They wanted to destroy Japan because
later on, it will become extremely powerful and buy up like half the world (yeah, right). The Japanese weren’t happy
with that, so the recreated a bigger and stronger Godzilla; more or less by accident. After massively injuring King Ghidorah
and killing the bad time-travelers, Godzilla went and attacked the nearest city, heading for Tokyo
(things really didn’t work out how they planned). The good time travelers went back to the future, and came back with
Mecha-King Ghidorah. It fought with Godzilla, and both dropped into the ocean from high up. King Ghidorah probably died, but
Godzilla sure didn’t! This isn’t too shabby of a movie. It probably has the highest monster parts/human parts
ratio of most Godzilla movies. It has so much the movie gets that double movie effect with two separate climaxes. It has a
lot of monster fight scenes, all of which were done well. Godzilla growing bigger was a good idea, even though he seemed to
get even stiffer in the process.
  "Godzilla & Mothra: Battle For Earth"
Release Date: 1998
Running Time: 1 hour and 40 mintues
Monster Apperances: Godzilla, Mothra,
& Battra
Rating: * * 1/2
My
Thoughts: An Indiana Jones rip-off, his ex-wife, and some business guy
go and find Mothra’s egg, which was uncovered by a meteorite caused hurricane. The meteorite also woke up Godzilla and
Battra. After destroying some stuff, the Battra larva meets up with the newly hatched Mothra larva and Godzilla, and they
all start beating each other up. Godzilla and Battra are sucked under an undersea volcano, which gives time for Mothra to
pupate and some lame back plot similar to the movies Mothra and Godzilla vs. Mothra. Godzilla pops up out of Mt.
Fugi, Battra does a quick-change, and Mothra hatches form her cocoon. They all
start beating each other up . . . again. Since Mothra is for the people, and Battra is for the earth, where as Godzilla is
against both, Battra and Mothra team up to beat Godzilla. In the process, Mothra tricks Battra to go in front of the Godzilla
carrying, so Godzilla can chew on Battra’s neck. Battra dies, and Mothra dumps both in the ocean to seal them under
the water. Mothra then goes into space to destroy a meteorite. Mothra looks better than ever.
  "Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II"
Release Date: 1999
Running Time: 1 hour and 46 minutes
Monster Apperances: Godzilla, Mechagodzilla,
Rodan, Baby Godzilla, Mecha-King Ghidorah, & Mothra
Rating: * * *
My Thoughts: Using the
technology from Mecha-King Ghidorah, the U.N. built Garuda and then Mechagodzilla. Meanwhile, an egg is found on a nuclear
waste island. Rodan shows up, and then Godzilla comes; they fight, Godzilla wins. The egg hatches in Japan,
and Baby Godzilla pops out. Godzilla comes, and beats up Mechagodzilla. He turns away from Baby G for unknown reasons. A song
revives Rodan, who comes to rescue Baby Godzilla, but only to have Mechagodzilla come and beat him up. Mechagodzilla comes
back and puts the G-crusher on Godzilla’s second brain, and begins to zap it. Rodan saves Godzilla by giving him his
energy. Godzilla pops back up and blows Mechagodzilla to smithereens. The special effects are good, but sometimes to good.
There is so many sparks and explosions that it gets a little annoying at times. Mechagodzilla, Rodan, and Baby G are all remade,
but in the process they start to look absolutely ridiculous! The action is long and fun. It is very well done and very explosive.
This is a great movie for those who want to see cool Heisei Godzilla action, but don’t give a hoot about plot. It is
a fun movie that most everyone who loves Godzilla will enjoy, to a reasonable amount.
