Rating: 
Summary: Falls Waaaay Short...
Review: This set is a rather fun collection for the "casual" kaiju collector. Being able to revisit these classics is a blast! Having said that, diehard fans (like myself) should be advised to steer clear of the incredibly shoddy DVD presentations. The digital transfers are of poor quality, and the absence of any widescreen format is simply unacceptable. How about offering the original Japanese dialogue track with English subtitles?! It appears as though no effort was made to present these films in the way they were originally intended. No restoration was even attempted as far as I can tell, and that is real shame. The Almighty Dollar appears to be Sony's only motivation in this case.
Rating: 
Summary: BUYER BEWARE!!! DIRTY, DECAYED PRINTS!!!
Review: THIS SET STINKS. DON'T BOTHER. There was no way to rate this with negative stars or I would have, until the space ran out!!! Once again these films have been issued and once again they have been mastered from dirty, visibly deteriorated copies with washed-out colors and ugly edits. The films are not presented widescreen, which would be alright for some of them ("King of the Monsters" and "Rodan" were not shot in widescreen in the first place) but again, there has been no clean-up, no restoration here in any way shape or form and obviously no footwork put into hunting down fresh prints from Toho (who confusingly gave this set their "OkeeDoke" - Why doesn't Toho CARE about this sort of thing???). It's unforgivable how poorly this material has been treated YET AGAIN and I wish I could return my copies to the company ...THEY OUGHT TO BE ASHAMED BUT I'M SURE THEY DON'T CARE. If you're a fan of this genre or just a monster movie fan, please, PLEASE don't bother with this. Even the copy of "Rodan" looks washed out and trashed, and that was the set's centerpiece for cryin' out-loud!!!
Rating: 
Summary: Greatness gone down the hole... :-(
Review: Well I was really excited when I heard about these movies, especially because Rightstuf had them listed on their site as subtitled in english, because that is what they were told they were going to be. I couldn't wait for it to come out. Then I see it at the store, great packaging, even the Gojira kanji was on it, so I looked around, and saw no language listings. Even the store workers didn't know what it was, then I found out it was dub edit, fullscreen. I didn't bother to buy it. I rented them, and was horrified when I saw them. The quality was horrible[...] I have the Simitar release of the first movie, and the picture quality was better, and it was in widescreen. If you are able to find them, I'd say you are better off picking up the releases by Simitar that game out yrs ago. I kinda like the dubs to the newer movies, but these dubs are horrible. I bought an all region player, and bought the R2 dvd or the original, and it was worth the price I paid for it. Remastered, hardly any scratch marks, and uncut in Japanese. Who cares if there are no subs. I also have Godzilla 2000 Millennium, Godzilla vs Mechagodzilla 93 and Return of Godzilla (Jap version G 1985) on dvd with no subs, while GMK and Godzilla X Megaguirus are R3's so they have subs. I love Godzilla, but this is an outrage. With the current technology of dvd, I think there is no excuse as to why we can't have what we G Fans have been waiting for for many many centuries. lol
Rating:
Summary: Nice Set
Review: Well Sony has now replaced Warner Brothers in the cheap DVD production market. Where as Warners is now starting to make and reissue better quality DVDs of their movies, Sony and it's related company outlets are putting out very junk style DVDs and this so called Godzilla collection of DVDs is among them. They are cheap copies of poor film prints with terrible picture and sound quality. No widescreen or bonus features, and terrible cut and paste editing. I can't watch Godzilla now because of it. Don't waste your money.
Rating:
Summary: Sony Entertainment is really cheap.
Review: Well Sony has now replaced Warner Brothers in the cheap DVD production market. Where as Warners is now starting to make and reissue better quality DVDs of their movies, Sony and it's related company outlets are putting out very junk style DVDs and this so called Godzilla collection of DVDs is among them. They are cheap copies of poor film prints with terrible picture and sound quality. No widescreen or bonus features, and terrible cut and paste editing. I can't watch Godzilla now because of it. Don't waste your money.
Rating:
Summary: Been There, Seen That!
