Reviews

Yamato Takeru (known to Americans and Canadians as Orochi, the Eight Headed Dragon) was an expensive special effects production for Toho, yet was directed by Takao Okawara, who had directed some successful films like 1993's Godzilla vs Mechagodzilla and 1992's Godzilla and Mothra: The Battle for Earth. However, Yamato Takeru suffers from something of a hallow feel and though still somewhat enjoyable, suffers from some problem areas.

The basic story is good, but the film fails to explain some things to the audience and just silently transitions at some points with characters not acting the way you'd think they would. In one scene in particular, when Yamato Takeru is accused of stealing an important sword, Yamato just runs right passed his accuser (who is surrounded by guards). He mumbled to himself, then sends the guards after him. The action scenes are generally well done enough, but there are sequences that definitely could've looked better. And when it comes to probably the best known part of the film, the final battle with Orochi (the eight headed dragon!), the battle is anticlimactic. Yamato Takeru struggles against the dragon, then becomes a sort of giant armored knight, and then just pummels the dragon easily. Not very exciting for the viewer, but perhaps they were limited in what they could do, seeing as how stiff and borderline immobile both the dragon suit/prop and the giant knight looked. But in terms of design, everything looks pretty good, although Orochi itself looks like a giant red slug with modified King Ghidorah heads.

The original plan was for a trilogy of films, with this being the first. Sadly, this fantasy epic did not perform well at the box office in Japan, causing a delay and eventually cancellation in the second film, which was never started. Not having seen the first Toho adaptation of these legends, The Three Treasures (1959), I cannot say which is the better film. But while the eye candy is plentiful in this movie with nice props and monsters galore, as an entire film the movie is rather dull.

*A word on buying this movie if you are interested: ADV Films released a DVD version of this movie in the region one market (United States, Canada). However, this was about a decade ago and with ADV no longer with us the DVD is long since out of print. You can still attempt to track down a new copy online, but it will cost you. So if you are having trouble finding it, this is why. A VHS release was also offered.

In 2011, Vampire Prosecutor surprised many with its rather unique story of a man who became a vampire. But even in the portrayal of the story we see elements we don't often see in Kdramas; little things like consistently appropriate music, superior lighting for the scenery that makes it look higher production, and a very cool opening title sequence (not that they're usually boring, but they aren't often this cool). Perhaps most unusual was a lack of love story subplots.

If you liked Vampire Prosecutor and appreciated these elements, you'll like Vampire Prosecutor 2. Only six episodes have aired so far and we see *SPOILER* that a love story might brew up after all *END SPOILER* but I'm very much okay with that. Just do it well and I'll eat it up.

In all, it has few flaws and again I have to throw in the word "unique" to describe it. Tired of typical crime/mystery dramas? Give Vampire Prosecutor and its sequel, Vampire Prosecutor 2, a shot.

Afflicted by delays and casting issues, Faith is one of the higher profile series to come out of South Korea in 2012. Hot off the well received City Hunter series last year, Lee Min Ho has done an excellent job and appears in a role unique to what some of us have seen him do before.

Since this IMDb page doesn't list a brief summary, here's a quick breakdown: Choi Young (Lee Min Ho) is a top royal body guard in the 1300s. When the queen suffers a severe injury requiring medical attention beyond their capabilities, it is suggested that they use a mysterious portal-type formation to go to Heaven and find God's doctor. Lee Min Ho is the man for the job. Unknown to these people, the portal actually leads to the future (2012) and the doctor he selected is not God's doctor at all, but rather Yoo Eun-soo (Kim Hee-Sun). With her back in the 1300s, where will the story go?

It is well acted, well shot, although there are a few pockets of episodes they might have missed. On the whole, I could see them tightening the series up and bringing it down to, say, 20 episodes and keep the emotion, action, and character development while leaving behind a little of the excess. In spite of some pacing issues, the series finishes well and is very much worth seeing.

To start, I have to at least give credit where it is due. Demeking the Sea Monster attempted to do something just a little bit different for a giant monster movie. There was to be a bit of mystery to the story here and the film was not intended to simply be a giant monster actionfest like many if not most giant monster movies. As with say, Monsters (2010), Demeking the Sea Monster was largely a science fiction drama, not a science fiction action movie. They got the tone right for this movie, but ultimately Demeking the Sea Monster falls short of being adequate entertainment for 99 minutes.

The story centers around Hachiya in 1969-1970 Japan, who comes across a letter that forewarns of a space monster that will attack Japan (ultimately all of mankind) in the future. Eventually spreading the information to a few people he trusts, the bulk of the film is really just a buildup to the monster's appearance itself. So again, if you want a giant monster movie for the action such as Godzilla, Gamera, Cloverfield, or others, this is an entirely different type of movie and you may want to skip this movie.

My disappointment lies in slow, lethargic pace of the movie. What happens over the course of the first 66 minutes (at which point the monster appears in Hachiya's dream) could really have been done in less than half that time and still had equal character and plot development. The same goes with the rest of the movie after his dream of its impending attack on Japan. After all of that the movie ends somewhat abruptly. Unfortunately, there aren't other redeeming merits such as a good score or interesting characters. I would've hoped they would've at least tried to create an interesting creature, but it looked like little more than a bipedal snail-like creature. Why not try something with more visual impact, especially when the monster appears (and only in his dream) for a few minutes? I wasn't opposed to this type of movie but its execution leaves something to be desired, drama or not.

If you're a fan of the Heisei Gamera films, you may find yourself displeased with this film, but give it a chance. Gamera the Brave marks a return to the Gamera franchise's roots as a friend of children and the movie is primarily aimed at this demographic. However, I will say that it's like other good children's movies in that it's well done enough that people of all ages should find a certain entertainment value.