  "Godzilla vs. Spacegodzilla"
Release Date: 1999
Running Time: 1 hour and 46 minutes
Monster Apperances: Godzilla, Spacegodzilla, Moguera, Little
Godzilla, Mothra, Fairy Mothra, Biollante, & Battra
Rating: * * * *
My Thoughts: I’m going to describe this movie as best
I can, mainly because I really like this movie. Born from G-cells, that got sent into space by Mothra and Biollante, got sucked
in a black hole; Spacegodzilla is formed and comes to Earth to kill Godzilla. Mogera, a robot made to replace Mechagodzilla,
and Godzilla himself both fall to the might of Spacegodzilla during their first bouts with the space beast. Eventually the
two kaiju team up, and beat Spacegodzilla. The special effects are good; it has some parts that are very lame, like the space
fight in the Styrofoam asteroid belt! Project T didn’t work and that was disappointing. One thing that didn’t
fit in the movie was that Little Godzilla looks overly cute for this type of movie. This movie is very hard to understand,
unless you’re a pure Godzilla Fan, but won thing that made this movie great was Spacegodzilla himself. Sure, he looks
like a regular Godzilla costume with plastic crystals glued on his back, but he still is an awesome Kaiju! He is as immensely
powerful as he is made out to be, and his powers are cool and cool looking (not something you see in most monster movie; a
creature that has cool moves, and looks cool doing them).
  "Godzilla vs. Destroyah"
Release Date: 1999
Running Time: 1 hour and 41 minutes
Monster Apperances: Godzilla, Destroyah, & Godzilla
Jr.
Rating: * * * *
My Thoughts: Toho had enough of the Godzilla series for
now, so they decided to end it with a bang. They decide to kill Godzilla, but the only question is how to do it right? The
one answer, have it do something with his original death. A nuclear accident occurs on the island Godzilla and Little Godzilla
were on. This overloads Godzilla’s heart, which acts like a nuclear reactor, so that it is primed to explode and destroy
the Earth! If that wasn’t enough, an anaerobic bacterium mutates into a giant crab monster; mostly thanks to the oxygen
destroyer. Using freezing lasers (how the... oh never mind), and cadmium missiles, Godzilla’s body are settled. The
good news is that Godzilla won’t blow up and destroy all life, the bad news as that he is now going to go into a meltdown
and destroy the whole Earth (either way he is going to try and take everyone with him (^_^))! G-force gets this bright idea
to pit the Destroyah kaiju, made out of the anaerobic bacterium, against Godzilla so Godzilla will get killed and won’t
meltdown. They use Godzilla Jr. (who has grown up a little bit more now), as bait, and Godzilla Jr. wins against Destroyah.
However, just after Godzilla arrives, Destroyah mutates into his final form, and kills Godzilla Jr. by dropping him from 20
stories (I gave it a ruff estimate). Then, Godzilla battles Destroyah, and kills him. Godzilla goes into a controlled meltdown,
and the radiation is sucked up by Godzilla Jr. He then grows to full size. This is probably the best of the Heisei Godzilla
movies. It doesn’t have much back plot, but that’s good because they suck at it. The few plots it has are punched
with holes and gets a little stupid at times. OK, so there is the annoying part were people seem to be more worried about
present problems and sentimentalism than the fact that the world could be doomed. Despite all those problems, the movie is
great. The special effects are very good, the best so far. It has plenty of monster fighting scenes, all of which were very
well done. The Godzilla parts take up just about the whole movie, which is good (an essential part of a Godzilla movie . .
. duh!!!). It makes references to the original movie, which is good (I thought that Godzilla was erased from history in...
oh never mind!). Basically, the movie was done very well. If you are even remotely a fan of Godzilla, you have to check this
one out! It has its problems, but the well made special effects Godzilla scenes more than make up for them. Go get it, now!
 "Godzilla"
Release Date: 1998
Running Time: Unknown
Monster Apperances: Only Zilla
Rating: * * *
My Thoughts: Someway, somehow, Tri-Star and Centropolis
got a hold of the rights to make a Godzilla movie. The tried to make it bigger and better. Some say that they went too far
with the updates, making Godzilla in name only. It could be a mistake, it could be an accident, and it could be revenge for
Toho ruining King Kong. Whatever it is, it was a very good movie, but not a Godzilla movie. Due to French nuclear tests, a
new species of really large iguanas formed. The only one to survive the nuclear process had to go to a different island to
insure survival of the species. Godzilla, as it was called. Chose New York City.
