Rating: Summary: A Few Shortcomings, But Still Fun Review: A lot of people are dwelling on the negatives of this box set, but I want to talk about the positives. Maybe it isn't truly the ultimate collection, but it's enjoyable, and the quality is far better than was available on video, and unbelievably better than watching it on late night UHF television in the 1960s and 1970s. I too, subtracted a star for the lack of widescreen format, although, to me that is largely irrelevant, as this is the way I remember these films from when I saw them on TV as a kid. I have seen a lot of complaints about dirty and abused transfers, but, honestly, I think the DVD quality looks reasonable for films of this age, certainly better than many films of this vintage that are currently available on DVD. All told, my assessment of the prints is that they aren't perfect, but they are still very enjoyable to watch, and more than adequate. As far as the collection itself goes, I might have made other choices for the five movies, likely leaving out 'Terror of Mechagodzilla', and 'Godzilla's Revenge' (although if you have kids, 'Revenge' is a good way to initially expose them the Godzilla.) It is wonderful to see 'Rodan' in the collection. To my recollection, this is the first time 'Rodan' has been on DVD, so for that alone, the set is worth the money. It is easy to pick these movies apart from a technical point of view, or to endlessly argue about which movies would be better included in an "ultimate" collection, but until someone releases the entire series in widescreen, with tons of extras, you can't make everybody happy, and even then, people will be complaining about the $200 price tag. Take this set for what it is: five fun monster movies. With that in mind, sit back, relax, and enjoy.
Rating: Summary: No widescreen, no stars. Don't they get it? Review: All I, and every other Godzilla fan, want is WIDESCREEN. Ive seen every Gzilla move made but seeing it in widescreen is like seeing it for the first time. Nice to see Rodan come out on DVD. Doesnt Sony have competent research people? This is the second box set with Terror of MechaGzilla and still no widescreen. True fans like myself, and there are many, would pay double for widescreen. And one of my all time favorites, Godzilla vs MechaGodzilla, why wont they make the DVD? Wake up people. Give us what we want. We will pay. TY
Rating: Summary: Once again these are poor film prints. Review: American treatment of films made from other countries has always been sad, and the treatment of Godzilla films is no exception. All of the monster films in this DVD series come from very poor film prints which result in poor picture and sound quality, horrible film editing, and bad English translations of the original Japaneese words. They should be ashamed themselves for pulling this stunt once again. Godzilla fans once more get taken to the cleaners.
Rating: Summary: Some great kaiju film ruined by awful transfers!!! Review: Even if you are a die hard Godzilla fan, don't waste your money on these DVDs. Print quality is poor. The widescreen films and cropped. The color is faded. The prints are scratched. Another opportunity wasted by a company that just did not give a damm about it's product. And TOHO wonders why there is such an underground trading network in the high quality imports from Japan. With abominations like these, it's no wonder.
Rating: Summary: Awesome movies, awful pan and scan treatments Review: First of all, it isn't Sony's fault that these DVDs suck. Sony only distributes the DVDs, Classic Media makes the DVDs. Classic Media had the materials for widescreen versions of Godzilla vs. Mothra and Godzilla's Revenge, but didn't choose to use them. We should be blaming Classic Media, not Sony. Classic Media also owns the rights to Godzilla vs. Monster Zero, Frankenstein Conquers the World, War of the Gargantuas, and other movies once owned by UPA (whom was bought by Classic Media). If you would like to see these movies in widescreen in future DVD releases from Classic Media, please sign this petition: http://www.petitiononline.com/cmdvdws/petition.html Don't buy this boxset, the only ones worth getting are Godzilla, King of the Monsters and Rodan.. since they were filmed fullscreen. I highly recommend tracking down the out of print widescreen DVDs issued by Simitar.
Rating: Summary: Awesome movies, awful pan and scan treatments Review: First of all, it isn't Sony's fault that these DVDs suck. Sony only distributes the DVDs, Classic Media makes the DVDs. Classic Media had the materials for widescreen versions of Godzilla vs. Mothra and Godzilla's Revenge, but didn't choose to use them. We should be blaming Classic Media, not Sony. Classic Media also owns the rights to Godzilla vs. Monster Zero, Frankenstein Conquers the World, War of the Gargantuas, and other movies once owned by UPA (whom was bought by Classic Media). If you would like to see these movies in widescreen in future DVD releases from Classic Media, please sign this petition: http://www.petitiononline.com/cmdvdws/petition.html Don't buy this boxset, the only ones worth getting are Godzilla, King of the Monsters and Rodan.. since they were filmed fullscreen. I highly recommend tracking down the out of print widescreen DVDs issued by Simitar.