Starting with the core essence of the movie, the plot may be unoriginal but it works. It never set out to be some legendary masterpiece of cinema anyway. Our characters work well with each other and have good chemistry; the friends act and feel like friends, the parents act like parents, all good. The visuals used are excellent. Gamera looks good enough for what it is. I'm torn here since I'm not really a fan of this design but it is appropriate for depicting Toto as a young Gamera and not the adult we saw in the Heisei series, for example. It is what it is. I have to insert a cliché here and admit I was disappointed to see Gamera's classic roar discarded in favor of something generic, but I suppose it could've been worse. Zedus looks genuinely superb here in almost any angle or action sequence. Overall, the suits here are darn good and lend some credibility to the continuation of suits in a world that transition to CGI some time ago. To continue, the miniatures and model cities looked excellent. Someone clearly took care in making them.

Gamera the Brave is thoroughly well executed and may not continue in the fashion of the dark Heisei trilogy, but one must be able to appreciate more than just one style of film. I miss the 1990s Gamera movies as well, but this movie does its job well. Sadly, Gamera the Brave did not perform well at the box office in Japan, earning only $2.6 million. The word on the 'net is that this was to be the first film in a new trilogy but that was canceled after Gamera the Brave's financial failure. Numerous factors have played a role in Gamera's future being in limbo, but let's hope this wasn't the last outing for our favorite flying turtle.

After the success of Godzilla's first film and the mediocre box office performance of its sequel, Toho had no idea they had a monster movie giant on their hands. Thus, they decided to keep pumping out new monsters. Rodan was the first one of these, a monster that would also go on to gross more money in America than the original Godzilla film. That fact is probably as much a surprise to you as it was to me when I found that out. Rodan's success propelled the Rodan monster to become one of the best known monsters at Toho.

As a very brief summary, a huge insect attack a mining village. Upon trying to dispose of the insect, one of the miners becomes trapped and discovers that there are numerous insects in a secret cave like area. More importantly, there's a giant egg that hatches. Naturally, the Rodan infant is born, feeding off of the Meganulon insects. Not long thereafter, reports of a UFO in Japan and other countries emerges, so frequently that it is believed that there is more than one UFO. It turns out to be not one but two grown Rodans. Eventually one of the Rodans become trapped in a volcano. The other Rodan refuses to live without the other and thrusts itself into the lava with its mate, a most touching scene.

Rodan is a very serious monster movie. The bloodied pilot's helmet, the young couple eaten by Rodan, the memorable death of the monsters, it all makes the movie emotional and extremely entertaining. I will say this, however. The character aspect of the plot is not very good. For a Toho monster movie, it's perfectly acceptable, but you won't walk away talking about the characters at all. This isn't to say that it takes away from the film; it just doesn't add to it. The special effects are good, and Rodan looks good. The Meganulon look pretty good, although their movements aren't natural. The miniatures look convincing, especially for that era.

Rodan is a classic and fairly unique. For the rest of the Showa era, Rodan's appearances would be distinctly campy, funny as how his own movie is anything but campy. That's actually too bad, because they did such a fine job with this film. One question I left this movie with is where the second Rodan came from. The movie never touches on that subject. Overall, I rate this movie a 7/10, maybe even a 7.5/10.

Gorgo was the first and probably the best known British giant monster movie. With the success of early giant monster movies in the 1950s such as The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms and Godzilla, many other companies were trying to put out giant monsters of their own. One of the first and better known of these was 1961's Gorgo.

Gorgo is the story involving the discovery of a prehistoric mythical creature Gorgo, another name for Gorgon. The 60 foot giant occasionally attacks boats at sea but is flushed onto the mainland by some villagers. Eventually he is subdued and brought to England for study, only to be placed at a circus as a cash cow (not to self: do not exploit monsters you can barely control, if King Kong and Gorgo are any indication). It is revealed thereafter that Gorgo is a baby, practically in its infancy. The nearly 200 foot tall mother raids England in search of her offspring, gathers it, and the two depart for the sea once again.

This monster movie has a lighter, more pleasing ending for the audience than most monster movies. Generally the misunderstood beast has to be killed, but not here. That was done on purpose as the director's daughter was upset by the ending of The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms. Gorgo is a pretty short movie, only running 76 minutes long. As a result, the film is fast paced and never has dull moments. Monster movie fans will also be pleased to see plenty of monster action in the movie, as Gorgo appears often and within the first 10 or 15 minutes.

Speaking of Gorgo, he looks pretty good. His glowing eyes and a few other touches give away the fact that it's fake, but for its time the suit looks great. Also great is his iconic roar. It's rather ironic that Gorgo is an obvious imitation of Toho's Godzilla, yet Toho produced a monster rather similar to Gorgo almost 15 years later. Titanosaurus starred in the last Godzilla film of the Showa series and has the fins at the back of the head like Gorgo and is a general bipedal aquatic dinosaur. While Toho maybe didn't directly rip off Gorgo, it's still interesting to see the similarities from Godzill to Gorgo to Titanosaurus come full circle.

Outside of Gorgo, the special effects were above par for the time. The acting is acceptable too. We have no outstanding performances, but no one annoys you or gives a bad performance here. The plot itself works well too. It's nothing that original, but the story of a misunderstood creature on the basis of its size is effective here. The boy who is nearly enchanted by the monster and its mother is a nice touch, showing how children sometimes have a better concept of what we should be doing instead of what we adults sometimes are thinking of (money!).

All in all, Gorgo is a pleasing movie to watch and its quick pace/short time makes it a movie you can watch often if you want. A lack of graphic scenes or strong language also make this a movie that is something of a family please. It's not campy and childish so as to put dad off, yet his son can appreciate the movie as well. Gorgo has stood the test of time, having come out some 50 years ago and still having a pretty loyal following. He received his own magazines and toys, etc. Pretty impressive for a monster that starred in only one movie. I rate this movie a 6/10. That may not seem very high, but it's a solid movie worth seeing if you're a giant monster movie fan. If you aren't, then this movie won't appeal to you in the way a movie like Cloverfield or Monsters will. Fine by a monster movie fan like me, it's just that it doesn't have as widespread appeal. But again, if you like monster movies, this is a classic!

Dogora is one of those monster movies that -whether or not it was the intent- focuses less on monsters and more on people. Whether or not that was a good idea is entirely up to debate, but at least that meant Toho put more effort into the human side of the plots than they did for most other monster movies from this era.