It came ashore, wrecked havoc, and went underground. It was lured to the surface by a big pile of fish, but the military missed
the agile lizard. It tied again, and was able to supposedly kill it. Meanwhile, the main characters and a group of people
from the French secret service went and found the eggs in Madison Square
Garden. The eggs hatched, and after eating the fish left for them by Godzilla,
went after the people there. The Garden was trashed by bombers. Just when you thought the movie was over, surprise! Godzilla
pops up again, chases the Taxi the people went in, and got caught in the Brooklyn
Bridge. A dozen missiles later, and Godzilla was dead. The series wasn’t
dead, though, because one egg survived (of course). Now this is a tricky one to rate. The movie itself was great. It may not
have had a great according to critic-type people, but compared to most giant monster movies, it has the best plot of the category.
Obviously, it also has the best special effects. Finally a monster movie that looks real! The computer generated Godzilla
scenes are spectacular and awe-inspiring. There is a bit of a surprise ending here, and without that part, which actually
holds a lot of great Godzilla scenes, the movie would have been bad. There is some parts that look like they are from Jurassic
park, but if you look closely, they aint that close to looking like velosaraptors. However, it wasn’t cut short and
ended up being a great movie. There are a lot of scenes that are very good. There are few that are bad. The movie works right,
looks right, and is very well made. However, it can be noticeable that the movie never was test screened. It has some flaws,
like the annoying Siscal and Ebert references. However, for a movie that was never proofread, it was pretty darn good. However,
the main problem is the fact that this is supposed to be a remake of Godzilla himself. Now, the monster is warped a little
too much, it don’t look like Godzilla (to big of a neck, has back problems so it can’t stand up right, two big
spines but small in the rest). Another problem is that it only took a dozen missiles to kill him. The real Godzilla can be
shot with everything and still get up from it. But the main problem is the lack of the thermonuclear breath. I was disappointed
that he used fire breath in only two scenes, and I was disappointed more when I realized it was just cars exploding. Godzilla
without thermonuclear breath? That’s not right! Godzilla is improved a little from previous Godzillas, with lighting
speed instead of hermit crab walking, brains instead of brawn, and a body that is designed for actual monster fighting. This
sounds more like it is based on the old Godzilla of the 70’s, which pleases me. I never liked the 90’s Godzilla.
However, he still is stretched a little to far from what it is based on to be a good remake. If they would have screen tested
the movie and found out that they should have put in thermonuclear breath and have Godzilla take a little more licking before
he stopped ticking, the movie would have been a lot better. It would have been a good Godzilla movie along with being a good
monster movie. Basically, I don’t really consider it to be a Godzilla movie, because it was made by America,
and not Toho. It runs into a category all its own. However, for a monster movie as a whole, it’s the best you can get.
It’s a great movie with universal appeal. If you like high budget special effects movies, you should probably like this
one, unless you are a severe fan of Godzilla. Then, you would like it and hate it at the same time.
Millenuim Series:
 
"Godzilla 2000: Millennium"
Release Date: 2000
Running Time: 1 hour and 39 minutes
Monster Apperances: Godzilla & Orga
Rating: * * * *
My Thoughts:
In direct response to the American Godzilla movie, Toho decided to show them what it
really was suppose to be like. They destroyed continuity yet again, starting a new series in another alternate reality. Also
with tradition with Godzilla only movies, this one was sent to American theaters. Godzilla pops up again, but that is old
news. The real story is that a big meteorite has surfaced and started flying around (say what!?). It meets Godzilla, and tries
to kill him. They are both hurt badly, and a flying saucer pops out of the rock. It goes to a big building, and sucks up information
through the computers there. The building is destroyed by the human for once, and Godzilla returns. The saucer spits out a
huge alien that takes Godzilla’s genetic code and morphs it with itself; which a big creature called Orga is formed.
They fight, and Godzilla eventually wins. That was interesting. Instead of changing the movie to make it more appealing to
American audiences, the changers actually made it worse on purpose! It makes it the campiest thing American audiences have
seen in a long time. This may be a bit painful to Godzilla fans, especially when the rest of the people in the theater burst
out in laughter for no good reason, but that’s the only way for them to make money off of this. Anyways, it still has
the stuff true Godzilla fans are looking for. It has a lot of explosive scenes featuring Godzilla. It has a terrific main
battle between two monsters. It even explains why Godzilla can survive the beating he always takes. This movie has everything
a Godzilla fan could want, well, except one. Most people won’t notice, but what is this a sequel to anyways? It never
gave much of a hint. The main good point is this movies versatility.
