Watch All The Godzilla Movies

[G-Force071]

yep, over Christmas break I am planning on watching all the godzilla movies in order. I bought them all on dvd over the past few years (yea i have all the sony and tristar releases). Some of the movies i havnt actually seen in a long time so that will be nice catching up with the past. Anyways, im going to start friday I think and im going to post a log here 2 show how far i get and post comments on the movies.

[EricDent]

Kinda hard to watch ALL of them on DVD since not ALL of them are legaly availible in the USA yet.

[zillah 91]

go for it! however, if you watch all 28 movies, which are around an hour and a half each, that'll come to a day and a half of non-stop movie watching. actually i may try that myself!

[G-Force071]

Not if you have the bootlegs!

[Godzilla1954]

thats cool i want all of them but i only have about 20

[G-Force071]

FRIDAY

Godzilla, King Of The Monsters (Simitar) – This was the American dub of the film and I have to say it was pretty good. Raymond Burr was great in his role and was put into the film well. Godzilla looked great for it’s time and was very menacing against the black and white backdrop. Directing was well done. Akira’s I***ube’s score was killer. His best score by far, but it’s interesting to compare this score to his later Godzilla works considering how different they are. The acting done by the dubbing cast along with American actors was a little off at times, but it didn’t affect the overall quality of this beautifully done film. I just need to pick up the Japanese version once it comes out.(RATING: A+)

Godzilla’s Counterattack (Bootleg) – I got the sequel off ebay, which came with the Japanese version and the English dub. Very cool, but I decided to watch the Japanese version considering all the bad things I’ve heard about the dub. This was overall a decent follow up the original. It is different from the first considering the Ishiro Honda, the director, and Akira, are not seen here. Yet, it still has a dark mood throughout. The black and white helped with that. Acting was very good as well as the score, which was done by Masaru Satoh. I liked the theme a lot and he will be present on the later films. It was also cool to see Godzilla battle his first enemy, Angillas (or however you want to say it). Overall, a fun movie to watch. (RATING: C+)

King Kong vs. Godzilla (Bootleg) – I watched the Japanese version of this one, considering I get the American dub on Christmas (only have it on VHS at the moment). After watching it expecting it to be better than the dub, I was disappointed. The dub was edited better than the Japanese counterpart. It moved at a quicker, more exiting pace from what I remember. The scenes not included in the dub made the Japanese version more of a bore. Yet, I liked how the J version had more of a connection to the previous film (while the dub just regarded them as monsters that have awakened after millions of years), which made it more familiar. Plus Akira’s score was better than the stock music used in the A dub. BUT it wasn’t edited well into the film. The dub’s stock music (primarily from the Hans J. Salter score “The Creature From The Black Lagoon) played at the right times. Akira’s score played randomly and I think I heard Godzilla’s theme way too many times. And that scene near the beginning with the American sailors on the submarine…that was like the worst acting I have ever seen! (yes I am talking about the J version). I guess they thought it didn’t really matter considering that the eastern audiences wouldn’t be able to understand them. Yet, this scene is dubbed in the A version which makes it all better. The part at the end with Godzilla and King Kong are fighting was one of the best scenes in the showa series. Lots of cool moves here and there. Overall, if I had watched the dub it would have gotten a better rating. (RATING: D-)

Godzilla vs. The Thing (Simitar) – Godzilla is back…and he’s thinner? (must’ve gone on a diet or drank a crap load of slim fast). But that’s not enough to save this movie. I am NOT a fan of Mothra/farry and co. Seriously, I can only hear that “Mosura” song so many times in one sitting. There are some good things to say about this film though. The dubbing is one of the best I’ve seen in a Godzilla movie and complements the acting well. Godzilla looks great (slim) and is more evil than ever. How did he get from the ocean (where he was "defeated" by Kong) to digging himself underground with nobody noticing? Must've been EXTRA stealthy. Akira’s score is wonderful. Poor guy, it’s a shame he only gets a few weeks to write and record the soundtrack (this is why he reuses themes so much). I loved the opening sequence with the hurricane. But the fact that Godzilla lost to two larvas really baffles me. Oh well, he didn’t really die though, he just kinda fell into the water like he always does. (RATING: D+)

[G-Force071]

SATURDAY

Ghidrah, The Three Headed Monster (Video Treasures VHS) – After three movies, Godzilla (the 2nd) has finally learned his lesson. HELP MANKIND! We also get Godzilla, Rodan, and Mothra talking to each other! Yea this movie was pretty looney. Plus, Godzilla looked terrible. Ghidrah was the only good looking monster here. I had to watch this movie on VHS, because it is the only Godzilla film I do not have on DVD yet. Very bad quality. Maybe it will be released next year. But overall this movie was not all that great. (RATING: F+)