Dogora's plot breaks down two ways, with one part of the movie being committed to the diamond stealing gangsters, the other being committed to the space monster itself. Both involve diamonds, which is of course how the plots are supposed to converge and make the movie work. This works out well enough, although the two don't integrate flawlessly; at times the two sub-plots can feel a bit disjointed. I actually find it to be more about the gangsters than about Dogora at all. The acting is pretty lacking here, and the musical score leaves something to be desired as well. The one shining star is the surprise quality of the monster Dogora. It moves quite gracefully in the sky and looks great. Other aspects of the special effects are less successful, but I'm willing to bet most of us would consider it a reasonable trade off.

Dogora is somewhat notable in that it was the last solo giant monster movie from Toho's Showa era of pictures, but the movie on its own probably requires a foreign monster movie fan to fully appreciate the film. Even then it's arguably a little boring, but it is one of those movies you still might pop in every once and a while for it's more entertaining and interesting human plot.

Space Amoeba was essentially the last fresh giant monster film from Toho's Showa era. After this 1970 entry, the rest of their giant monster films were Godzilla pictures. Space Amoeba is mostly a rehash of elements we've seen before at Toho. Alien life forms have come to conquer the planet and use a human vessel as assistance in carrying out the plan. However, instead of bringing their own monsters as the alien races do in The Mysterians, Ghidorah, the Three Headed Monster, or Godzilla vs Gigan, they simply blow up the size of some Earth animals (more on that later). It is up to a small group of people on the plot's island to save the day.

In spite of being that last original giant monster picture from Toho's Showa series, Space Amoeba fails to move the needle as much as some of their 50s and 60s movies did. The plot could've worked if it had been carried out with a bit more care, but the boring plot was made no more interesting by good acting or special effects. Eiji Tsuburaya was a famous special effects director at Toho, and this was the first kaiju film made after his death. The special effects are pretty hit-and-miss here, so he is missed.

The monster with the most combined discussion and screen time is the first to appear, Gezora; he is thought to be a monster god by the inhabitants of the island. Gezora is referred to as both a squid and an octopus in the picture depending upon which audio and subtitles you're listening to, but he mostly reflects the proportions of a squid in my opinion. He isn't very convincing in his motions and his suit wrinkles unnaturally. His eyes look very fake as well. Gezora is a pretty obscure monster even within Toho's fans, but it's not without warrant.

Ganime is a giant mutated crab, somewhat similar to Toho's own giant lobster Ebirah that starred in Ebirah, Horror of the Deep (aka Godzilla vs The Sea Monster) and much more recently in Godzilla: Final Wars. Compared to his Showa Ebirah stablemate, I actually think Ganime looks better and more menacing. A pretty well done suit and acceptable movements here. Kamoebas is the third and final monster in the film, a giant turtle. He is probably the best known due to his second appearance in a far more popular movie, 2003's Godzilla: Tokyo SOS. Kamoebas and Ganime actually fight at the end of the movie and plummet into a volcano to their demise (predictably).

The only real reason to view Space Amoeba is to see some new monster action, because from the standpoint of the plot and acting, you've seen it before at Toho many times over. That's not to say I will give this film a low rating; I'd still rate it a mediocre 5/10, but that's the most it deserves. Toho did a plenty of superior monster movies before this one (and some of the Godzilla ones that followed), so this shouldn't be one of the first ones you seek.

It took Giant Monster Varan some four years before it finally made it to America under the title Varan, the Unbelievable. As fate would have it, Varan isn't so "unbelievable" or "great". I am reviewing the Japanese version that's presently available on DVD, the very one in the picture at the top of the page. Despite the American version's title, it's the Japanese version with English subtitles. It is my understanding that the American version is significantly worse than the English version, but I can't comment on that.

The giant monster plot is not unlike many other monster movies of the 1950s and 1960s. Scientists are searching for a unique species of butterfly and awaken the monster god. The Japanese military lends a hand, bringing their equipment and troops to the island, expecting an easy kill. As you'd expect, Varan is virtually immune to the weaponry, so the military retreats. Varan swims through the water and attacks an airport and some of the city, but certainly not on the scale that we see some other monsters, Godzilla for one. Eventually the military discovers a trick to defeating Varan, and the wounded monster retreats.

Pretty basic, but it works. It's mediocre, but in some ways that's kind of a good thing. Toho didn't make the monster out to be as huge, destructive, and powerful as monsters like Godzilla or even Rodan. But while that bolsters the strength of those monsters, it makes this film and its monster forgettable. The first irk I have is that this movie was shot with a fairly tight budget, and it shows. The movie is shot in black and white, despite Toho having done color since 1956's Rodan. The acting is also average, with some rough spots where the character(s) should be acting more emotional (or seem to express the wrong emotions). Varan isn't particularly interesting as a monster, and although he's versatile, being able to operate in water, in air, and on land, he still comes off as derivative and staid. Two upsides to the movie were 1) a fairly good score, and 2) mostly good special effects.

Is the movie worth checking out? Well, if you're just getting into monster movies or Japanese monster movies, there are many better choices. Godzilla, Rodan, Mothra, War of the Gargantuas, and more were all done under Toho as with Varan, the Unbelievable, but are far more emotional, engaging, and solid films. If you're seen all of these main movies, then Varan is worth checking out. It's by no means a bad movie, it's just that it's not inspiring or riveting. If it comes pack of a discounted multi-feature set as they offer now (Varan with The Mysterians and Matango, for example), then the movie is probably worth it. On its own, for $10-15 it's less compelling. I purchased it despite that, but I'd more likely just recommend it should it be found in a $5 bin. I give it a 5/10, not bad, not great.

Almost a decade after 1975's Terror of Mechagodzilla, Toho finally launched a new Godzilla movie to kick off the Heisei series of Big G films. Terror of Mechagodzilla was to be the last Godzilla film for a while, but there were actually a couple of proposals between it and Return of Godzilla. Godzilla vs Gargantua was proposed for 1978 but never happened, and Godzilla vs Asuka Fortress was to be for 1979. I think Toho made the right decision. If nothing else, it certainly created quite a build up for this film in 1984 (or 1985 for us Americans).