 
"Godzilla vs. Megaguirus"
Release Date: 2003
Running Time: 1 hour and 28 minutes
Monster Apperances: Godzilla, Megagulon, & Megaguirus
Rating: * * *
My Thoughts: This movie features the rather cute notion of alternate realities, as
well as some wacky science. I laughed my head off when I first heard of the plot, and the movie didn’t disappoint in
terms of silliness. Apparently, an anti-Godzilla unit called the G-Graspers wants to destroy Godzilla by firing a miniature
black hole from an orbiting satellite to suck Godzilla into an alternate dimension, but in the process the end up with a 350-million
year old giant dragonfly popping out a wormhole in space-time. Yep, good old-fashioned sci-fi at it’s best. In this
reality, Godzilla always looked like he does, even when trashing Tokyo (shown here with modified stock footage). The result in this case leads
to the capital being moved to Osaka. Also, he attacked a nuke plant in 1966, inciting
a plan for clean energy, resulting in a new "plasma power plant", which Godzilla proceeds to trash in 1996. So the mad scientists
of Japan come up with the cockamamie plan to destroy Godzilla
with black hole cannon. During the test firing, a wormhole of sorts opens up, and a giant dragonfly come out to stick an egg
on the ground. It is found by a little kid, who makes the big mistake of putting it in the sewers of Tokyo.
The egg splits off into numerous smaller eggs, which form creatures called meganulon, and after metamorphosis they become
meganula. For reasons unexplained Tokyo is flooded with about 60 feet of water, which help the meganula with their ultimate
plan of making one big dragonfly called Megaguirus. They feed it with energy they get by swarming over Godzilla and sucking
up some nuclear energy. The G-Graspers use their nifty black hole cannon in an attempt to kill off both the swarm and Godzilla,
but they miss. As the cannon is recharging, Godzilla makes his way to Tokyo for
a showdown with Megaguirus. Needless to say Godzilla wins the fight. He then trashes a secret plasma research facility (what
incited him to begin with), and the G-Graspers finally succeed in hitting Godzilla with their black hole (by locking onto
their nifty jet fighter thingy as it crashes into him). Godzilla is destroyed, and the world is safe from him . . . or are
they? Overall the ideas are glued together with a fairly descent plot. It flows pretty well, actually has character development,
and displays the attractions of the film with not too much confusion on why they are there. It gets a little slow-paced at
times, but for the most part it keeps you entertained. Now what’s really entertaining is the fight with Godzilla and
Megaguirus. They went old school with it, which means that Godzilla is a smart fighter who uses a bunch of nifty moves to
bring down his opponent. Not quite at the same level as the tail-slide kick from "Godzilla vs. Megalon", but still fun stuff.
Megaguirus himself puts up a pretty descent fight, displaying a level of agility never before scene. It doesn’t have
too many powers or anything, but he’s smart enough to bash Godzilla round pretty good. The fight is pretty good but
a little static; it only takes place in one section of Tokyo. The special effects
really help out here as well as the rest of the movie. Rather well done for the most part, about at the same level as "Godzilla
2000" with a bit better computer generated effects (they still look fake though). They seemed to want to fit the monsters
into real backdrops whenever possible, which alternately looks really cool and really out-of-place. The character designs
of the kaiju are pretty good. I always liked the design for Godzilla they used, and Megaguirus looks pretty good as well.
Only problem with Megaguirus is that it’s not very original. Think of a combination of Battra, Legion, Pokemon, and
the original Meganulons from "Rodan", and that’s what you get. For the most part this is an entertaining movie.
