Destroy All Monsters

Rating:
Summary: Godzilla Forever!
Review: This was my first Godzilla flick, seen at the drive-in way back in 1968, & my life was forever changed. No matter the strides made in Godzilla effects technology this film holds a special place in my heart. I was very pleased to see it released on DVD. It's a great transfer & widescreen, too! Godzilla & Co. have never looked better. My only gripe is that the English dialogue has been re-dubbed. Why? I wish I knew. And it's not a perfect re-dub either. In fact the first scene to feature dialogue shows a character enter a room and silently mouth a greeting! Still, this is a small hair to split -- buy it, watch it, you'll love it! In a perfect world I'd like to see a DVD release featuring both a subtitled AND dubbed version. I can dream . . .

Rating:
Summary: Ah, the good old days
Review: Sure, the plot's cheesy, the speacial effects are out of date, but it generates a sense of nostalgia. While the plot may not be much to look at, this movie is all about the fun of watching giant monsters trash each other in an all out bash. The speacial effects used in this movie were unprecidented for the date it was made. The Japanese speacealized in puting a guy in a rubber suit. This movie is great for die hard Godzilla fans who love to watch the monsters.

Rating:
Summary: One Giant Kaiju Battle
Review: Destroy All Monsters is one of the best kaiju movies ever made. Here is the plot: The people of the planet Kilaak take control of all the Earth's monsters in the year 1999. They control the monsters to destroy the Earth's major cities. After the humans find out how the monsters and some humans were taken over by Kilaaks, they develop a computer to control the monsters. Godzilla, Minilla, Rodan, Speiga, Anguillas, Mothra, Gorosaurus, Varan, Baragon, and Manda will attempt to fight the Kilaak race. However they fight King Ghidorah instead. What I don't like is how Manda, Baragon, and Varan don't fight King Ghidorah. They all just sit and whatch the other monsters fight.

A good plot, lots of kaijus, aliens, what could a science fiction lover want more?

Rating:
Summary: For those who want to reminisce of the old Godzilla days...
Review: It's been decades since I seen a real Godzilla movie and so, I bought this DVD to relive my childhood. Man, it's so campy... but it was fun to watch. I tried to read the actor's lips to see what they were actually saying in Japanese but anyway, it was interesting to see all the monsters together.

I didn't expect much from the video and audio since the movie is so old but as for special features...no special features, just stick your DVD in and it plays. That's why the DVD is pretty cheap for retail. Anyway, if you are in the mood to see a DVD movie featuring the real Godzilla, this is it.

I am giving this DVD a D for lack of anything on it but the movie an average C+.

Rating:
Summary: Decent, but highly overrated.
Review: Summary: It's 1999, and Godzilla, along with the rest of Earth's mightiest monsters, must fight to stop the world from extra terrestrial take over.

Often held as being the "Godzilla Masterpiece", this movie falls short of being an epic. True the scenes with the monsters are interesting as always, but they are few and far between with a lot of rather boring human action spread throughout. Even the giant monster battle at the end is more like a brief skirmish.

Overall, not the worst in the series but certainly not the best, either.

Next is "Godzilla's Revenge".

Rating:
Summary: DAM: Kaiju Eiga at its most delightfully lunatic
Review: This flick was originally supposed to be the "last" Godzilla flick (gee, how many times have we heard that one?), and so to live up to the high expectations of such a movie, Toho pulled out all the stops for this all-star monster-fest. Say what you want about the storyline (yet another attempt to mix the highly successful space-war dramas, a la "Battle In Outer Space", and the Godzilla formula, a la...well, you know), but the sheer amount of kaiju-star power makes this a must-have for even the most amateur of sci-fi fans. As usual, the dubbing is terrible (so what else is new?), but the utter sense of unbridled freewheeling--not to mention really cool models & miniatures--really put modern sub-par efforts like "Mission To Mars" and "Contact" in their pitiful place. If you're looking for even a remote connection to reality in this movie, FORGET IT. Just sit back and forgive yourself for indulging yourself in such delectible (albeit rubberized) eye candy. Enormous props to Ishiro Honda, Eiji Tsubaraya, Tomoyuki Tanaka, Akira Ifukube, Haruo Nakajima et al, for providing a truly wonderful guilty pleasure for the rest of us.