Godzilla vs. Monster Zero (Simitar) – What a great movie. One of the best Godzilla movies to watch. Acting was perfect as well as the dubbing. I really liked Nick Adams performance. Ishiro Honda’s directing was nice. He has really taken over the series at this point. Akira’s score was excellent. Really made Planet X have a creepy atmosphere and his “Monster March” was a nice addition. The opening credits were great too and set the mood for the rest of the film. Also liked the sets for Planet X. Anyways, this was an awesome Godzilla movie. (RATING: B+)

Godzilla vs. The Sea Monster (Tri-Star) – A very different Godzilla film, this one is set on an island. Kumi Mizuno, who played Miss Namikawa in Monster Zero, returns here to play Diayo. Her performance is well done, but she is dubbed horribly. As a matter in fact this dub was one of the worst I have ever heard. Sony put together a new dub for the Tri-Star release (did they loose the original?) is really bad. I have this movie on VHS, when it was released by Goodtimes, and it has the original dub (which is much better). Anyways, here we see the first movie directed by Jun ***uda and the return of composer Masaru Satoh, who creates an interesting soundtrack. Godzilla even fights the giant lobster, Ebirah. Very strange idea, but it is interesting to note that this was supposed to be a King Kong movie. Godzilla being electrocuted to be brought out of sleep? Not the Godzilla I know. But, this is a good movie and it is very entertaining. If I had been watching the original dub it would have at least gotten a B. (RATING: C-)

Son Of Godzilla (Tri-Star) – Again Sony has given us a new dub (even though it’s condition sounds a little old), which is actually a big improvement over the last movie. The picture quality on these Tri-Star releases are amazing. I got out my old Video Treasures release and you can really see the improvement of these new releases. Except they are bare when it comes to extras, but at least they were kind enough to give the Japanese track as well. Now about the movie…it was ok. The human side of the story was well done, but the Godzilla/Minya side was a little strange. Really shows how these movies are beginning to be more directed towards younger audiences. But, again we have ***uda directing with Satoh taking over the score. Godzilla suit was probably the worst design of all the Godzillas. Some nice sets for the island though. (Rating: D+)

[G-Force071]

SUNDAY

Destroy All Monsters (ADV) – The year is 1999 (and I take it that 32 years have passed since the last movie) and all the Earth monster’s have been taken to a “Monster Land” (where they had been collected over these 32 years). This was a memorable Godzilla film for sure, considering it was meant to be the final Godzilla picture. You can tell they gave it a bigger budget. Almost all the monsters are seen here and are looking great. Special effects are in abundance as well as the sets. Ishiro Honda returns with some great directing. He really knows how to tell a good story. Mr. I***ube is back with a BANG when it comes to the soundtrack. The title theme was excellent. Not a bad G film. (RATING: B-)

[chris55]

Ebirah is a shrimp right?

[zillah 91]

ebirah is a lobster, not a shrimp. you can tell coz he has those big pincers

[G-Force071]

I saw King Kong yesterday (awesome movie) so thats why i didnt watch many movies...but yes Ebirah is a lobster.

[G-Force071]

MONDAY

Godzilla’s Revenge (Simitar) – A pain to sit through. (RATING: F+)

Godzilla vs. Hedorah (Tri-Star) – This is definitely the most disturbing movie in the Godzilla series. Yoshimitsu Banno, a newcomer to Godzilla, creates a very unsettling mood. One reason why this film is so good. He has made a very unique atmosphere surrounding this movie…it’s very hard to describe. The whole mood is basically dark. His new monster, Hedorah, is a strange new monster made from sluge. There are some funny scenes of Godzilla swinging him around as acid poo flies everywhere. Godzilla has a great performance here btw. The fights between him and Hedorah are fun and at times disturbing. And that scene when Godzilla uses his fire to “propel” himself backwards was very strange. But, of course while I am sitting here typing this (having just finished it), one of the things that has mainly stuck out to me is the soundtrack. Banno hired Riichiro Manabe to create a strange soundtrack, which works perfectly. This is hands down, the weirdest/disturbing (eh ive used that term a lot) music score I have ever heard, but it works so well in the movie. It just gives it a very surreal mood. I really like the jazz (not talking about the weird 70s vocals) flair he put on some of the music. Overall, excellent music if you have an open mind. Dubbing was great as well. I think Sony has created a great new dub. The condition of this film is breathtaking. The transfers seen here are much better than the Simitar releases. I could talk about this movie for hours, but I’m just going to stop here. (RATING: A-)

