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Godzilla & Mothra: Battle for Earth/Godzilla vs. King Ghidora

Godzilla & Mothra: Battle for Earth/Godzilla vs. King Ghidora

List Price: $19.94
Your Price: $17.95
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 4 stars
Summary: This is where the best G Flicks started
Review: Actually, the best G flicks started at Godzilla 1985. Every one after that was great and entertaining to watch, even in late, late teens! I grew up with godzilla and was excited to see that the 'final' batch of movies made it here. Godzilla vs. King Ghidora was the worst of these 90's flicks though. The lame, confusing plot(as if all G movies aren't like that, this one just takes the cake) undoes every previous Godzilla movie before it. For some reason, they decided to give Godzilla a brand new origin, instead of the original origin as represented in Godzilla Raids Again, the first sequel waaaay back when. In this movie, which is VERY politically motivated, a band of american soldiers land on an island inhabited by JApanese soldiers during WWII. A 'Godzillasaurus' lives on this island, and is promptly dispatched by those 'filthy americans',with a terribly ear-piercing punchline by one of the american naval officers: 'Take that you dinosaur!' . Then it gets up again, and kills all the of the soldiers. Very anti-American, this movie was made during a trade dispute in the early 90's. Aside from the 'Kill Whitey' sub-plot, Godzilla is 're-created' when we americans launch a nuclear bomb onto that island (but i thought it was dropped on Hiroshima.....but ok). And thus, Godzilla is born. So, every movie is undone, because the Godzilla monster is then 'transported' into the future. Which would mean Godzilla never attacked Japan ever. And when he shows up, everyone immediately knows 'GODZILLA!'. Major plot hole. But hey, it's Godzilla, what the hell do you expect? Still a great flick and the introduction of Mecha-Ghidora. Godzilla really kicks Ghidorah's arse in this film, something he was never able to do by himself before. The movies that followed became quite interesting and entertaining. The 90's godzilla surely was the best. After the franchise was handed over to America and we butchered it, it was then brought back to Toho, and here we have Godzilla 2000, which i have yet to see. Can't wait!

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Go, go Godzilla.
Review: After Godzilla 1984 (aka The Return of Godzilla) and Godzilla Vs Biollante, Toho resurrected two of its mightiest Godzilla series co-stars.

Godzilla Vs King Ghidorah was the first out at bat and quite 'controversial' for its supposed Anti-American stance (i.e. the bad boys from the future are predominantly western in appearance). The story is a time travel paradox laden hoot (Godzilla's existence is erased, yet everybody still knows about him?) and the final smackdown between the all new MECHA-King Ghidorah is a series classic. It's silly fun for fans.

Godzilla Versus Queen Mothra: Battle for the Earth was the biggest smash for the new series, and it is easy to see why. The fourth updated Godzilla movie is a colorful affair filled with something for every fantasy movie buff. The opening nod to the classic beginning of Raiders of the Lost Ark, not to mention the bridge gag clearly meant as a homage to Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom's bridge scene, will either have you grinning or sneering. Godzilla's stomping out of the molten lava pouring from an erupting Mt. Fuji is a classic Godzilla moment.

Fans of "The Big G" need no urging to put this in their collections. Too bad they aren't widescreen transfers, though. Recommended.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Awesome! Finally a '90's Godzilla!
Review: Ever since I saw the original 50's Godzilla, I had always wondered how it had evolved in the 90's. Now I know. It's plain awesome! A bigger Godzilla with even bigger special effects. I love it!

