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Destroy All Monsters

Destroy All Monsters

List Price: $14.98
Your Price: $11.98
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: More monsters than you can shake a stick at
Review: If you like monsters, this is your movie. I won't try to list all of the monsters (eleven total, I believe) because I had never heard of some of them and I can't remember every name. Of course, Godzilla gets top billing, but Rodan, Mothra (the larva version), and Anguiras get a good bit of screen time; the other monsters are pretty cool except for the son of Godzilla, who looks even more silly than he normally would surrounded by a group of "real" monsters. The plot is somewhat far-fetched, naturally, but it works pretty well. It is the year 1999, and a new group of aliens decides to conquer the earth; the plan involves taking over MonsterLand (why not Monster Island?), controlling all of the monsters by some kind of radio waves, and unleashing them all on the world. It's great fun to hear one newsman after another announce that a different monster is attacking cities across the globe, from New York to Paris to Moscow. The aliens are pretty cheesy, dressing alike in metallic grey clothes, smiling a lot, and exuding peaceful intentions (just like Communists of the time?). For some reason, when they make their intentions known, they tell Earthlings the means by which they are controlling the monsters and then give them 24 hours to decide between surrender and destruction. They unleash the monsters on Japan five hours earlier than planned, but the head start they have given Japanese scientists comes back to haunt them.

While the Japanese rocket ship offers them a great advantage and allows them to ultimately destroy the aliens' secret base on the Moon, there are a few too many scenes of the ship taking off and landing. The dubbing is also less than stellar, particularly in the case of the Englishman associated with the Japanese brain trust. The fighting is pretty good, but there isn't quite enough of it. While the monsters wreak havoc among the earth's major cities, they don't really engage in monster-a-monster combat until King Ghidorah shows up to defend the aliens--by this point, the aliens' control of earth's monsters has been broken. That contest doesn't last very long, given that Ghidorah is going up against Godzilla's entire gang. Ghidorah is my favorite Godzilla foe, so it is sort of disappointing to see him go into a fight that is far from balanced and fair. I would rather see Godzilla and Ghidorah go at each other one on one.

Basically, this movie is a must-have for Godzilla fans as well as for monster lovers. Nowhere else will you find this many monsters doing what they do best. The special effects are quite good (with the exception of the son of Godzilla, of course), and the plot is interesting and exciting (if somewhat cheesy).

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Godzilla and the Gang.
Review: Japan is under attack again by aliens controlling Earth's monster population. The monsters wreak havoc on the major cities around the world. In a climactic fight sequence, Godzilla and the guys gang up on King Ghidorah. The pace of the film is herky-jerky. The special effects consist of actors dressed in rubbery monster suits trampling on toy sets, and awkward puppetry. If you grew up watching the many "Godzilla vs. Everybody" movies, this all-star monster tribute may be viewed as a nostalgic treat. Those who enjoyed the original "Godzilla" and "Rodan" films as grim allegories of the hazards of nuclear energy will note the change in style. Allegory became camp entertainment earlier on in the series. The grim mood of the first Godzilla flick changed to chuckle-headed charm (for lack of a better word). Typical low budget dubbing adds to the snickering humor. In fairness, this is not the fault of the original film. This movie enjoys a good reputation among loyal and true Japanese sci-fi fans. Entertainment is subjective. ;-)

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: This is it!!!
Review: The crown jewel of Godzilla movies. Every monster the Japanese studios could think up over the years all appear together to fight the three-headed dragon king. A great movie for kids and adults alike who love crazy, fun time fighting with large rubber suits. Go Go Godzilla!!

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: A Battle Royale with some missing competitors
Review: This movie is 90 minutes long, but seems like it lasts an eternity (as do all Godzilla movies do). The special FX are typical for late 1960's monster movies, very poor and the human-to-human fight scenes are kind of lame. A lot of people like this movie because it features all (actually most) of the good/bad monsters that appear throughout the series. This is the part that gets me. Its supposed to feature all monsters attacking King Ghidorah at a final battle, but two monsters: "Baragon" and "Varan" are missing in action. Baragon shows up the frontlines of the battle but dissapears during the fight. Varan doesn't show up until the very ending when the monsters are back on Monster Isle. but he is only there for like 3 seconds and then he flies away...

BAD: This has to be addressed, this movie has NO MENU whatsoever. Nothing, nadda, zip! You are forced to go through the movie and guess the chapter stops because the DVD case has no chapter list insert either. This is a very big disapointment for this DVD.

Overall, the movie is good though. For Godzilla fans like myself, it was refreshing to watch the movie in its clear DVD format. I would say this is one of the better Godzilla movies, although the final battle is quick compared to the rest of the movie's events. Only buy if you are a Godzilla fanatic!