Review: What can one say about The Ultimate Godzilla DVD Collection? Several words come to mind, especially "been there, saw that." At first glance Sony Music Entertainment's Classic Media seemed to have done a good job. The box holding the 5 DVDs (Godzilla King of the Monsters, Godzilla vs. Mothra, Godzilla's Revenge, Terror of MechaGodzilla and Rodan) is nicely done, with a holographic image of the first Godzilla taken from the promotional poster donning both sides of the case. In addition, the individual DVDs themselves are nicely packaged sporting what can honestly be said as the best artwork to ever grace the cover of a Godzilla video, both DVD or tape. The problem however, is when one opens the box and plays the individual DVDs themselves. The first hint that one notices there is something wrong is the absence of any booklets or additional information, the case containing only the DVD itself. Then there is the information stored on the DVDs. Unlike the Simitar DVDs, there are no extras, no trailers, no trivia questions, save for a promo for the new Nintendo Game Cube; Godzilla: Destroy All Monsters game. As for the quality of the films, they are the same old pan and scan transfers as the old Paramount/Gateway home video releases of the late 1980s, and suffer from numerous scratch marks. The forced surround sound audio tracks have even more echo and tinny sound than the Simitar versions. Worst of all, Terror of MechaGodzilla is the same edited version fans have had to suffer through for years. About the only saving grace is the inclusion of Rodan in the set; representing the first time this film has seen a DVD release. Conspicuous by its absence however is Monster Zero, which was originally included in the Simitar box set. Its absence is probably due more to the fact that Monster Zero's copyright in North America is held by Henry Saperstein's UPA Productions than Sony's decision to release Rodan (a box set containing all 5 Godzilla film plus Rodan could have been released). Overall if you already own the Simitar DVDs then spending the [$$$] on The Ultimate Godzilla DVD Collection is a waist of your hard earned cash. Considering the waning interest in Godzilla since the Tri-Star film, one would have hoped that Sony, as well as Toho, would have learned that unless you're willing to put out a decent product on Godzilla, you might as well not put one out at all.
Rating: 
Summary: Secret fetish
Review: You spend a lot of money for education, read scholarly books and see interesting movies and watch Jeopardy. But hiding secretly in the back of my DVD colection away from prying yes.... GODZILLA!
I remember as a kid staying up late at night to watch the movies on TV. The stations in NY played them all the time on Saturdays and late night. The local theaters would play double and triple features and we'd wait in line, pay our 35 cents and stay for all of them. Sometimes twice. Imagine watching Godzilla movies from 10 am until midnight! Popcorn was dime and the drinks a nickel. Rocking!
I still love the movies but now I understand them a little better. They're not just monster movies. Well, they are monster movies, but like the Japanese, not everything is visible on the surface.
First of all this is great collection. I think the quality is just fine, I am happy with the video and the sound, no complaints. The movies, oh the movies.
The first is still the best. Yeah, the old boy strolls through Tokyo like he has arthritis, yeah the models look like, well, models, yeah you can almost see the zipper on the back of the monster suit. But the quality of the acting is suprisingly good. Not only that but it was scary. It has suspense and in some scenes you actually felt the fear and the horror of being chased and stalked by a 400 foot fire breathing radioactive monster. Not bad really.
After watching the movies again ( and again ) I realized that they are realy more than just monster movies. Godzilla is a Japanese icon. He went from destroyer in the first movie and eventually morphed into Japans protector and hero.
I see a parallel to postwar Japanese cultural history, I can all be really summed up in Godzilla movies. In the first movie he was killer radioactive beast bent of destruction. People died. Raymond Burr starred as an Amercan jouralist and if you watch the role here you see a microcosm of Japans relationship with the US in the interactions. The Japanese being the only nation ever nuked, were understandably afraid of things radioactive. Yet the US sort of played the role of big brother and guide and protector while they showed their humility in front of the US. This can be seen quite clearly in this move. Later, when the Japanese accepted things nuclear, Godzilla became less of a threat and more of a partner or at least one with concurrent ends. Hey, if the old boy kicks Ghidras ass, then that gets Ghidra off Tokyo's case. Later the Japanese could actualy summon the old boy to helkp out in a fix.
With Mecha-Godzilla, the Japanese examined their relationship with advanced technology and the implications of getting too technological and forgetting their roots. Godzilla wins - the real one, the natural one.
The films all had detectable themes relating to Japans cultural and technological standing. From Japans embracing of technology, to their interest in spaceflight, concern for the environment and desire to take their place in world commerce and culture. It's all here.
Anyone wanting to study Japanese cultural history from the end of WWII I would say the these movies would as valuable as any reference material on the subject. Not to mention the girls are all pretty, the acting quality is acceptable and the movies are fun as hell!
I just hope my friends don't catch me watching them. Uncultured louts all of them! They will just never understand.
I can't wait to share these with my granddaughter.
|