 
"Godzilla, Mothra, & King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack"
Release Date: 2003
Running Time: 1 hour and 29 minutes
Monster Apperances: Godzilla, Gaurdian Baragon, Gaurdian Ghidorah, & Gaurdian
Mothra
Rating: * * * * *
My Thought: This movie has what I do believe to be the longest name in Godzilla movie
history. I personally think this is one of the best Godzilla movie ever made! Once again the people at Toho decided to hit
the "cosmic reset button" and pretend that the only movie to exist was the first one (the Godzilla of ’54). This time
around Godzilla pops up to destroy Tokyo, and yes his goal really is to destroy
stuff. Gone is the "force of nature" plot, this time Godzilla truly is evil, infused by the souls of the lives lost during
World War II. Well to combat him, a mysterious old man (that might not actually exist, I could never figure that part out)
starts warping around Japan to awaken the legendary guardian monsters: Baragon, Ghidorah, and Mothra; kind of strange considering
that these monsters were purposely "killed" for trashing Japan a long time ago, so why they suddenly want to defend Japan
is beyond me, something to do with more souls or something. Apparently the old man really didn’t have to do anything,
because conveniently people keep knocking these small statues over for no good reason. The human plot of this story is about
the JSDF admiral and his daughter, a "reporter" who makes low-budget docu-dramas. They mostly spend their time trying to get
Godzilla to kill them, but they always fail. Anyways, Godzilla kicks the snot out of Baragon and proceeds to head towards
Tokyo, where a massive battle between him, Ghidorah, and Mothra ensues. Mothra
is killed, only to transfer her powers to Ghidorah, who becomes King Ghidorah. Then latter on, a chunk of one of those statues
goes near him and he becomes Grand King Ghidorah and proceeds to get blown up by Godzilla. In a move that looks likes something
out of a lame movie (um... yep), the main character admiral guy pilots a sub into Godzilla’s mouth and pokes a hole
in him, causing Godzilla’s thermonuclear energy to shoot out the hole and blows him up (and somehow the sub dude survives).
Godzilla is defeated... but his still-beating heart rests on the bottom of the bay! Insert dramatic music here. The plot is
extremely good. It keeps you entertained and has pretty good pacing. The actors of the movie do a better job then usual, portraying
their characters right. The movie feels rushed, from my understanding, it was rushed through production.
 
"Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla"
Release Date: 2004
Running Time: 1 hour and 28 minutes
Monster Apperances: Godzilla, Kiryu, & Mothra
Rating: * * * 1/2
My Thoughts: Annoyingly they decided to muck up the continuity. Why they insist on
doing this all the time is beyond me, and as a fan of continuity, I am quite annoyed. Still, at least they left some movies
as part of cannon, directly mentioned in the movie as "Godzilla" (1954), "Mothra" (1961), and "The War of the Gargantuan"
(1966). The story starts as a second Godzilla (of unknown origin) pops out of the water and is immediately attacked by resident
defense forces, dubbed the "Anti-Megalosaurus Force", which specialize in destroying daikaiju. As usual modern weapons are
ineffective, and while retreating a certain laser cannon truck driver accidentally knocks her friends off the road to fall
down a cliff and get squashed by Godzilla. Obviously this traumatizes her for life, but she still manages to become a pilot
for their next big project, Mechagodzilla. Nicknamed "Kiryu", which means "Mechanized Dragon" or something, this costly budget-sink
becomes Japan first, last, and only defense for Godzilla. The story mainly focuses on the development and preparation of Kiryu,
the physical training of the pilots (which seems kind of pointless seeing as they are basically just playing an elaborate
video game), the tension between the traumatized laser cannon driver and the person who’s brother she killed, her nearly-romantic
relationship with one of the scientists, and the relationship with the scientist’s daughter and her pet plant. After
all is said and done over four years (1999-2003), they unleash Kiryu onto Godzilla. Unfortunately, since they used the bones
and made a "DNA" computer with a Godzilla, when it meets the other Godzilla something triggers in it and it goes "Out of Control"!