If you disliked the campy and more child-friendly Godzilla flicks that had succeeded the dark original, you'll appreciate Return of Godzilla greatly. The dark, somber theme coincides with a much more menacing, far less campy Godzilla. Godzilla is bigger and looks ferocious. His atomic ray (along with other special effects) have been upgraded considerably, although there are still the oft-mentioned quirks with the mechanical head and other here-and-there's. The earlier part of the film with the Shockirus, a mutated louse that feeds on people by sucking them dry, adds a jumpy scene or two and tells the audience right away that this isn't your kid-friendly Godzilla's Revenge movie.

The plot is also fairly topical, something that couldn't be said for a lot of Godzilla movies. No goofy looking aliens, no underground communities, but we do have the Cold War and Russian-American tensions. The only somewhat larger flaw I found with the American version as compared to the Japanese version was the cut explanation for the Shockirus. I suspect it would have been nice to have that scene, but you can't have everything.

Toho did a pretty good job, both in the movie and in returning Godzilla to his roots. They continued this excellence with the film's sequel five years later, 1989's Godzilla vs Biollante.

After The Best From 20,000 Fathoms, Toho was inspired to create a movie and monster that would become far more famous globally, 1954's Godzilla. After Godzilla's success at both the box office and in popularity, other companies the world over scrambled to create their own monster films to attract similar success. America launched countless efforts, from The Giant Mantis to It Came From Beneath the Sea (and many more). Britain had Gorgo in 1961. Within Japan there will films like Gamera. But Korea launched its own low budget attempt at Godzilla and the new-at-the-time Gamera series. Yongary (1967) was this movie.

Yongary is proportionally based on Godzilla with a head that apes Baragon and Gamera to an extent. So the monster itself is nothing compelling, and the quality of the suit is poor, as you've probably well gathered by now. Giving him more convincing eyes would've gone a long way, because they don't move and they glow unrealistically. The pump shooting fire in his mouth was another goof. And with trying to appeal to children at the time -much as how Godzilla and Gamera were- we received a child for a lead. The plot is nothing fresh either, with a giant bipedal fire breathing monster rising from the Earth.

The one surprising scene in the movie is at the end when the monster is dying a slow, painful death while jerking from pain and bleeding. It's the first time the film begins to draw in something from the audience. Unfortunately, it's FAR too little FAR too late. You can watch the entire movie for free on Google, which is probably the only way I'd watch it. Even though you can purchase it cheaply for $5-6, I'd pass. Even then it's too much for a movie you'll surely watch just once. It has nothing on even Toho's movies of the late 1960s, such as War of the Gargantuas or Destroy All Monsters. Buy one of these or something from Gamera's series if you want an Asian giant monster flick from this era.

As a final word, a Korean company tried to resurrect the Yongary monster in a new film from 1999, titled Reptilian in the US. It's probably even worse for its time than the 1967 original. It makes the 1998 American Godzilla and 1999 Japanese Godzilla 2000 look like the best thing since sliced bread.

War of the Gargantuas is a movie that stems from another dark-themed monster movie, 1965's Frankenstein vs Baragon. Even from the beginning it has a sort of dark theme, with a sinister looking Gaira attacking Oodaku (giant octopus). As Gaira thoughtlessly devours people, you're tempted to cringe. But the hero gargantua, Sanda, brings another piece into the story. It becomes a battle of brothers, one dark and evil while the other is for all intents and purposes good and pure.

This isn't your average monster movie, but in a lot of ways that's a good thing. This is one of those dark, near-horror style films that Toho produced in the 50s and 60s, such as 1954's Godzilla or 1958's H-Man. The more human like nature of the gargantuas draws the viewer in and draws out more emotions.

It's worth mentioning that although the film is a direct sequel to Frankenstein vs Baragon, almost all of the relationship between the two films is edited out of the American version, leaving a lone comment on the main protagonist discussing a 'hand' he's been studying. That would be Frankenstein's hand. Another thing mostly edited out of the American version is the more romantic relationship between the doctor and his assistant. You get that kind of vibe even in the edited region one release of the movie nonetheless.

If a lot of the campy 1960s or 1970s Godzilla films don't do it for you and you want something darker, more serious, near-horror, War of the Gargantuas is for you. It's a fantastic film with the only real weak point being lack of character development. You don't really care even when they're in danger, but otherwise there are few faults. I wouldn't even mind if Toho decides against ever creating a remake of the film, because its quality even roughly a half-century later is superb, and they probably wouldn't capture the spirit of the original, much like other classics such as King Kong (1933) or Godzilla (1954).

Looking outside of this specific film, I'm actually glad they elected not to place the gargantuas in a Godzilla movie (Toho originally had written up some loose plans to make a "Godzilla vs Gargantua(s)" for a 1978 theatrical release). In the 60s and especially by the 70s, Godzilla had become campy and "fun". While there's nothing wrong with that in itself, bringing a gargantua would weaken their story much like the campy Godzilla films greatly weakened Godzilla's (1954) reputation as a dark horror movie. Both monsters have their place, just not together.

Deciding on what they should do for Godzilla's closing movie, Toho had several ideas. Borrowed from the original proposed Mothra vs Bagan (1990) movie, Godzilla vs Bagan was thrown around for a while before Toho decided to explore other options, wanting something that paid homage to the original 1954 film. One of the better known story lines was Godzilla vs Ghost Godzilla, wherein the dead 1954 original Godzilla would come back and fight the Heisei Godzilla, eventually killing it. This was pleasing in the sense that Godzilla wouldn't be defeated by another monster, as Godzilla vs Godzilla leaves the victor as none other than Godzilla. But the super-fantasy theme was ultimately deemed to be overkill (how much worse could the time travel and androids from King Ghidorah in 1991 be?), and it was deemed to be one too many consecutive Godzilla-like title opponents (1993's Mechagodzilla, 1994's Spacegodzilla, and what would've been 1995's Ghost Godzilla). As such, they set their sights on creating something around the one thing to kill Godzilla in a film: the oxygen destroyer. Godzilla vs Destroyah (1995) was born.