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Great value; terrible dubbing!
Review: Finally! Somebody in America releases these two early '90's films and on DVD at that! The plots of both the films are absurd, but so what? If you like G then you've got to see 'em both. I think neither of these films are as good as the as-yet-unleased-in-America G vs. Mechagodzilla (1993) but it's great to have them together with original Japanese trailers. One complaint: The dubbing is so bad that it often provides unintentional hilarity. It would be super if in the future, G DVD's provided access to subtitles. It would have made these films far more dramatically striking.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: G&M: Great Chapter in the Heisei Series. GVsKG: Not.
Review: GODZILLA VS KING GHIDORA: I remember loving this film, and thinking it was one of the best Godzilla movies I'd ever seen. So, I saw the VHS for ten bucks at Suncoast, and decided to pick it up and see if I still liked it as much. I didn't. Not by a long shot. Oh, where to begin . . . . . the battles: lackluster all the way. All Godzilla and King Ghidora do is stand in the same spot and shoot their energy beam fire breaths at eachother. This is a flaw that existed in all the Heisei series films following this one (i.e. the lack of actual physical fighting). Furthermore, the human story is pretty lame, too. I mainly mean the time travel part, which just doesn't make any sense. Okay, Godzilla was supposed to be erased from history, right? Well, everybody . . . . not just the people who went back in time, but EVERYBODY . . . . . talks about the Big G like he still existed the whole forty years that passed. It seems like no thought was put into it at all. Yeah, I know, this is a Kaiju-eiga, and the only real point (except for a select few) is seeing the giant monsters duke it out. Well, there are hardly any to be seen in this movie, and like I said, what is there is isn't very good at all. Heck, even the music by master Akira Ifukube was disappointing! And that says a lot, right there. In addition, I didn't like how they went back and saw Godzilla's origins. It was much, much better left unseen, as a mystery. Aside from the actual film, I just have to comment on the quality of the VHS. It was absolutely horrendous. I have VHS that're at least ten years old, and are of much better than this tape. Picture is blurry beyond belief, as is the sound. It resembles a taped-off-TV version. Maybe if I see it in a much better condition (like a remastered DVD edition or something), and in the original Japanese audio ('cause the dubbing sucks, by the way), I'd like it more. But not for now.

GODZILLA & MOTHRA: THE BATTLE FOR EARTH: This is the Heisei series film I grew up with. The plot is great, creating a new backstory for Mothra, and even adding in another great monster to boot: Battra, a.k.a. the Black Mothra. The special effects are also great, as is the Ifukube music. The presence of Mothra and the Cosmos allows Ifukube to explore certain territories yet uncharted in Godzilla films. His haunting rendition of the Mothra song, as well as the music playing when Mothra both forms and breaks out of her cocoon, are perfect examples. And of course, I have to mention the battle scenes: awesome. Godzilla's first clash with the Mothra and Battra larvae, is both exciting and humorous. In short, this is a great Godzilla flick, and one of my personal favorites. If I have one complaint to make, it's about the dubbing (of course). Now, this is obviously a major viewing problem for all American releases of Godzilla movies, but this one is made all the worse by two things: 1) The dubbing for the Cosmos, which does not work at all, and 2) The dubbing of the little girl. I don't know why, but whenever they try to dub children in these movies it always comes out really weird, sounding as if it's just some adult straining his/her voice really hard. But that aside, GODZILLA & MOTHRA is definitely one to see.

Obviously, I'm writing reviews for the VHS editions, and have not tried out this DVD. But I hear that it's not really a big improvement over the VHS. This is my great dream: that with the 50th Anniversary theatrical release of the original GODZILLA, uncut, undubbed & restored/remastered, they will continue to re-release all the Godzilla movies on DVD with the same clean-up jobs. Now, THAT would be heaven . . . . . . . . .

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: G&M: Great Chapter in the Heisei Series. GVsKG: Not.
Review: GODZILLA VS KING GHIDORA: I remember loving this film, and thinking it was one of the best Godzilla movies I'd ever seen. So, I saw the VHS for ten bucks at Suncoast, and decided to pick it up and see if I still liked it as much. I didn't. Not by a long shot. Oh, where to begin . . . . . the battles: lackluster all the way. All Godzilla and King Ghidora do is stand in the same spot and shoot their energy beam fire breaths at eachother. This is a flaw that existed in all the Heisei series films following this one (i.e. the lack of actual physical fighting). Furthermore, the human story is pretty lame, too. I mainly mean the time travel part, which just doesn't make any sense. Okay, Godzilla was supposed to be erased from history, right? Well, everybody . . . . not just the people who went back in time, but EVERYBODY . . . . . talks about the Big G like he still existed the whole forty years that passed. It seems like no thought was put into it at all. Yeah, I know, this is a Kaiju-eiga, and the only real point (except for a select few) is seeing the giant monsters duke it out. Well, there are hardly any to be seen in this movie, and like I said, what is there is isn't very good at all. Heck, even the music by master Akira Ifukube was disappointing! And that says a lot, right there. In addition, I didn't like how they went back and saw Godzilla's origins. It was much, much better left unseen, as a mystery. Aside from the actual film, I just have to comment on the quality of the VHS. It was absolutely horrendous. I have VHS that're at least ten years old, and are of much better than this tape. Picture is blurry beyond belief, as is the sound. It resembles a taped-off-TV version. Maybe if I see it in a much better condition (like a remastered DVD edition or something), and in the original Japanese audio ('cause the dubbing sucks, by the way), I'd like it more. But not for now.