Like any Godzilla, all it wants to do is trash cities mindlessly, and that’s what it does. Luckily it runs out of batteries
and they are able to get it back to work out the bugs in the system. They set it out towards Godzilla again, and this time
they end up with a massive brawl. After much blasting, bashing, and smashing, they eventually decide to use their ultimate
weapon, the über-powerful absolute-zero cannon (which by the way is a violation of physics, but hey that hasn’t stopped
them before and it didn’t here either). After a few misses they eventually nail Godzilla with it, freezing a big chunk
of ocean water in the process. Breaking through the ice are the two combatants, both very injured yet still alive, a tie of
sorts for round 1. They’ve learned that having light, breezy, basic human interactions for filler tends to work best
when all you really want to do is have giant monsters stomp around. Finally they’ve learned that the audience wants
a huge climatic battle at the end, and that’s what we get as well. A tried and true formula for a Godzilla movie with
a tried and true opponent for Godzilla ends up with yet another good Godzilla movie. It doesn’t get many points for
originality, except maybe the twist of the unwilling mechanical beast, but hey it’s entertaining throughout. What we
are really here for is the special effects. The model work is brilliant, the computer-generated stuff is good for once and
not overdone, and there is plenty of cool stuff they do with the kaiju. There seems to be a slight obsession with laser cannons,
but they are used with good effect along side tanks and jets to pointlessly blast Godzilla. Godzilla himself is well designed,
based on the G2K design which I love, but might have a slightly unnerving look in his eyes. Kiryu here one-upped the previous
Mechagodzillas in terms of agility, able to move around and bash things better then ever. It might not have tough space titanium
or diamond armor, but that actually makes the fights more desperate and intense. Kiryu has a rather huge inventory of weapons
ranging from missiles to laser guns to the over-powered freezing cannon, and features new budget-saving methods including
travel by air-lift and remote-control from fighter jets flying overhead. Overall it’s probably the most realistically
done Mechagodzilla, and one of the most entertaining ones to watch. Overall this is a quick, yet entertaining Godzilla movie
with all the good stuff included. A decent plot set-up, a terrific final battle, great special effects, and nice monster designs.
Good old-fashioned Godzilla flick, but as such it’s not the most original. Mindless entertainment to be sure, but it
leaves you wanting more. Thing is, you do get more, because they decided for once to make a sequel to this. "Godzilla: Tokyo
S.O.S." takes off where this one left off.
 
"Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S."
Release Date: 2004
Running Time: 1 hour and 31 minutes
Monster Apperances: Godzilla, Kiryu, Mothra, & Kamoebas
Rating: * * * 1/2
My Thoughts: Continuing the plot from the previous move, Godzilla once again must face
his mechanical double. This time though, they throw Mothra into the mix. Not having to come up with any new ideas for this
one, they instead just stuck with what they do best: mindless monster movie fun! Despite being over a year latter, the guys
at the "Kiryu" unit are still working on repairing their Mechagodzilla from its battle with Godzilla. Seeing how Kiryu is
made from the bones and DNA of the original Godzilla (from 1954), it contains it’s "essence". Mothra, the big insect
that made a path of destruction through Tokyo back in ’61, isn’t happy
about this. Thereby the twin fairies that follow her around warn a familiar face (the same character and actor playing the
main character from the original Mothra movie) about how Mothra would declare war on humanity of the bones of Godzilla is
not returned to the sea. After much political deliberation, they agree to do it, but only after stopping Godzilla. Godzilla
himself arrives in Tokyo a little earlier than they had hoped, because Kiryu isn’t
entirely fixed yet. A particular kid, grandson of previously mentioned returning character, signaled Mothra for help by making
the famous sign using school desks. She comes on in to fight Godzilla, and happens to have an egg hatching at the same time
containing twin Mothra Larva. Pretty soon Godzilla is facing up against Kiryu, the rest of the military, Mothra, and both
larvae at the same time. A bit more than he can handle, even though he did wipe out Mothra, so eventually he gets wrapped
in a cocoon. Kiryu gets a mind of its own again, so grabs onto Godzilla and flies off towards the Japan Trench
to dive in and sink to the bottom. If it weren’t for Kiryu running around, I’d have called this an outright remake
of "Godzilla vs. Mothra". Both monsters act almost identically to what they did in that movie. Still, the reintroduction of
past characters and the continuation of events from the original Mothra movie made for a pretty good plot (as well as opening
up a can of nostalgia). The part where Mothra and a number of people want to scrap the project also made for some dramatic
tension. The rest of the plot had to do with the social strife of those working on the project, and the desperate moves to
get things working in order to save the world and such. The big scenes of course have to do with the special effects and kaiju
of the movie. Mothra first appears in the hauntingly beautiful environment above the clouds at night, flying along side jet
fighters. Throughout the movie it is apparent that Mothra never looked better; it is a great mix between physical and computer
effects. Godzilla and Mechagodzilla look the same as the previous movie, which isn’t bad at all, but they still haven’t
figured out how to make Godzilla look good underwater. One well-made scene in the movie shows the carcass of Kamoebas washed
up on shore, the victim of Godzilla’s attack. It’s kind of disappointing that we never get to see them fight,
though. Still, if you want a good fight, this movie doesn’t disappoint. The title bout is a massive multi-layered brawl,
each combatant fighting their all and allowing us to see a lot of entertaining stuff along the way. Plenty of landmarks get
destroyed (again) in the process, and few moments seem overly short (the fight is pretty long, going from sundown to sunup).