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Repackaged Version of Their Old Releases
Review: This "Special Edition" is nothing more than the original DVD and CD soundtracks with new labels and put in new packaging. ADV didn't bother to fix the problems with the original DVD, such as lack of any chapter stops whatsoever. But aside from that, it's still the good, decent widescreen print released before, so it's worth getting, whether it's the movie or soundtrack you don't have, or both.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: This is actually supposed to be the AIP Print.....
Review: With Toho recently announcing the end for now of the Godzilla films, this movie seems all the more enjoyable because it was made by Godzilla's original film makers in the 1960's and featured both the BIG G and several other Toho Monsters in what many call the best film in the genre ever made. It's entertaining to watch and this new DVD release is supposed to be the original movie version that American International Pictures released here in the States in 1968. They really do not make them this good anymore.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: "Destroy All Aliens" Is More Like It
Review: This movie was very exciting when I was a kid. I was given the DVD for my birthday and saw it for the first time in twenty plus years. Boy, was I dissapointed. I did not realise how boring this film is. Godzilla and all the other monsters do not show up until nearly the end of the movie during a climactic battle with Ghidra-The Three Headed Monster (or Monster Zero - as it is called in another movie). That's about it. Most of the film focuses in on aliens (taking up residence in secret headquarters under Mt. Fuji) bent on taking over the earth, gaining control of the monsters, and brainwashing some human inhabitants as well. The set up for this plot is long and tedious until the epic battle with all the monsters. It is best to skip over everthing and go straight to the battle scene. There are better things to watch than wait for the Godzilla et. al to show up 3/4's through the film. Overall, nostalgic but very outdated. GODZILLA vs. MONSTER ZERO has basically the same premise except that Godzilla and Rhodan and Ghidra are the only monsters that show up in the film. This movie held up better.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: A must for Godzilla fans only
Review: I bought this DVD because I am a big Godzilla fan and must have every DVD with him in it. That of course doesn't mean this DVD is for everyone. The movie itself is alright, it does have alot of monsters in it but alot of the footage in this movie is stock footage from other movies. Now you do expect that from Godzilla movies because they were on a low budget but this movie does it too much.

The plot is pretty basic and typical for a Godzilla movie, though the nature of the aliens is kind of interesting. The special effects are also typical for this era of Godzilla movies.

What I liked most about the movie is having all the monsters(or most of them anyway) and seeing them attack places other than Tokyo.

What I didn't like is the final battle being so short and well one sided for that matter, Ghidora is strong but he can't take that many monsters on for long.

The DVD itself offers no real extra features, in fact unless I'm blind there wasn't even a menu of any kind.

Overall, I give it 3 stars, typical plot and effects, lackluster DVD features, but decent action and of course its Godzilla, come on! If you're a big fan, obviously you need this DVD, if not, try one of Godzilla's other films.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: ADV "Destroy All Monsters" DVD
Review: VIDEO QUALITY:
Generally pretty good - the transfer has vivid colours and sharp images. There are a few scenes with some print damage, mainly during the final battle - this consists of some scratches, hairs and some small speckles. For the most part though it's in very good shape. Sadly there were a few problems with the DVD though - mainly some compression problems resulting in rainbows on sharp edges throughout the entire film, and that the film lacks anamorphic enhancement. On whole though, it's generally a sharp looking widescreen version of the film - something never seen in the US before.

AUDIO QUALITY:
The DVD only offers one audio track, the Toho International dubbing presented in mono (doubled up to make 2.0, but it's not true stereo). Despite the rather lacklustre dubbing, the track itself is in very good condition - I don't believe I heard any cracks, pops or other distortions, everything seemed good.

EXTRA FEATURES:
No features, no menu, no chapter stops. It works basically like a VCD - chuck it in and it plays the film. If you want to get to a particular part of the film you have to fast forward through the entire film to get there.

OVERALL:
Reasonable video quality, minus a the compression screw ups, and pretty good quality audio. The films itself is in very good condition, and it's good thing too because that's all the disc offers. Without a menu or chapter stops it's a pretty thin release, however that's been argued back and fourth between it being Toho or ADV's fault. At the end of the day it's the best release of the film you're ever going to get, unless you fork out $55 for the Region-2 DVD.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Must Watch and Have
Review: First off you have all the monster together in one film and they all control by Aliens!!! So you know they are wrecking every parts of the country!!!This is a must have Godzilla flick but the only sad thing they cut the scene where godzilla battles manda not long but battles.But the reason for getting is because all the monster in it but the film it self was alright and not as good as some other godzilla movies


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