First off, the music is simply a knockout. It's just great, particularly the opening theme (you can YouTube it if you're interested in that). The plot is not especially realistic. Oxygen destroyer? Freezer weapons to combat nuclear disasters? However, the movie handles itself well without major qualms, unlike some of the Heiseis that came before it. In terms of characters and acting, the characters still are nothing to write home about, but the action and important content in the movie is fluid and manages to keep you from caring too much (because yet again we have a lame couple of lovebirds baked in here). Emotions run much higher and the mood is much darker than what we've seen since Godzilla vs Biollante (1989). Pacing throughout the movie is far better than last year's Spacegodzilla and has no real problems.

The effects and monsters are a bit questionable at times, but end on a positive note. Burning Godzilla looks dazzling and awesome, and his now-constant spiral atomic ray's power is daunting. Destroyah's crab-like human sized forms look good, but their movements give away their fake-ness. His slightly altered giant form (called Aggregate Form) improves a bit. His flying form LOOKS good, but his wings never flap, which again take some of the life out of him. Speaking of his flying form, why do things just randomly explode as he flies over the city at speeds that don't appear to be all that high? Destroyah is best characterized by his final form, and this form has the beastly look you'd expect. Godzilla Junior is much improved over last year's attempts at making him look cute.

With the great looking Burning Godzilla and Destroyah in final form, I was hoping for an awesome battle. I think Godzilla Junior got more action. The close combat between Godzilla and Destroyah was fairly limited, although better than last year's Spacegodzilla (again). It was an improvement, but I was hoping for a little more.

Despite its faults of still not making the viewer care much about the characters or the iffy effects, this has proved to be a great improvement over a Heisei series that was quickly declining in quality. It was a great way to nod towards the 1954 original and end the Heisei series on a good note. It's a good 7/10 for me.

The saving grace for this movie is the action-packed nature of it. There's plenty of beautiful beams, but unlike much of the Heiseis there's some nice close combat scenes as well. The other golden nugget is how Godzilla is really given a run for his money this time around. Unlike the last film, it is generally agreed upon that Toho knew they wanted a Mechagodzilla movie for their 1993 G flick. True to its action-packed form, there are plenty of monsters in the movie.

Godzilla maintains his good looks yet again, but now he's got a baby. I have a couple of reservations about the baby, but I'll discuss that later. Rodan makes a comeback for this movie, and he looks pretty good. Unfortunately, he seems a little stiff at times and his movements can look forced, as if they aren't animalistic (obviously they aren't). The region one dub refers to him as Radon rather than Rodan, which is the proper way to pronounce it. As a die-hard Godzilla guy though, I somewhat bemoan them feeling the need to infuse energy powers into anything and everything within the Heisei universe, so I'm not a Fire Rodan fan. It's probably impossible to infuse another Mechagodzilla with the character of the 1974-1975 original, but this Mechagodzilla looks good overall, just devoid of personality. Maybe that's not such a bad thing being a cold mech without a soul. While not a "monster" by any stretch, Garuda is Japan's anti-G aircraft that was replaced by Mechagodzilla but is still used effectively here (we never actually saw Garuda perform outside of this film anyway).

As before, we don't have a bad basic plot, but it is soured by lame acting and bland characters. The Garuda pilot is supposed to be nerdy-funny and nerdy-funny in his displays of affection towards another character, but it just comes off as dull, almost annoying. Although this film isn't geared towards younger crowds, it's probably best enjoyed when you're younger and care less about plots, acting, characters, etc. It's not a bad film in any way (unless you don't care about monsters, which would make this a mind numbing experience for you), and its high adrenaline monster action theme is pleasing. At least it was an improvement over the last two films, if nothing else (lack of pacing issues makes this one so much better).

As an aside, one of the qualms I have with the movie is Baby Godzilla. Why is he only the size of a grown man? In the previous film, the Mothra larvae was gigantic. A newly born Godzilla ought to be at least as large as a newly born Mothra larvae, right? Even when Godzilla walks up to Baby Godzilla at the end of the movie, it looks way too small. For comparison, it seems like a human giving birth to a six inch infant. While we're on the subject, what the heck is a Godzillasaur? They claim it's of the same "species" as Godzilla, but that it's a less aggressive herbivore. We have no history of a Godzillasaur and no explanation there after. Plot hole. Plus, the name might draw a false relationship to Godzilla's original form, the 1944 Godzillasaurus.

This film would probably only get like a 4.5/10 from me, but the monster action saves the day somewhat, so 6/10 it is.

Since the earlier years of Toho's Heisei series, members within Toho had been wanting to get Mothra back in a movie that could be her own. The first and closest to production script was to be 1990's Mothra vs Bagan (which was later proposed as Godzilla vs Bagan for a later film). After Godzilla vs Biollante failed to get much traction at the box office, Toho decided instead to focus on Godzilla films rather than risk anything without the international presence that Godzilla had. After the relative success of Godzilla vs King Ghidorah, it was actually proposed to have a sequel that again pitted Godzilla against the golden dragon. This idea never got too serious, but Toho wanted to maintain Godzilla's title opponent as a well known monster. Mothra fit that role. The best known proposal was to be 1992's Godzilla vs Gigamoth. The plot around pollution and general environmental concerns was similar to the actual Godzilla vs Mothra: The Battle for Earth. Gigamoth was to have been a Mothra mutated by recent pollution disasters and toxic weaponry. The script was altered and the Gigamoth aspect of the film became the Battra part of the film.

