Rating: 
Summary: a gigantic classic
Review: godzilla smashes his way through tokyo, japan in his first ever expedition of MANY, MANY! to come. i wouldn't say that this was the best one in the whole godzilla series but probably one of them. the man in the rubber suit smashes tokyo with a huge punch. ships are going down but no one knows excactly who or what is doing it. the local tribal people believe it is their ancient monster from the seas whom they call "Godzilla". little do they know how RIGHT they are. they would make sacrifices to godzilla whenever on schedual. godzilla decides to start making his own. one japanese man creats an under-water oxygen weapon ,but will it be enough to stop the mighty godzilla's rampage? maybe, ....
Rating: 
Summary: The best Godzilla movie so far
Review: If you can only watch one Godzilla movie, watch this one!
Rating:
Summary: First, but not necessarily the best.
Review: I'm writing reviews for each of the godzilla movies, so this is going to be short and to the point.Summary: "A giant, prehistoric monster is released upon Japan after being awakened from its long slumber by atomic bomb testing." Good starting point for the series with lots of atmosphere and tension. However, the absence of a second monster slows the film's pace a little. next is "godzilla raids again".
Rating:
Summary: Superior Value on a Classic Creature-Feature!
Review: Godzilla, King of the Monsters depicts the Big G as he was meant to be; massive, menacing and just plain mean. There is nothing cute about this movie, and Godzilla, unlike his many later incarnations, doesn't save anyone from anything. The Americanized version removes much of the background and detail footage from the original "Gojira", replacing it with Raymond Burr as ace reporter Steve Martin, and his Japanese colleague, security officer Tomo Iwanaga. The spliced in scenes cause some continuity problems, but not nearly enough to detract from the effectiveness of the film. An atmospheric and eerie soundtrack adds a powerful sense of foreboding to many scenes. This disc offers many worthwhile extra features. First, the movie itself is included in both the original theatrical version (widescreen) and in the full-frame television format, including your choice of mono or surround sound soundtracks! A Godzilla Film Trailer collection is included, alongwith a brief documentary history of Sci-Fi Monsters. There is also an interactive trivia game and some biographical data. The disc also offers Cd-Rom features including printable photo and art galleries and full motion screen savers. Considering the age of the original film, this DVD offers more than many more recent efforts. Well worth the investment!
Rating:
Summary: The best there is,was,ever will be, GODZILLA
Review: Godzilla, man what can I say Godzilla is the best monster movie of all time. For being made in the 1950's this movie was really well done plus the fact that (Perry Mason himself) Raymond Burr is in the movie made it the best Godilla ever. I highly recommend this movies to any fan of Godzilla or new fans, if not after seeing this movie you will be.
Rating:
Summary: The Start of Something Big
Review: This is it, people. The landmark film that started the Japanese sci-fi phenomenon. Let's set the record straight, this movie isn't for everyone. We should admit that some viewers would dismiss this film as unsophisticated, juvenile, and even a little silly. The basic story was freely borrowed from American "monster on the loose" films of the 1950s (e.g. "The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms"). The special effects are primitive, to say the least. For this reviewer, however, there is a soberness and subtlety to this movie that raises it above the crowd, and more than compensates the viewer for its faults. This film can be taken as an allegory of the atomic bomb, and the destruction and suffering it inflicted on Japan. The dark, moody B&W photography and the atmospheric music blend effectively with the grim visual images of a monstrous creature of sheer radioactive force that inflicts death and destruction on much of Tokyo. An emotionally powerful segment is the day after Godzilla's fiery night attack on Tokyo. While the viewer sees the mass destruction and listens to the screaming victims, a memorial service with a children's choir singing a funeral dirge is heard in the background. This frames the key scene showing Ogata and a tearful Emiko persuading Dr. Serizawa to use his oxygen destroyer against Godzilla. There is poignancy in this scene, and especially in Serizawa's inner anguish, that is uniquely Japanese (in this Mid-Westerner's opinion). This type of emotion is rare in a "monster movie." The American version of this movie has scenes spliced in featuring Raymond Burr as an American reporter. These extra scenes create some choppy continuity, but the overall serious tone is not compromised. Japanese sci-fi films eventually developed a chuckle-headed, self-mocking quality that diminished their stature. These later films are fun in their own way, but this film is an opportunity to view a serious sci-fi film from TOHO Studios. "Godzilla, King of the Monsters" and the original "Rodan" film are without question the best of the Japanese sci-fi films. Recommended viewing for "monster movie" aficionados.