Godzilla vs. Gigan (Tri-Star) – In 2003 (if my 1999 Destroy All Monsters theory is right) Godzilla and Angillas must fight the two space monsters Gigan and the “revived” or “new” Ghidrah. An entertaining film none the less, but the story is a little off. Characters are interesting and sometimes funny. Yet, the highlight is the final battle between the four monsters. It must be over 30 minutes in length. I remember when I was younger I used to watch this scene over and over again. But, it is more bloody than some of the past battles we’ve seen. Jun ***uda has taken the director’s chair back and will be on board for the next couple of films. The soundtrack is comprised of stock music from Akira’s past works. They seemed to fit in well. Sony has finally given us the original dub. YAY! (RATING: C-)


Godzilla vs. Megalon (Digital Disc) – This is the worst Godzilla movie. What were they thinking when they made this!?! Everything about it sucked. Godzilla looked terrible as well as the new monsters. Blah, I was surprised Jun ***uda allowed this is happen. He usually gives us average Godzilla. Riichiro Manabe returned, but his soundtrack was pretty bad and annoying at times. I watched this on “Digital Disc” (never heard of them) and the picture/sound was horrible. I seriously felt as if I was watching a 32 year old VHS tape. (RATING: F-)

Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla (Tri-Star) – Jun ***uda has done a much better job here. I really like this one. Special effects are among the best of the showa series. Mechagodzilla was great. Godzilla’s design is similar to the suit used in Godzilla vs. Megalon, but it looks much better here. Wasn’t very fond of King Seesar though. Masaru Satoh creates his best soundtrack here. Really makes it creepy at points. The story was lacking a little, but it’s not too bad. I like that part when Angillas gets his jaws ripped open by Mechagodzilla. Did he learn that from King Kong? The final scene with the three monsters fighting it out was one of the best scenes of the showa era. (RATING: B+)

Terror Of Mechagodzilla (Simitar) – The final film in the Showa series, Honda and I***ube are finally back. They both do a great job, but I personally really didn’t like this very much. The story moved very slow and I found it to be more of a bore. Godzilla doesn’t even show up until 45 minutes into the movie. And the final battle scene isn’t very great. The effect were good, but it still wasn’t one of the best fights. Titanosaurus was ok, but Mechagodzilla didn’t look as good here. I watched this on the Simitar release and it sucked. You can only see it in fullscreen and the picture wasn’t very good. The end was sad though with Godzilla making his way back to monster island (maybe for the last time) with Akira’s farewell music playing. An end to the best Godzilla series. (RATING: D-)

[chris55]

Originally Posted by zillah 91

ebirah is a lobster, not a shrimp. you can tell coz he has those big pincers

Eh, go look at a picture of a lobster and then a picture of a shrimp. then see if you can tell the difference

[G-Force071]

TUESDAY

Godzilla 1985 (Bootleg) – Godzilla is back after nine years of resting. Yet, our new Godzilla is faithful to his original evil nature, which works so well here. I really wish I was living when this came out, because it must have been so cool to see this on the big screen. The special effects are here were top of the line for the 80s and look great. Godzilla’s suit is probably the darkest and most menacing of all the suits made. His performance here is excellent. The whole movie has a very…80s kind of feel to it, but it is mostly a dark somber film thanks to director Koji Hashimoto. He does an excellent job recreating some of the feel to the original. The story is not all that bad. A new Godzilla has appeared and has come to destroy Japan. No other monsters get in the way here (unless you count the Super X) so it’s just Godzilla. The music here was composed by Reijiro Koroku, who does a fantastic job. It sounds 80ish, but there are some strong moments (most notably the Main Title cue). The dub I watched has Raymond Burr reprise his role, which he gives an average performance. He just doesn’t do much here. The new scenes mostly took away the dark tone this movie was trying to convey. The dubbing itself was average. I kind of wish I had just watched the Japanese version I had. This is a bootleg I got from ebay and the picture quality was alright but nothing like a Sony release. I really hope this gets an official release sometime soon. (RATING: B+)

Godzilla vs. Biollante (Bootleg) – Not a bad attempt at a sequel the last movie. We have a new director, Kazuki Omori, who uses this film as his debut. He also helped write the story, which I think moved at a very slow pace for the hour and 40 minutes this lasted. But, there are a lot of great things about GvsBio. The special effects were nothing short of amazing. Godzilla looked more reptilian than he did in the last film, but he looks great. I also like the Super X2. Acting was well done, as well as the dubbing I heard. The soundtrack, by Koichi Sugiyama, was maybe the best Godzilla score. The final battle with Godzilla and Biollante was awesome, but it was so short! This movie also needs an OFFICIAL release. (RATING: A-)

Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah (Tri-Star) – Kazuki Omori returns to bring us our next film, which brings back Godzilla’s old nemesis Ghidorah. Many people consider this to be one of the best Godzilla films, but I really didn’t find anything all that great about it. This is because there are so many problems with it. The story moves so slow and Godzilla doesn’t even show up until an hour after it begins. And the scene with the android running was so fake. Dubbing was pretty horrible. One thing I don’t like about some of these dubs is how they pronounce “Godzilla” as “Godzillar”. Very strange. This old release Tri-Star gave us only has the fullscreen version. But, the special effects were again excellent. They really made the fights with Godzilla and King Ghidorah exiting. Akira I***ube finally returns (after being convinced by his daughter) to the Godzilla series with an average score. He actually creates the title theme by using the rhythm from a battle cue in King Kong vs. Godzilla. It doesn’t save the bad story though. There is one major plot hole. The fact that Godzilla is “moved” to the Bering Sea so that he cannot be exposed to the radiation caused by the H-Bomb tests in 1954. So, this movie says that the events of the first three films (KOTM, 85, and Bio) do not happen. Yet, in the later films of this series we see that 1. There is a Super X-3 2. Spacegodzilla is created from Biollante’s cells 3. Emiko reprises her role in Godzilla vs. Destroyer 4. Destroyer is created from the Oxygen Destroyer used in KOTM 5. Yuki’s (from GvsSG) brother dies in GvsBio 6. In Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah the main character’s girlfriend (or something) leaves him a message on his phone which says that she want’s his book to be a bestseller so they can get married. How did she know about his Godzilla book when there was no Godzilla? And everybody else (even the ones who didn’t go back in time) know that there had been a past Godzilla. So my theory is that Godzilla did everything told in the first three movies. In GvsKG it says that there was an accident in the Bering Sea, which mutates the moved Godzillasaurus. He then goes to Tokyo (because he goes there every film) and the events of KOTM begin. Later in GvsKG we see Godzilla in the sea. The Bering sea to be exact. But, how did Godzilla move to where he was in GvsBio to the Bering sea? My only explanation is that he moved back there during the period when the main characters travel back in time. Why is Godzilla bigger in GvsKG? This is because of the nuclear submarine they send out to “create” the Godzilla they think has never been there. But, all this submarine does is explode and release huge amounts of nuclear energy, which makes Godzilla super strong and grows to a huge size. Yes very confusing, but that is my way of getting around this major hole. (RATING: D-)

Godzilla vs. Mothra (Tri-Star) – This by far the worst entry of the Heisei series. This was more of a Mothra movie than a Godzilla movie. The whole story stinks and the characters were not all that wonderful. After watching the first 10 minutes, you would think that was an Indiana Jones sequel. Godzilla gets his butt whooped by Mothra and Battra. Two frekin moths! And Godzilla does nothing, but stand there while the farries sing the retarded “Mosura” song. After 5 minutes of maybe the worst fight of all the Godzilla films, they actually manage to pick him up (while our main characters laugh and say all this cheesy dialogue) and carry him over to the ocean where Battra dies a heroic death. I HATE THIS MOVIE!! Anyways, here we have a new director (who is obviously a huge fan of Mothra) Takao Okawara. Akira takes up the soundtrack again and reprises cues from the original Godzilla vs. Mothra. I liked his “Maser March” the most. Special effects weren’t as good as the last installments. (RATING: F+)

Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla 2 (Tri-Star) – This was much better than the last two attempts. The story is good and interesting. The new Mechagodzilla looked awesome, as well as Rodan (he is actually known as Radon here). Godzilla looks great, especially near the end and they finally got Godzilla’s baby right! He looks actually looks cute here. He gives a great performance and makes the ending very sad. Takao Okawara does a much better job here as well as I***ube. He creates a great score and the title theme was very good. Special effects were awesome and made Mechagodzilla look very powerful. One of the better films of the Heisei series. (RATING: C+)

Godzilla vs. Spacegodzilla (Tri-Star) – Again a new director, Kensho Yama****a, is brought on to bring us the next movie along with composer, Takayuki Hattori. This film, despite the numerous bad reviews I have read, actually wasn’t too bad. The story was alright, but it was a little slow. Most of it centered on the human aspect, but it’s all made up for in the last 40 minutes. Spacegodzilla looks awesome and is one of Godzilla’s coolest looking villans. Godzilla himself brings on an average performance and Jr. Godzilla…is…more like a new version of Minya. I found the three main characters to be very likable and they were dubbed very well for the English version. The soundtrack, by Hattori (who would later do Godzilla 2000) does a pretty good job considering this is his first film to ever work on. Despite what I have heard about it, I thought it worked great in some scenes. Really made the first appearance of Spacegodzilla and fight with Godzilla and Jr., powerful. Now that was a great scene. Of course Mothra’s farries just HAD to come in a throw in an unnecessary/crappy line at the end. “Your mission was a success. You saved planet Earth.” Are you kidding me?!? (RATING: B-)