Overall they exceeded what they did in the last movie, which is great considering how good the fight was last time. They really
did a terrific job this time around.
 
"Godzilla Final Wars"
Release Date: 2005
Running Time: 2 hours and 5 minutes! ! !
Monster Apperances: Godzilla, Mothra, Keizer Ghidorah, Gigan, Rodan, Anguirus, King
Caesar, Ebirah, Minilla, Zilla, Kamacuras, Kumonga, Manda, Hedorah, Varan, Baragon, Titanosaurus, Megaguirus, Mechagodzilla,
Godzilla Jr, & Gezora
Rating: * * * * *
My Thoughts: Now where to start with this one? Well, it’s the 50th
Anniversary movie, and as such they decided to do something special, which means bringing back a whole lot of classic monsters
for one all-out crazy celebration of sorts. With 14 monsters total, it beats the previous record, and at 125 minutes, it’s
also the longest Godzilla movie ever. Yet with all this monster fun they’ve added a lot of other fun things as well.
It is the year 20XX (with Mega Man not in sight, surprisingly (^_^)), as part of an alternate reality of sorts where the world
is under constant threat by giant monsters running around. Combating this is the usual high technology weapons, as well as
various super-powered mutant humans that keep being found. Using the "Gotengo", a large heavily armored land/sea/air submarine
(greatly resembling the "Atragon"), Earth Defense Forces manage to bury Godzilla in ice down in Antarctica.
Years latter a massive influx of monsters start trashing cities around the world, but are "defeated" by a "helpful" alien
race, the "Xillians", who want to "save" the human race from an "asteroid". Anybody who has watched these sorts of movies
before can tell that these aliens really just want to take over the earth and enslave humanity. The story gets semi-complex,
but a number of memorable characters stand out. This includes a "special" mutant that does the whole "Neo-thing", a molecular
biologist who doesn’t accomplish much, the alien second-in command who takes over the leader spot for his goal in becoming
a typical super villain, and the rather unique Colonel Gordon (played by one of those "wrestlers turned movie star"). They
spend the movie getting into massive kung-fu fights, ray-gun shootouts, motorcycle combat, and epic battles between flying
subs and the alien forces. They also unleash Godzilla back onto the world, which cuts a path of destruction through numerous
monsters controlled by the aliens. First he defeats Gigan in Antarctica, then heads for Sidney
to fight with "Zilla", which is of all things the computer-generated monster from the 1998 "Godzilla" movie. The fight with
"tuna-breath" doesn’t last long, and neither does the battles with Kumonga (Aspiga) and Kamacuras (the giant mantis).
Godzilla then takes on Anguirus, Rodan, and King Caesar at the same time, but still wins. After ripping through Hedorah and
Ebirah, he finally gets to Tokyo (where the alien mother-ship is). The human characters
do most of the "blowing up the mother-ship" work, though. The final battle pits the combined effort of Godzilla and Mothra
against Gigan (yep, Gigan again) and "Monster X" (who as it turns out is pretty much King Ghidorah). In the end Godzilla is
the last kaiju standing, well except for Minilla (Minya), who convinces Godzilla to finally leave the humans alone. Well,
what’s left of the human race. This is the chocolate-chip cookie of Godzilla movies! You take a lot of common ingredients,
stir them all together, and then add the familiar sweetness. What you get is a tasty wholesome base with a lot of yummy goodness
scattered throughout. The four used comes from a variety of Japanese pop-culture, making the flick as a whole feel like a
"Live-Action Anime Movie". The sugar, which adds the sweet taste that we’ve come to love, is grown from certain big-named
entertainment such as The Matrix, Star Wars, and X-Men. Plus there is a healthy dose from old Toho movie and fairly recent
anime remake, Atragon. The butter for this movie is the music, milked from various sources and giving our cookie a creamy
texture. The eggs that bind the movie into a coherent object is the glorious movie making tradition that Toho has done for
over a half a century. These guys still know what they are doing. Adding to the flavor is vanilla of in-jokes, a strong substance
but nice to have in small amounts. Baking soda is used to give the movie a consistent texture, in the case of our cookie being
a well-done stylized approach to the directing. The movie has a certain unique feel to it, but keeps that feel all throughout
the movie. Once all of this is beaten with a wooden spoon, you throw some nuts (actors) into the batter. Then it’s time
to add the good stuff: the chocolate chips. Already manufactured and ready to eat, they still can be even better once scattered
throughout the cookie. Certain brands include "Destroy All Monsters", "Godzilla vs. Gigan", and even "Godzilla’s Revenge".