Despite all of the proposals and interesting bits, GvM's plot still wasn't bad. The ancient war between the people/Mothra and the Earth/Battra was intriguing on paper. Good ideas don't guarantee a film's greatness, and this one proves that in spades. The movie is pretty staid, with dull character tension and an uninspiring love story. Godzilla looks much as he did the last year, which is to say pretty good. His atomic ray has a strange sound to it in this film that wasn't repeated in anything else. It's nothing close to a bother, just a quirk of this film if you wanna call it that. Mothra's redesign in the Heisei series looks okay, but rather fluffy and fake to be honest. Unlike the Showa era Mothra, this one has received a huge boost in power/weapons. She can beam spam all day if she wants, and she can essentially go toe-to-toe with Godzilla. Her larvae form looks fine and is otherwise about the same as the Showa larvae, but it pales in comparison to the might of the Battra larvae. Even the LARVAE Battra can beam spam! Both of the final forms of Mothra and Battra look a little stiff here.

The lackluster pacing and mediocre monster battles do this film in and keep it from impressing anyone. I would rate this film a 4.5/10, among the lower scores for a Godzilla movie and the second worst amongst the Heisei series. As it stands, the film doesn't always maintain the viewer's attention.

Heisei had a dark theme with more topical and realistic (as you can get for Godzilla) plots. Following the uninspiring box office performance of 1989's Godzilla vs Biollante, Toho took this as audiences only wanting to see Godzilla fight classic monsters. One of Godzilla's best known, if not THE best known, opponents was King Ghidorah, aka The King of Terror. Toho also switched gears with the plot and chose to take a much more wild, Showa-esque direction with the plot and theme of the film.

As a general rule, time travel plots can be pretty messy. Although you can actually make this one fit, it's still questionable for the general audience that won't give it as much thought. The characters in question seem a little stale, as if they never really got into their characters. Special effects were generally okay, although they fell short of Godzilla vs Biollante. Pacing was a problem for some of the Heisei Godzilla movies, but it wasn't much of a problem here. They managed to keep Godzilla's appearance from the audience for over an hour, which is something of a feat in itself.

The monsters make good appearances here. Godzilla looks about as good as he did the last time, although his 1944 "Godzillasaurus" looks hopeless. Maybe it's just hindsight bias, but after seeing what was done with Jurassic Park only two years later, I question Toho's effort here. Moving on, I'm loving the redesign of King Ghidorah (NOT a fan of the origin "monsters" for his creation, however). KG is beautiful, both menacing and majestic at the same time. When he's given a new lease on life as Mecha-King Ghidorah, he still looks great, although his inward-pointing knees remind one of a child needing a run to the restroom; this isn't to say it detracts from the monster as not many people notice/care anyways.

The odd thing about Mecha-King Ghidorah is his apparent lack of a power increase over the original King Ghidorah. He doesn't really fare any better than King Ghidorah did against Godzilla despite technology from the 23rd century. Side note: the time travel plot still ruins this for me. If they could engineer the Dorats, why couldn't they just engineer a giant monster like King Ghidorah? Or if not, why wouldn't they create a giant robot like 20th century Japan could with 1993's Mechagodzilla? How is it that this 23rd century technology doesn't come close to the performance of 20th century Japan's Mechagodzilla? So many questions that time travel forces a person to bring up.

If you get the impression that I think this is a mediocre movie with great looking monsters, you'd be right. The battle scenes are fairly average, but the film can be fun if you ignore the standards set by prior Heisei films. It's certainly different, androids, time travel, 23rd century humans, and all. Had it improved on character development or battle scenes compared to Godzilla vs Biollante, it might've scored just as as well. As it is, Godzilla vs King Ghidorah is a love it or hate it movie. Depends on how you view silly. If you're a Showa fan, you'll appreciate it more. I rate it a 6/10.

Before I get into the actual film, a word for region one audiences (Canadian and American). You can't buy this film on DVD or VHS (you can buy RoM and RoM II as a double feature DVD). This hasn't been released on DVD yet, but in the future at some point there will probably be a DVD/Blu-Ray release. BUT BEFORE YOU GIVE UP, you can watch it for free (and totally legally) on Sony's website crackle.com. You can actually watch the entire RoM series if you want to see them before you whip out the cash to buy them on DVD.

After being totally disappointed with Rebirth of Mothra II, I didn't have particularly high expectations for RoM III, but it was definitely better than I thought it would be. To start off with a complaint, it's with Grand King Ghidorah. He looks great, but his appearance is just bizarre. A giant monster randomly comes to Earth and takes children hostage? It makes no sense, even as a children's movie. My other complaint is that the monsters almost always look great, but the dinosaurs look quite cheesy.

This one has almost no pacing issues, which is a great improvement over the last two films. But the plot of having two or three child leads with the screaming hero fairies and laughing evil fairy falls too closely in line with the films before it, and it ends up being a little repetitive. Maybe it's just me, but the film didn't try to branch out. I'm still not sold on the time travel aspect of the film, because although it doesn't create the billions of questions and controversies like Toho did the last time (Godzilla vs King Ghidorah, 1991), that's probably got more to do with the RoM series having a lot less baggage to it (if that makes sense).

Its monsters also look the best, and we get the Armor Mothra, the most powerful Mothra we've ever seen (even today). For kids you could stretch its 5/10 score out a bit, but that's about it. Too many unanswered questions and random-ness going on to warrant much better. Such a shame given the quality of the actual monsters here.

I would be pleased if Toho would bring Mothra films back again someday, but I'd lose the overly child themes. They seem to allow the film makers to dumb down the movies as if they think kids will care less about plot holes or acting. It's true, but it softens the experience for us older folks.

Man oh man, has Mothra become a super monster or what? Transforming into aqua modes and all, woo! I also have to give Toho credit for coming up with an original monster that looks okay. Actually, the plot isn't bad either. But I have to say this movie has some serious execution issues. They whole ancient empire is cool, as is their architecture. But the plot is totally ruined by this movie's serious pacing issues. By the middle of the movie I was antsy. I was watching it with a couple of other people, and one had simply fallen asleep. This film also slips even further into the kid-zone with the Furby looking thing and continuing with the children leads. I found this partially odd with them having become friends with a pair of grown men that they don't know. When's the last time you encouraged kids to make friends with strangers? But I guess that's missing the point.