Godzilla vs. Destroyer (Tri-Star) – Godzilla’s final movie to end this series is definitely heartbreaking. Yet, his final moments are played out very well in director Takao Okawara’s return. The story seemed interesting and I liked how they tied in some of the events to the original Godzilla films. Acting was well done and the dubbing was average. Special effects were beautiful at times, but awfully bad at others. Godzilla looks kick ass with all that firey kind of look to him. You can tell he is in a lot of pain though. Destroyer is so cool looking in his final form, but it’s earlier stage did remind me of the alien from the “Alien” films. Speaking of, that whole scene with the Special Forces in the wherehouse was a lot like the second alien movie “Aliens”. I expected Ripley to show up in there somewhere. Akira has returned, obviously, to give us his last movie score. Very sad, but his final notes make this movie even more breathtaking. The thundering theme at the beginning as Godzilla attacks Hong Kong to the sad theme of Godzilla’s roar of sadness over Godzilla Jr.’s dying body. That scene almost brought me to tears thanks to the music and the sad moment of Godzilla trying to “breathe” life into his son with no avail. AHHH it’s so sad. Destroyer definitely takes my vote as being Godzilla’s toughest foe. Except, he died pretty fast once Godzilla gets his heat beam going. Then of course is the famous ending as Godzilla melts down. Again, the music here is Akira’s best as Godzilla slowly fades away with the sad female vocals. But, from the darkness emerges Godzilla’s son after absorbing all the leftover radiation as he emits a roar and the movie fades to black. Now that, ladies and gentlemen, is probably one of the best endings I have ever seen on film. (RATING: B+)

[KaiserGodzillaX]

I started to almost cry right now, Jr. Godzilla will live on forever!!! By the way I am enjoing reading your reviews ffej071, I look foward to them everday *roars for godzilla's death*

[G-Force071]

thanks for reading, I enjoyed writing them

-jeff

[kpa]

Nice reviews. I have a few answers/corrections...

Originally Posted by ffej071

Godzilla’s Counterattack It was also cool to see Godzilla battle his first enemy, Angillas (or however you want to say it).

Toho originally called the monster 'Angilas' with one L.

Godzilla vs. The Thing (Simitar) – How did he get from the ocean (where he was "defeated" by Kong) to digging himself underground with nobody noticing? Must've been EXTRA stealthy.

He didn't dig. Godzilla was washed ashore by the hurricane at the beginning of the film and buried by mud in a flood plain. That's why the reporters find a piece of Godzilla's skin floating there.

Later the waters are drained, Godzilla wakes up, and he bursts from underground.

Godzilla vs. The Sea Monster (Tri-Star) – As a matter in fact this dub was one of the worst I have ever heard. Sony put together a new dub for the Tri-Star release (did they loose the original?) is really bad.

The dubbing was not done by Sony and it is not new. Starting in the mid-1960s Toho started dubbing some of their movies into English in order to help sell them overseas. These dubs are called the Toho International versions.

A company called the Walter Reade Organization bought US rights to both GODZILLA VS THE SEA MONSTER and SON OF GODZILLA. They didn't like the English dubbing created by Toho so they made new dubs at Titra Sound Studios in New York.

When Sony decided to release the two movies on DVD they used the materials Toho had, including Toho's original dubs.Toho never owned the US dubs because they didn't make them so Sony can't use them. Also the old US version were edited and the Sony versions are complete, so the old English dubbing wouldn't fit the films.

Son Of Godzilla (Tri-Star) – Again Sony has given us a new dub (even though it’s condition sounds a little old)

See what I wrote for SEA MONSTER. Sony has only created a new dub for one Godzilla movie; GODZILLA 2000 was redubbed because it got a theatrical release. All the other Sony DVDs (including FINAL WARS) use Toho's international dubbing.

Godzilla vs. Gigan (Tri-Star) – In 2003 (if my 1999 Destroy All Monsters theory is right) Godzilla and Angillas must fight the two space monsters Gigan and the “revived” or “new” Ghidrah.

The movie takes place in 1972. Even though DAM was made first, its supposed to be the last movie in the original Godzilla series. The Ghidrah in GIGAN is the original; he returns in the Toho television series ZONE FIGHTER (1973) and was later killed in DAM.