GODZILLA & MOTHRA: THE BATTLE FOR EARTH: This is the Heisei series film I grew up with. The plot is great, creating a new backstory for Mothra, and even adding in another great monster to boot: Battra, a.k.a. the Black Mothra. The special effects are also great, as is the Ifukube music. The presence of Mothra and the Cosmos allows Ifukube to explore certain territories yet uncharted in Godzilla films. His haunting rendition of the Mothra song, as well as the music playing when Mothra both forms and breaks out of her cocoon, are perfect examples. And of course, I have to mention the battle scenes: awesome. Godzilla's first clash with the Mothra and Battra larvae, is both exciting and humorous. In short, this is a great Godzilla flick, and one of my personal favorites. If I have one complaint to make, it's about the dubbing (of course). Now, this is obviously a major viewing problem for all American releases of Godzilla movies, but this one is made all the worse by two things: 1) The dubbing for the Cosmos, which does not work at all, and 2) The dubbing of the little girl. I don't know why, but whenever they try to dub children in these movies it always comes out really weird, sounding as if it's just some adult straining his/her voice really hard. But that aside, GODZILLA & MOTHRA is definitely one to see.

Obviously, I'm writing reviews for the VHS editions, and have not tried out this DVD. But I hear that it's not really a big improvement over the VHS. This is my great dream: that with the 50th Anniversary theatrical release of the original GODZILLA, uncut, undubbed & restored/remastered, they will continue to re-release all the Godzilla movies on DVD with the same clean-up jobs. Now, THAT would be heaven . . . . . . . . .

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Double Baddie
Review: Hold onto your hats! In this double feature DVD, Godzilla is the bad guy in both movies. Being a huge Godzilla fan since birth, I've found Godzilla DVDs much more fun than videos. Since this is probably the only double DVD out there (time could change this) where Godzilla is the enemy both times, it only makes this one that much more entertaining. Let's be honest; everyone who is a true Godzilla fan knows the big guy is at his best when he's crushing Tokyo for no reason other than he can. So, G fans, what are you waiting for? Let the Stomp-a-thon begin!

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Godzilla - finally distributed in the US
Review: I am happy these movies have made their way to the US and on DVD. They are definately worth having for any Godzilla fan!

The only thing I wish they had put these in widescreen.

Now if only G vs Biollante and Mechagodzilla would be put out on DVD.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Widescreen
Review: I dont know why people like widescreen so good. OH BOY!!!!! I can see a glove on the table that I could not see before on a full screen version. Big deal, I myself find the black bars very annoying. Widescreen is only good for snoody people with giant TVs that has better support of it. I hate it when they only make widescreen DVDs for some movies. So I am glad this version of godzilla does not have widescreen. But for the people with bigger TVs let them have the widescreen version!

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Cool special effects, but.....
Review: I just am not impressed with the 90's Godzilla movies. They look good of course, but with none of the charm or spirit of the 60's films. On this disc, GODZILLA VS KING GHIDORAH drastically changes the origin of the characters, and Godzilla just has no personality. The second film on the disc is a very inferior remake of GODZILLA VS THE THING(1964). There are a few very impressive scenes in these movies, but overall, I would suggest picking up GODZILLA VS MONSTER ZERO, and GODZILLA VS THE THING (GODZILLA VS MOTHRA) instead.


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