There are 27 varieties in all, each of which makes its appearance known for your delicious enjoyment. Mix it up, spit into
dozens of bite-sized pieces, bake at 375 degrees for a few months, and you’ll end up with a very tasty treat. Despite
its large calorie content, it disappears quickly, with each flavor passing your tongue at a break-neck pace. Before you know
it, you’ve eaten your cookie, and now you want to eat more. All right, enough with the cookie analogy. The main thing
you’ll note is how similar the movie is to "Destroy All Monsters" in that the sci-fi human plot pretty much takes over
the movie, yet there is plenty of fun monster action to be had. "Gotengo" ends up fighting Godzilla in the beginning, and
a little latter on fights Manda (a sort of rematch from "Atragon"). Once the monsters start attacking cities the fun really
begins. Plenty of cities around the world get trashed, my personal favorite being Rodan’s attack of New
York City. We also get mutant humans with powerful ray guns taking on Ebirah, and numerous flying submarines
ducking it out with a variety of kaiju. Now once Godzilla arrives he doesn’t take on all the monsters at once. Instead
it’s mostly smaller battles against 1 to 3 kaiju. Unfortunately these battles are rather quick. In my opinion the preliminary
battles leading up to the main one should have been longer, perhaps a minute longer each or so. Maybe I’m asking for
too much, but when watching this sort of movie I expect full-fledge fights. Instead we get a bunch of small yet entertaining
pieces. Unlike GMK, Godzilla takes out his enemies in a variety of methods, not just with his famous thermonuclear beam. The
methods of combat are very fun to watch, although at times it gets perhaps a little too silly (like the game of soccer with
Anguirus as the ball). The final 2 vs. 2 battle is the best one, even if it is intercut with human plot all the time. I guess
the reason it works this time is because the humans are actually fighting as well. Mothra fighting Gigan was fun to watch,
and the final struggle of Godzilla and Ghidorah was the sort of final battle you want to see. Good stuff overall. For the
most part the special effects visually looks good as well, and fits with the overall stylization of the movie. Each monster
has a new design and some new powers, and with the cartoony nature of the style, they still look good when computer generated.
The "Zilla" found in this movie proves that Toho never was good with CGI when compared to bigger-budgeted projects, but they
do prove that they can get the job done and still be entertaining. The lone exception is Manda, which in my opinion looks
rather stupid when computer generated (but good when not). Of all the monsters found in this movie, the real standout one
is Gigan. I’ve always like Gigan, and for me it’s great to see his rather large role here. The first battle with
Godzilla was unfortunately short and anti-climatic, but luckily they revive him for the final showdown. He’s got a lot
of new gadget attachments, and uses them to good effect. The main kaiju of the piece, Godzilla, is rather well done also.
They pretty much boiled down 50 years of history and infused it into a single Godzilla. He’s good at times, he’s
evil at times, and more often then not he’s neutral. Whatever he does, he acts like Godzilla, and the design makes him
look like Godzilla no matter what he’s doing. No matter what sort of distractions this movie offers, deep down it truly
is a Godzilla movie. In some ways this is a tribute of Godzilla. In other ways it’s a whole new spin on Godzilla. Some
have called it Godzilla’s retirement party; others have called it a new beginning. What Toho does next am up to them,
but in all actuality I kind of doubt that this is the last movie. Every time they said they were going to stop making them,
they keep bringing the big G back. I have a feeling that Toho is addicted to chocolate-chip cookies.
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