Terror Of Mechagodzilla (Simitar) –

The Simiatar DVD uses a terribly edited print. The uncut version is MUCH better.

Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah (Tri-Star) – There is one major plot hole. The fact that Godzilla is “moved” to the Bering Sea so that he cannot be exposed to the radiation caused by the H-Bomb tests in 1954. So, this movie says that the events of the first three films (KOTM, 85, and Bio) do not happen.

No, it doesn't. The original Godzilla from 1954 and the new Godzilla introduced in 1984 are two different beasts. By moving the dinosaur on Lagos Island they didn't change the origin of the first Godzilla at all... what they did do was put the dinosaur in the Bering Sea where it absorbed nuclear energy from a sinking Russian sub in the 1970s. The dinosaur became the second Godzilla who attacked Japan in GODZILLA 1985.

Yet, in the later films of this series we see that 1. There is a Super X-3 2. Spacegodzilla is created from Biollante’s cells 3. Emiko reprises her role in Godzilla vs. Destroyer 4. Destroyer is created from the Oxygen Destroyer used in KOTM 5. Yuki’s (from GvsSG) brother dies in GvsBio 6. In Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah the main character’s girlfriend (or something) leaves him a message on his phone which says that she want’s his book to be a bestseller so they can get married. How did she know about his Godzilla book when there was no Godzilla? And everybody else (even the ones who didn’t go back in time) know that there had been a past Godzilla. So my theory is that Godzilla did everything told in the first three movies.

Right.

In GvsKG it says that there was an accident in the Bering Sea, which mutates the moved Godzillasaurus. He then goes to Tokyo (because he goes there every film) and the events of KOTM begin.

That's wrong because the accident in the Bering Sea happned in the mid-1970s.

Later in GvsKG we see Godzilla in the sea. The Bering sea to be exact. But, how did Godzilla move to where he was in GvsBio to the Bering sea?

That's easy... Miki has a vsion of him walking slowly on the ocean floor. The movie shows you how it was done.

Godzilla vs. Destroyer (Tri-Star)

Toho never calls the monster 'Destroyer'... the correct name is 'Destoroyah'.

[G-Force071]

thanks for that info kpa

[G-Force071]

WEDNESDAY

Godzilla (Tri-Star) – Of course my marathon would not be complete without watching the U.S reincarnation of Godzilla. I know most of you have already heard about or seen just what makes this film such a letdown, so I won’t get to technical. The main problem here is the two who made this movie. The fact that Dean Devlin and Ronald Emmerich ignored numerous requests from Toho, which regarded Godzilla, pretty much explains everything here. This is not Godzilla. This is a giant Iguana (that happens to have some spikes on it’s back) who stole Godzilla’s voice box. It actually runs away from the military? I think it was Kenpachiro Satsuma (who played Godzilla numerous times in the Heisei series) said that this new Godzilla lacked the spirit of the original. I will say though, this movie is watchable, but if you have seen the other Godzilla films it’s easy to get angry when you see what they have done here. (RATING: D+)

Godzilla 2000 (Tri-Star) – Toho is back to show us how a real Godzilla movie is made. I really don’t think this is one of Godzilla’s good movies, but it is enjoyable. Takao Okawara is back once again to give us an interesting story of aliens attacking the Earth. Of course Godzilla is here to stop it. His design looks pretty cool, but he will look better in the next movie. Godzilla’s heat ray looks great in the new series as well. Orga is nice and I especially liked the scene at the end where Godzilla blows him up from the inside. Special effects are alright. Some shots just look really bad and are obviously made from CGI, but others are much better. Mr.Hattori returns to give us another Godzilla score. It’s not as good as his Spacegodzilla attempt, but it gets the job done. Dubbing was mostly bad this time. I read somewhere that they deliberately changed some of the dialogue to make it sound more like Godzilla movies of the 60s and 70s. What a shame, because some of the dialogue that I heard did suck. They also created some new music, brought to you by a J. Peter Robinson, who creates a pretty bad soundtrack alongside Hattori’s. I Anyways, this could have been a little better. (RATING: C-)

Godzilla vs. Megaguirus (Tri-Star) – This is my favorite film of the shinsei series. Our new director, Masaaki Tezuka, does a great job and will be seen in the later Mechagodzilla movies. Godzilla looks pretty much the same, but he gives an even better performance than 2000. Megaguirus looks awesome, except you can clearly see the wires holding it up during it’s first appearance. The fight at the end of the movie between them was one of the most exiting sequences of the Godzilla movies. Special effects are fine, but again some of the CGI is a little weak. The soundtrack (yes I have to talk about all of them) was a huge success. Much better than the last one, Michiru Oshima (the first female Godzilla composer) creates an excellent soundtrack. Her music is definitely up there with I***ube’s. I would say this is her best Godzilla work. Our dub here was alright and I heard some familiar voices from the hesei series. Great movie! (RATING: B-)

