First off I would like to say SON OF GODZILLA still doesn't get enough credit (although it does seem to be gaining respect year by year with Kaiju fans.). I just watched it again the other day, and it is such a slick little movie. It has a dream cast of every male Toho kaiju star except Akira Takarada, Beverly Maeda is a sexy, spunky heroine and all the leads have sparkling, fun personalities. The special effects are consistantly good, the marionette bugs make a novel menace for the suitmation Goji. And I for one love the much maligned Musu-Goji suit! My girlfriend maybe hit on the nose when she said that particular suit looks the most Godzilla-y of them all. It doesn't look like any other living creature.... but just like a Godzilla!
I think Minira is adorable, even in puppet form. Part of what makes him so irrestistable to me is that he DOES actually resemble a certain always still born, human birth defect (Frog babies). But still he is cute! And I adore the various shrieks and brays he makes. Some of Toho's best sound work ever. The various sounds, skillful suitmation acting, and limited animatronics in the creatures face makes Minira the most colorful and fleshed out kaiju in 60's Kaiju for me.
15 years ago maybe I was not such a devout Minira booster, and I deaded seeing a new Baby Godzilla almost as much the return of Goji's robot twin in GODZILLA VS MECHAGODZILLA. I was shocked when Baby... and later Junior became my favorite part of the 90's films. Of course Baby was adorable, but it brought home that there is really very little you can do with Godzilla if he doesn't have a baby. The ambigious, never particularly villainous Goji we saw in the 60's, 90's and in the Tezuka films can be damned boring with out a baby to interact with. I only realize after seeing the baby-less Tezuka films just what a godsend Baby Godzilla was to the 90's series and we should all give the various Godzilla offspring more respect!
I think Minira is adorable, even in puppet form. Part of what makes him so irrestistable to me is that he DOES actually resemble a certain always still born, human birth defect (Frog babies). But still he is cute! And I adore the various shrieks and brays he makes. Some of Toho's best sound work ever. The various sounds, skillful suitmation acting, and limited animatronics in the creatures face makes Minira the most colorful and fleshed out kaiju in 60's Kaiju for me.
15 years ago maybe I was not such a devout Minira booster, and I deaded seeing a new Baby Godzilla almost as much the return of Goji's robot twin in GODZILLA VS MECHAGODZILLA. I was shocked when Baby... and later Junior became my favorite part of the 90's films. Of course Baby was adorable, but it brought home that there is really very little you can do with Godzilla if he doesn't have a baby. The ambigious, never particularly villainous Goji we saw in the 60's, 90's and in the Tezuka films can be damned boring with out a baby to interact with. I only realize after seeing the baby-less Tezuka films just what a godsend Baby Godzilla was to the 90's series and we should all give the various Godzilla offspring more respect!
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