Rating: 
Summary: Nature's dark warrior
Review: Most people overlook the morals to movies like Godzilla. Sure,it's an old japanese b-movie starring a man in a rubber suit, butthere's a deep seeded moral to the tale of the dinosaur who survived brutal nuclear levels only to survive and wreak havoc on the very beings who created him, and the only true monsters: Humans. My favorites in the whole series are Godzilla, King of the mosters; Godzilla(1985), and Godzilla(1998). These teach the strongest message: When you harm mother nature, she retaliates. In the case of the first movie, nature responds to nuclear testing (see Godzilla vs. King Ghidora(1992)for this interesting background story) on a remote island by sparing one of the island's inhabitants, a Godzillasaur who has lived peacefully on the island for many eons, and changing him into her own Dark Warrior. Godzilla is not evil. It is the prevailer of good. Mankind is the only true enemy for harming the very Nature that created it. The monster appeared first back in 1944 to destroy the city of Tokyo and to teach the humans to respect mother nature. The pitiful little humans fell before this titan of justice like small flies. The humans eventually destroyed the monster not with firepower, but with knowledge of how Nature itself works on living things. Just for the record, no corpse was ever found. None of the sequels in the original series stuck to that formula, Nature vs man. Instead, the introduced silly monsters and made Godzilla the good guy......so I don't consider them true sequels. The only TRUE sequel is Godzilla(1985) and an acceptable movie bearing that name came out in 1998. The theme was the same: Man screws with his creator. Man's creator makes monster. Monster kills man. Man finally stops monster. The monster in that movie wasn't really the same monster from the japanese movies, but the morals remained and there is a lesson to be learned. Godzilla is not a monster, it is a force of good. So stop rooting for mankind and start rooting for the good guy. GO, GODZILLA, GO!
Rating:
Summary: The only "scary" Japanese Monster movie
Review: The movie that started it all was also the best. Although much has been written of the splicing-in of select scenes for Raymond Burr to "Americanize" the movie for its release in the USA, this movie, nonetheless is a classic. Any discussion of this movie is not complete without mentioning the haunting and throbbing musical score; right from the beginning of the film when we are shown a destroyed and burning downtown Tokyo, the music only enhances the "horror" aspects of this film. This is one of the few pre-80's Godzilla movies in which the monster looks and acts likes a monster rather than some guy in a suit, for 1950's technology, the "special effects" in this film are way ahead of their time. Subsequent Godzilla sequels never came close to the atmosphere and tension of this first classic. Many sequels showed Godzilla as the defender and friend of humanity, but here in the original, he is the fearsome beast of destruction.
Rating:
Summary: a good one
Review: the first the great godzilla film other good ones before they got dumb Godzilla, king of the monsters 1954 Godzilla raids again 1955 King Kong vs. Godzilla 1963 Godzilla vs. Mothra 1964 Ghidrah, the three headed monster 1965 Godzilla vs. Monster Zero 1966 Godzilla vs. the Sea Monster 1967 Son of Godzilla 1968 Destroy all monsters 1969 Godzilla's revenge 1970 Godzilla vs. the Smog Monster 1971 Godzilla vs. Gigan 1972 Godzilla vs. Megalon 1973 Godzilla vs. MechaGodzilla 1974 Terror of MechaGodzilla 1975 Godzilla 1985 1984 Godzilla vs. Biollante 1989 Godzilla vs. King Ghidora 1991 even some of these films were not that great but were better than anything that came after them
Rating:
Summary: The one that started it all!
Review: The grandaddy of all kaiju films; one that puts all of those "just a guy at a computer terminal" monster flicks to shame! Godzilla, KOTM survives the inevitable American hack job to stand as a powerful expression of post WWII atomic dread. Godzilla, himself, is the bomb; a vast, powerful juggernaut come to incinerate the dwellings of an arrogant mankind and lay waste to the world. Ishiro Honda imbues the film with a documentary-style realism and a pervasive sense of impending doom. The spfx are top notch...certainly better than the American spfx films of the time(excepting Ray Harryhausen, of course). Akira Ifukube's debut as a kaiju composer ranks as one of his best: eerie, imposing, and ultimately sad. The scenes with Raymond Burr are inserted with "as good as possible" results and the toning down of the atomic bomb allegory does not greatly affect the film's power. A wonderful, timeless and important film!
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