GMK: Giant Monster All Out Attack (Tri-Star) – I didn’t like this one very much. I thought the story moved a little slow and I didn’t find the action at the end very good. Shusuke Kaneko (who did the awesome 90s Gamera series) does a good job at directing and gives the new Godzilla the feel of the original. Godzilla actually does look very menacing with the white eyes of his and it shows us a very horrific view of him that we have not seen since 85. I like it how they compare his energy beam to the power of the H-bomb he was created from. He does look a little chunky though. The other monsters look good as well. I’m not sure if Ghidorah is a good enemy for Godzilla, but oh well. It was nice to bring Baragon in, because he didn’t get very much screen time in Destroy All Monsters and Mothra actually gives a good show. No annoying farries this time! The special effects are where this movie gets a lot of praise. Some scenes look a little fake when it comes to CGI, but there is only so much Toho can do I suppose. Kou Ootani is brought up to do the score here, because he worked with Kaneko on the Gamera series (which had a powerful soundtrack). He also composed the score for the Gundam Wing series, another great soundtrack of his. Yet, I don’t think GMK was his best. He relied a little too much on the techno aspect. In his past films, he used it well in his scores, but here it just doesn’t always sound right. Dubbing was alright, but the characters here were not all very interesting. (D-)

[zillah 91]

about all this time-travel stuff, i think ive figured it out. its simple: time gets changed, right? So, when godzilla gets re-created, it changes back. don't ask me how. i'm not stephen frickin' hawking.

[kpa]

Originally Posted by zillah 91

about all this time-travel stuff, i think ive figured it out. its simple: time gets changed, right?

Nope. The timeline stays exactly the same because the Futurians plan failed.

So, when godzilla gets re-created, it changes back.

Godzilla is never "uncreated" in GvsKG, so he isn't recreated either.

[G-Force071]

THURSDAY

Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla (Tri-Star) – Excellent work here by returning director, Masaaki Tezuka. I liked this much better than the first time I saw it. Really like the story and the idea of bringing Godzilla bones “back to life”. Of course this isn’t a sequel to the last few films so that gives it more flexibility with Godzilla’s looks. He’s great here, similar to the Millennium design, but it has more of the originals attributes. His heat ray looks awesome here, especially in the great opening. Mechagodzilla has his best design here. We also get some great special effects work. Yumiko Shaku was a perfect choice for Akane and does a great job (she’s hot). Dubbing was one of the best. I liked Akira Nakao’s return to the Godzilla series (he played the commander in the heisei series) and the fact he was dubbed by the same person. The score by Oshima was way too good. (RATING: B-)

GMM : Tokyo S.O.S (Tri-Star) – What happened here?!?! This sucks! Sorry to anyone who liked this movie, because I’m going to be venting out some of my frustration towards it. Story was not interesting (way to much like the last movie), our new characters were bad and we have Mothra. Why is Mothra in this? Seriously, if they had chosen a different monster then this would have been better. There is a fight with Godzilla and Mothra near the beginning and it’s so boring. Godzilla just stands there as Mothra pummels him. Ok, so Mothra after like a worthless 30 second battle, Mothra gets his arm bitten off and decides that he is about to die (hence the powder stuff it uses). Are you kidding?!? How could it die so easily? Did the farries (yep and they sing that song again) really think it would be a good stand in for Mechagodzilla? I think not. I think the idea of putting Mothra in Godzilla movie is really getting tired. I want to see a Godzilla movie, not half a movie with babble about how great Mothra is the other half. Plus, the final battle at the end was even worse. Godzilla just stood there as the larvae Mothra shot out all that string stuff (jizz) out at Godzilla, who just stood there! Do something Godzilla! And how many times are they going to do that “Mothra saves the day” move where he gets in the way of Godzilla’s heat ray? Godzilla is shown to be so incredibly weak here. Next time Godzilla should just bring a huge can of OFF. I didn't like the enhanced Godzilla roar they did (sound more like a lion) and the fact that Godzilla used his heat ray WAY too many times. Godzilla looks alright as well as Mechagodzilla. Except it was annoying when they called it “MechaG”. How corny is that? Isn’t it Kiryuu? But, yes Kiryuu looks awesome. I liked the arm blade addition. There are even times when they call the Mothra “larvae” a worm…how it is a worm?!?! More like a big caterpillar/wiener. So yea, the dubbing does suck, except for the returning cast members from the last movie. Oshima’s score is well done. I don’t think she can ever compose a bad score and I hope she does more Godzilla movies in the future. Special effects were pretty good though and it gets credit for that, but overall I didn’t like this movie much. It would seem that you have to be a big fan of Mothra beating the crap out of Godzilla to like this. (RATING: F+)

I will post my comments on Final Wars when I get it for Christmas.

