Goofier than usual, even, I'd say. Wow, it took three separate sitdowns but I finally got through it. My only regret is that I didn't watch this with my kids when they were five or six years old. Then, it might have been a good time. It'd definitely fit in on a Saturday morning cartoon-fest.
Basically, a kid gets beat up by school bullies and goes home and dreams about adventures starring Godzilla's son, who gets beat up by Gabera, easily the most ridiculous-looking monster foe of any that Toho churned out. Both learn lessons from Godzilla about how to handle bullies.
The sideplot with the crooks is pretty typical Toho fare. They're incredibly stupid, which I'm sure was done on purpose to lighten the mood. You always feel that there is a better chance that they'd accidentally hurt themselves before they could do anything to the kid.
Many of the action scenes are old footage from other movies. The one in which the Godzilla and Ebirah (?) are throwing rocks back and forth was mighty familiar. In fact, when Ebirah catches the rock and throws a fastball, and Godzilla fouls it off over the kids' heads, doesn't it hit a building in a previous movie? What. Were they short on budget?
And why were the planes attacking Godzilla? I thought Monster Island was supposed to be where we wanted him to live. Also, considering that Godzilla killed about a dozen pilots during that scene, wasn't it a bit tacky to have the kid cheering their deaths?
Finally, I'm not sure I liked the lesson that kids learned at the end. OK, he beats up the bully and stands up for what is right. Good. But then he goes and acts like a punk by causing the painter's accident. Then he joins up with the punks and they go running off to school together.
Of the 10 movies I've watched in this Godzilla-fest (it's taken me since Nov. 29 to get this far), this one was probably the worst. It was also the last one I remember ever watching, save for Godzilla 1985, which doesn't come up for awhile yet.
I know it gets better as we go on. It DOES get better, right?
Basically, a kid gets beat up by school bullies and goes home and dreams about adventures starring Godzilla's son, who gets beat up by Gabera, easily the most ridiculous-looking monster foe of any that Toho churned out. Both learn lessons from Godzilla about how to handle bullies.
The sideplot with the crooks is pretty typical Toho fare. They're incredibly stupid, which I'm sure was done on purpose to lighten the mood. You always feel that there is a better chance that they'd accidentally hurt themselves before they could do anything to the kid.
Many of the action scenes are old footage from other movies. The one in which the Godzilla and Ebirah (?) are throwing rocks back and forth was mighty familiar. In fact, when Ebirah catches the rock and throws a fastball, and Godzilla fouls it off over the kids' heads, doesn't it hit a building in a previous movie? What. Were they short on budget?
And why were the planes attacking Godzilla? I thought Monster Island was supposed to be where we wanted him to live. Also, considering that Godzilla killed about a dozen pilots during that scene, wasn't it a bit tacky to have the kid cheering their deaths?
Finally, I'm not sure I liked the lesson that kids learned at the end. OK, he beats up the bully and stands up for what is right. Good. But then he goes and acts like a punk by causing the painter's accident. Then he joins up with the punks and they go running off to school together.
Of the 10 movies I've watched in this Godzilla-fest (it's taken me since Nov. 29 to get this far), this one was probably the worst. It was also the last one I remember ever watching, save for Godzilla 1985, which doesn't come up for awhile yet.
I know it gets better as we go on. It DOES get better, right?