(p.s. the clarity of the DVD is such that you can even see the wires if you look close enough. Now that's SHARP!)

Rating:
Summary: Monsters, Destruction, Aliens, what's not to like?
Review: This my favorite Godzilla movie of the first, or Showa (the period in Japan in which Hirohito was emperor), series. It's got all the best giant monsters: Godzilla, King Ghidorah, Mothra, Rodan, Manda (from Atragon, one of my favs), Baragon (from Frankenstein Conquers the World), Varan (from Varan, the Unbelievable), Gorosaurus (from King Kong Escapes), Minya (ugh), and Spiega/Kumonga (from Son of Godzilla). All but Varan and Baragon get a good amount of screen time. The city destruction scenes are great and the final battle is just awesome. They all gang up on King Ghidorah and he gets a terrible beating. The aliens are the usual people in silly suits. The plot is really just a means to an end. I don't mind, though. The movie is a lot of fun. That's what counts. The DVD has no extras and uses the international dubbing (cheap, poorly done), which is Toho's fault (they don't want Japanese buying this DVD before they put out their own). The video is good. The colors are vibrant, picture is sharp, but there are a good amount of scratches and lines in some parts. The audio is mono, but the dialogue and the great score by Akira Ifukube aren't are clear. The cover artwork is mediocre. Not very detailed, but it features a good amount of monsters. There aren't any menus, it just takes you to the movie. At least there's a keep case.

Movie: 10 out of 10 Video: 8 1/2 Audio: 7 Presentation: 5 Extras: 0 Overall: 8 out of 10. Get it if you're a Godzilla fan.

Rating:
Summary: Monsters Against Bad Dubbing
Review: A little slow in spots sure (they could have given the monsters more airtime), but the all-star monster jam at the end makes it all worthwhile. Negatives: the print used isn't in the best shape, there's NO chapter skipping (the whole thing is one track), and I can't be the only one who wished there was also a "subtitled" (original Japanese dialogue with English subtitles) option like they have with the anime DVDs. Maybe someone like Criterion can re-reissue this and take care of those particular flaws (and maybe throw in some "extras" as well!)

Rating:
Summary: Ishiro Honda's Finest Moment in Kaiju eiga!
Review: This is where it's at! Are these great movies? No! But they are great to watch. The quirkiness and the fun is what was missing from the American-made "Godzilla" (1998); that thing was awful. The premise of these films was silly, so they required cheap silly special effects. I don't want expensive life-like computer-drawn animation. I want a guy (or gal) wearing a cheap costume stepping on toys.

This was the last great gasp from the golden age of Kaiju eiga. This movie features everyone: Godzilla, Godzilla's son, Rodan, Burt Reynolds's toupee, Mothra, Baragon, Lulu, Varan, Raymond Burr's underpants, late-night infomercial king Don Lapre, Gorosaurus, Snuffy the Fire Engine, King Ghidorah, that rude guy from the Post Office, evil alien Japanese space-babes, close-ups on paper-cuts, really stupid astronauts, Ringo!, toy models of major world cities, implausible plots, an exploding Pinto, bad dubbing, Elvis impersonators, and a cast of thousands. I love this movie!

Rating:
Summary: A Masterpiece of kaiju filmmaking
Review: This is the magnum opus of the Showa series, featuring 11 (yes, you read correctly, 11!) monsters, realized far better than in most of the other movies of the period. The plot is about the standard alien invasion premise, and the dialogue isn't all that great, but the hilarious overacting in the dubbing makes it worthwile, and any lingering grudges against the movie will likely dissapear after seeing the final fight scene at Mt. Fuji. The model work is top notch, and would be reused for several of the subsequent movies, none of which were nearly as good as this. Despite that the series contiuned in a southward direction for the next seven years, this really marks the end of it's golden age. At least it went out with a REALLY big bang.