[G-Force071]

SATURDAY (2)

Godzilla: Final Wars (Sony) - Finally, after a year of waiting I can watch Final Wars…except it SUCKED. I’m sorry, but this was one huge letdown. I really don’t know where to begin, but the whole story was completely baloney (hahah). This is mainly because the story focuses on the human aspect, instead of concentrating on the real star, Godzilla. Most of the acting wasn’t all that great (dubbing was ok), but I really liked Don Frye’s performance as Captain Gordon. By the way…the monsters looked terrible here including Godzilla. This was his worst design in my opinion. The new monster (Monster X?) looked like something out of power rangers and Kaiser Ghidorah looked so ridiculous. Mothra actually wasn’t too bad here. Oh and that retarded Minilla thing…I don’t even know what to say. The actual monster battles here were so bad. Ok so we have a 2 hour movie here right? From what I saw, Godzilla only fought for under 5 minutes. This is the last Godzilla movie and they give us crappy 5 minutes of probably the worst fights I have ever seen Godzilla pull off. And director, Ryuhei Kitamura, instead decides to give us bad character development and martial arts fights. Ok, if I want to see martial arts and stuff like that I’ll just watch the Matrix, but it was so out of place here. I would much rather see Godzilla kick some butt. Special effects were ok I guess, but they didn’t amaze me much even though the budget was higher. The monster suits looked terrible enough. Oh and GINO sucked. He looked much more realistic in the US version (not that I really like it). And that fight with him and Godzilla sucked so bad. It was like what 15 seconds with Godzilla doing two moves? Stupid. Oh and during that we have the gay ass band “Sum 41” come in with their crappy song “All To Blame”. Right there I swear I was about to just turn the movie off. But, that brings me to the actual soundtrack. Keith Emerson and a couple of others, worked on the score here. Overall, it was pretty bad. Yes, some of the music is nice to listen to by it self, but here it sucked. One problem is the fact that music was playing in the background like 95% of this movie. It was primarily a techno soundtrack, which made it irritating after awhile. Yes, I do like the techno/electronica genre (Orbital, Prodigy, and The Crystal Method are all up there on my list), but the music here was…very cheesy sounding. I would have preferred a more orchestral score. Kou Ootani would have done a great job at that, as well as keeping a techno kinda vibe to it. Or maybe Yoko Kanno from the Ghost In The Shell and Gundam series. Overall, Godzilla: Final Wars was a waste.
(RATING: F+)

[G-Force071]

Im finally done watching all the Godzilla movies! Wow what a trip. I would reccomend you guys sitting down and going through them when you have a chance (especially if you havent seen them in awile), because this was great.

[Timothy2035]

Well it looks like I have to shake your hand. You survived and you still have your movies. I used to do marathons back in the glory days of VHS. I exploded a lot of stuff, but thank God we progressed to DVDs. Just imagine if we were still stuck at the Laserdiscs? What a big surprise that would be. Imagine if Save the Earth was a laserdisc instead of DVD? Talk about a big case. LOL!!!

Thanks for your reviews and hope to see you post in the Movie of the Week topics being done, and posted usually on Wednesday or Thursdays.

[gvamp]

I often wonder why LD didn't take off in the States like it did in Japan(they didn't start the switch till about 2000), which is weird because Japanese usually like stuff small and compact but LDs where huge.

[Godzilla1954]

i dissagree with most of you reviews but congradulations on finishing them all

[KaiserGodzillaX]

*plays theme from Godzilla v.s MechaGodzilla* congrats!!!

[G-Force071]

Wow thanks alot guys. Glad to know you all care as much about Godzilla as I do. Oh and btw I will be posting here more often.

[KG Kaiju]

Nice Godzilla marathon! BTW, I am almost 100% positive that Mothra is a female kaiju. Noting how much you seem to LOVE Mothra, I can't wait to hear your reviews on the original Mothra, Rebirth of Mothra I,II, and III. A Mothra marathon (try to say that fast 20 times) sounds good right now doesn't it! LOL Okay, let's all sing with the fairies: Mosura........:
Seriously though, what about Rodan, Yonggary 2001, Varan the Unbelieveable, Reptilicus, and all of those Gamera movies. Hey, maybe I'll do them!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!