This movie just fails to movie the needle in any real way, and since there really isn't much of anything connecting the three Mothra films, you might as well skip this one and go straight to Rebirth of Mothra III. The special effects are often unimpressive, even as kids the characters are yawn inducing, the battle scenes are only okay, and so on.

After ending the Godzilla series with the Heisei series, Toho wanted to maintain a higher grossing monster movie. The one that drew in females in what's admittedly a pretty male-centric genre was Mothra. Mothra is definitely known for her numerous roles as a hero of sorts in Godzilla films ever since her first role in a Godzilla movie (Godzilla vs Mothra, 1964). But actually, Mothra had her own movie before all of this, like some other monsters best known for their role in Godzilla movies (Rodan comes to mind). Her 1961 movie is something to check out, but getting that history out of the way brings us back to 1996's Rebirth of Mothra. Unlike the Heisei series of Godzilla movies, Toho decided to cater more towards kids with the Mothra series.

Mothra received a huge intake of power with her Heisei Godzilla redesign, and that continued even more so with this RoM series. Boy, even the larvae can beam spam! Mothra looks okay, but a bit fuzzy in moth form. Her offspring, named Mothra Leo, looks pretty good and doesn't fall apart like the larvae of the Showa series. This is also the first time we have a distinctly male Mothra, Leo. In moth form, Leo looks notably different from the female Mothra. Mothra also has blue circular eyes, whereas Leo has more angled green eyes and other design tweaks. I like that. How about the villain monster in this movie, Desghidorah? He's an interesting take on the Ghidorah family, relying on four legs and with an almost elephant-like roar. He sure makes you hope for his death the way he heartlessly attacks Mothra and Leo in larvae stage. Kinda graphic actually if the kids are too young. Overall the monsters are a plus and the action is pretty good. The drawback is that the final battle between Leo in moth form and Desghidorah is just way too easy. Desghidorah overpowers the aging Mothra in the beginning, but then Leo just comes in and gives him a good one-two. Easy peasy. Except it was annoyingly easy. Maybe this has something to do with the kid-centric theme.

Moving on, what else does the film bring? Well, the RoM series has one distinctly annoying trait for me, at least with the region one release: the women just scream and scream and SCREAM. It gets old. The pacing is a bit iffy here too and a number of scenes could've been cut entirely or trimmed.

What we have here is a decent movie, and you might certainly be emotional when you see the larvae desperately trying to keep its dying/dead mother alive. It's probably worth more than a 6/10 for younger people, but if you're a much beyond perhaps a teenager you may not enjoy as much. Its sequel, Rebirth of Mothra II, is arguably even more child-themed, so it doesn't get better here on out in that sense. But for all this kid theme talk, I still like the movie and have a copy on DVD.

Heavily due to the success of King Kong vs Godzilla, Toho wanted to keep Kong around. The first project was Continuation: King Kong vs Godzilla, a direct sequel to the 1962 cash cow that -adjusted for inflation- was easily the highest grossing Godzilla film of all time. That project never came to fruition, but Toho later collaborated with Rankin/Bass in hopes of making a small series of Kong films. The first project was discarded by Rankin/Brass but didn't die out completely; Toho simply swapped out King Kong and replaced his role with Godzilla, which was released as 1966's Godzilla vs The Sea Monster. The script that actually did succeed was this one, King Kong Escapes.

With that bit of history out of the way, this movie is really aimed at a younger audience, so if you want something more serious, I'd kindly recommend you look elsewhere. The plot is totally ludicrous, with an evil mad scientist (that apparently is filthy rich) that wants to mine "Element X". Naturally, you'd build an enormous 35 meter mech named Mechani-Kong, right? It's interesting that when you mention a giant Japanese robot monster you'd be inclined to think of Mechagodzilla, who amongst giant mechs is far more popular than anything the world over. And yet, this here Mechani-Kong was in a movie nearly a decade earlier.

Speaking of monsters, we should probably start with King Kong. He looks terrible, almost like a joke. Will kids mind? Probably not. Mechani-Kong actually doesn't look bad. The giant snake would've been fun to have had his brief encounter with King Kong extended a bit, and I wonder if the 1976 King Kong remake was inspired by the snake used here rather than the dinosaur of the 1933 original. This film just seems to have given birth to a number of things, whether it actually did or not. We can't forget about Gorosaurus. He looks pretty good, and his kangaroo kick was fun stuff. Corny as heck, but fun. This is also actually the first film for Gorosaurus at Toho, although he's better known for his role in the much more popular Godzilla franchise, most notable being 1969's Destroy All Monsters.

This is a fun movie, something you could buy for your kids or just enjoy on your own as long as you understand its intentions. I bought the film and enjoy it. I can't give it high marks for a number of listed reasons above (did I mention King Kong seems to understand English/Japanese as long as the female lead speaks slowly and loudly enough?), but I still recommend it if it sounds like something you could appreciate, quirks and all.

The Heisei series is kind of frustrating. It started off so well with 1985's Return of Godzilla and 1989's Godzilla vs Biollante, but then got steadily worse until spiking up again with Godzilla vs Destroyah. This is one of those movies I'd pass up if you haven't seen a few of Godzilla's better movies first. Surprisingly for a G flick, not even the music is a redeeming quality.

The first problem is the stinkin' pacing of the movie. It's has huge gaping pieces of the film that are dull and make you want to just fast forward to get into some action because nothing of any remote importance is happening and the characters are boring. Then you get to the action and you're totally underwhelmed. The action basically boils down to three scenes. In the beginning Moguera (Japan's semi-replacement for Mechagodzilla, which was destroyed the year before by the Big G) briefly tangles with Spacegodzilla in space ... which looks unquestionably like a black background with giant brown foam balls meant to look like rocks floating in space. It's simply awful, even compared to some of what we've seen in the Showa series. You know it's bad if hardcore Godzilla nerds like me are poking fun at it. The second is a battle between Spacegodzilla and Godzilla himself. The battle is quite brief and nothing happens aside from the two engaging in a beam spam war for a few blasts before SG decides to leave, having taken Little Godzilla hostage. The third battle is the long one with Godzilla and Moguera teaming up against SG. It's an improvement, but it's still mostly just a beam spam fest.