Rating: Summary: Love the Monster, hate the poor quality DVD!!! Review: First, my rating of 3 stars does not reflect the collection material in any way. If you are a Godzilla fan, you have to have this collection. I was able to purchase it in a store for a slightly cheaper price than currently quoted so I could not resist buying it. The Godzilla movies bring back pleasant childhood memories from the 60's. The first in the series, Godzilla, King of the Monsters, is the best. Raymond Burr, as a reporter telling the events that lead up to the battle with Godzilla is a great way to have the Japanesse translated to us. Some reviewer's stated they would have preferred sub-titles instead of the narrative style of the movie, I hate sub-titles so I really enjoyed the narrative. The black and white is a plus in that the color movies really shows how crappy the monsters look. The color movies also emphasize the grainy DVD and overall poor quality of the transfer more so than the black and white movie. I subtracted 2 stars because, as has been previously stated, the quality of the DVD is really the worst I have ever seen. One of the benefits of DVD is the clearness of the picture quality. I have the first movie on VHS and it seems to be of better quality than these DVD's. That could be my imagination because I expect better quality from DVD's. I am glad that I bought the collection but if anyone is expecting an upgrade in quality by purchasing the DVD of this collection, you will be disappointed.
Rating: Summary: Destruction Destruction Destriction Review: Firsto of all, What an awesome 5 disk boxed set! this is a great intodution for those who whave never seen Godzilla before. This set has DESTRUCTION written all over it! the set is awesome but "Godzilla's Revenge" which is included in the set isn't a good movie at all. It would've been better if they put "Destroy All Monsters" in there instead. To me "Godzilla's Revenge" is a bore but the other four dvd's are awesome. In "Terror of MechaGodzilla", Godzilla really pitches a fit. and of course the movie "Rodan" shows what destruction is all about. "Godzilla King of the Monsters" is great to because he smashes the heck out of Tokyo Also "Godzilla vs Mothra' is reaaly destructive too. Over all, this set deserves a few A+'S for all the destruction it has. But godzilla's revenge has reduced my grade to a B.
Rating: Summary: Not shabby, not spectacular Review: I bought this when I wasn't even really into Godzilla too much (which was quite recently). It wasn't bad. Even though it was full screen and the sound was a little shabby I enjoyed it. I watched King of the Monsters and was overwhelmed. Absolutely loved it, regardless to its Americanization. Honestly, however most of the set was pretty dull. Lots of talking and the stories weren't that engaging. The monsters were pretty hokey (which i expected, but also expected I would still like) and the fight scenes weren't that amazing either. In fact the only thing that kept me into G' as much as I am now was GMK. I read about GMK (Godzilla, Mothra, and King Ghidorah) in Animerica. It was what I felt I was "studying" for by watching hours upon hours of G films. I have since viewed GMK on VCD (because there's no official US version on DVD yet) and was amazed. Absolutely amazing. So if you're into G don't bother with this set. If you aren't but you're interested it probably won't help much either. But check out some of the 90's G films because they are spectacular. I don't regret buying the set, but I kinda wish I would've just bought the Godzilla vs. Space Godzilla/Godzilla vs. Destoyah split DVD or the Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah DVD. I hope that a lot of people will still buy this DVD set so that a stronger G following in the US will materialize. That American flic with Matthew Broderick ruined everything and now we may not get any of the incredible films being made after 2000 in Japan over here for a long time.
Rating: Summary: not bad Review: I have to admit the King of the Monsters. The original black and white film was the most content full movie. The rest are geared towards children. I guess that's ok because most of us watch Godzilla to bring back the past. As so with other shows like Dracula, Frankenstein, Creature from the Black Lagoon, or even Johnny Quest. Anyway, these Godzilla films should be passed on. The favourite in my book is the Terror of Mecha Godzilla. I've seen the recent release of Godzilla vs. Mecha Godzilla and I don't like the name Kiryu or Mecha G as they call it. The original just has a better body suit Mecha Godzilla.
The only thing about this box set is that it is in Pal format and I wish they had the wide screen. I guess we'll have to wait until Sony and Toho Ltd. re-release all 24 movies.
By the way I can't wait til Godzilla Final Wars comes out here in the United States. The final Godzilla movie is worth taking your children to watch I guess.
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