The monsters themselves are a mixed bag. Little Godzilla looks rather cute, which wasn't the theme they were going for with him in the prior film nor the succeeding film. Godzilla looks fine, other than perhaps being too chunky; in fact, the suit is so big and bulky that this is the reason that many of the Heisei series monsters relied mostly on their beams, as physical combat was too challenging to do much. Spacegodzilla is a split for me. He looks good other than for the crystal spines, which are just goofy, not that the giant shoulder crystals or the whole crystal aspect to him are much better. Moguera looks lame. He didn't look good in his first appearance (The Mysterians, 1957) and he doesn't look good in this second appearance.

In the end, I'm forced to give this one a low score. It has virtually no redeeming qualities and almost all of the bad ones for which Godzilla naysayers can lay claim. The theories of SG's origins with Biollante and Mothra are actually interesting, but then they fail to follow through with it at all. Just disappointing. Watch this one once (even for free on Crackle!) just to say you've seen it, but don't expect all too much.

As a final note, in the plot hole for this movie, it is said that the events of previous movies could not have happened due to the time travel plot of 1991's Godzilla vs King Ghidorah. This is actually not the case, and if you care enough you can read why below. Just connect all of the below link.

http:// www.scifijapan.com /articles/2007/08/16/ godzilla-vs-king-ghidorah -time-travel- and-the- origins-of- godzilla/

I was pleased that Toho was continuing to explorer new monsters with this film. In fact, I really liked Megaguirus' origins. I also like that they tried for a slightly scarier experience, particularly the alley scene.

And yet, I rate the film only 6/10. Outside of the monster action, much of the rest of the movie is fairly dull, as is the female lead. I also find the Dimension Tide piece of the plot almost too silly. A man-made mini black hole fired at Godzilla from a satellite in space? Oh come on! That's gotta be more outlandish than aliens. The special effects were only okay, but with three notable bad points. The SGS looks like a small toy, the Meganula on Godzilla's hide looked iffy, and when Megaguirus first appears, the wires are visible. But on the whole the effects were otherwise pretty good.

This was the second installment of Godzilla's Millennium series, and after watching these two you might not be inspired to watch the next four movies unless you're a major Japanese monster movie or Godzilla fan, which I am. But rest assured, the rest of the series picks up (even Final Wars). As a final word, if you don't really care how loony some of the plot is, then you'll probably enjoy this movie more than a 6/10, no problem. If you want to give the Godzilla franchise a try though, I'd check out GMK or Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla and Godzilla: Tokyo SOS before this one.

As my summary says, how often is the sequel better than the first movie? Not very often, but here it is. While I rated both Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla and this one a 7/10, I'd actually rate this one a 7.5/10 if I could. Why? The human side of the movie, but more on that later. Just as an FYI if you already didn't know, this is the only sequel in the Millennium series. Godzilla vs Megaguirus, for example, does not acknowledge Godzilla 2000 or any other movies. Same for G2K or GMK, etc. Final Wars is a bit more debatable in that they show footage from each of the three series.

Characters are much better than in previous film. True, the lead character is the same seemingly depressed military member that we've seen for the third time now in the Millennium series, but here his life his just plain carried out better and explored more. It feels like less than an excuse to cut away from the monster action.

The monsters look good. Godzilla is the same as last year, and with the exception of the replacement for MG's Absolute Zero Cannon, Mechagodzilla is the same as well. Mothra looks pretty decent, although certainly not as good as she did in GMK. Her larvae look better than they ever have with their mouth movements. Action wise, these monsters carry themselves very well and their movements aren't always predictable, making for an entertaining watch.

So as I said, I like this even more than GAMG, and if I could I'd give it that extra half point in the ratings. I genuinely am saddened when it is first revealed that Mothra is dying, yet she fights on. What courage and selflessness. Then she makes the ultimate sacrifice that much more real to the audience when she saves her offspring at the expensive of her own life. The first time you watch it, it might just water your eyes a bit. And these emotions are part of the beauty that make it better than GAMG.

As a side note, some viewers have suggested that the lab scene post-credits indicates that Toho wanted to follow up this series with a third installment as opposed to doing something new like Final Wars. This is not the case, but rather a reminder that sometimes we humans just don't learn, even after we've seen the effects of our actions.

GMK changed gears from the mediocre predecessors that were Godzilla 2000 (1999) and GvM (2000). But thankfully, Toho didn't allow for there to be just one great G movie in the Millennium series, so they launched the Mechagodzilla pair of films, this being the first. Remaking a classic monster can be tricky. Toho decided not to revamp the origins of Mechagodzilla this time. The plot is much like 1993's Godzilla vs Mechagodzilla II in that Japan built the giant mech to defend themselves against Godzilla.

Actually, I'm sorry I even brought the 1993 film up. This one is so much better. Unlike the Heisei series Godzilla, the Millennium Godzilla (and his foes) can actually physically fight and some fun scenes are carried out here. Godzilla looks good, his menace toned down just a tad from his previous Millennium suits. They also returned Godzilla's atomic ray back to a blue color, whereas Godzilla 2000 and GvM had deviated from the rest of the movies by giving him an orange-ish atomic ray. Mechagodzilla looks good, far more sleek, agile, and athletic than the 1993 version and more like the 1974-1975 MG. Special effects work is also great.

There are a few minuses in the film, however. Character development was rather lacking and followed Godzilla vs Megaguirus too closely. One strange piece to the film, and I don't know if it applies only to the region one release, is Mechagodzilla's name. They start out calling it Mechagodzilla but quickly begin calling it Kiryu and keep that name for the duration of the film (and in its direct sequel, 2003's Tokyo SOS, they go back to calling it Mechagodzilla or Mecha-G). Why they started referring to it as Kiryu is never explained and is a little odd.

Nevertheless, this is a good film, even without the human character strength that was a bit better in GMK that came before it. It's easy to see why Toho decided to keep this universe going with a sequel as opposed to just starting over again like all of the other Millennium series Godzilla films. I rate it 7/10.