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Guide to all the Godzilla movies.
THE GODZILLA FILM GUIDE
GODZILLA, KING OF THE MONSTERS (1956)
GOJIRA (1954)
This is the first, and by far the best, of the series.
Godzilla (Gojira) makes his appearance after the re-
peated testing of atomic bombs, and Raymond Burr is
there to tell us all about it. Great atmosphere and
music.
GODZILLA RAIDS AGAIN (1959)
GOJIRA NO GYAKUSHU (1955)
This first sequel leaves much to be desired. Godzilla
meets and defeats his first foe, Angilas (Angurus),
and then is trapped in an ice slide. This is one of
the few in the series that takes place in Osaka,
rather than Tokyo.
KING KONG VS. GODZILLA (1963)
KING KONG TAI GOJIRA (1962)
The first of the series filmed in color. After the
lackluster response to the previous film, it was
felt that a big name was needed to revive the series.
Both monsters are extremely unconvincing, and I won't
even bother commenting on the plot. Some scenes of
the two fighting at the end are done well, though.
GODZILLA VS. MOTHRA (1964)
MOSURA TAI GOJIRA (1964)
This is the one that many consider to be the best of
the "vs." entries. Very good special effects, and
music. Mothra (Mosura) is done very well, and Godzilla
looks great.
GHIDRAH, THE THREE-HEADED MONSTER (1965)
CHIKYU SAIDAI NO KESSAN (1964)
Godzilla the hated monster becomes Godzilla the friend
of man. This film introduces Ghidrah (King Ghidora),
and brings back Mothra and Rodan (Radon), who'd starred
in his own film seven years before. Some of the shots
of Ghidrah destroying Tokyo are fantastic, but the
monster-to-monster conversation to decide whether or
not Godzilla, Mothra, and Rodan will join forces to
defeat Ghidrah is pretty hard to take.
GODZILLA VS. MONSTER ZERO (1970)
KAIJU DAISENSO (1965)
Ghidrah appears in his first sequel as aliens from
Planet X try to, you guessed it, take over the Earth.
Godzilla and Rodan team up to win the day, though.
Again, good shots of Ghidrah, but the monster fight
sequences are pretty bad.
GODZILLA VS. THE SEA MONSTER (1967)
NANKAI NO DAIKETTO (1966)
The sea monster, namely Ebirah (Ebira), is actually a
giant lobster who lives in the waters off a secret
island where a terrorist organization is making plans
to, you guessed it again, take over the world. Mothra
manages to rescue some enslaved natives, and Godzilla
destroys both Ebirah and the terrorists' base.
SON OF GODZILLA (1968)
GOJIRA NO MUSUKO (1967)
Minya (Minira) makes his first appearance. He doesn't
have dad's bad breath quite yet, but the smoke rings
he manages to spew help him to deal with a bunch of
tremendous praying mantises (Gimantis, or in Japan,
Gamakira), and a giant spider named Spiga (Kumonga).
Godzilla looks pretty bad, but some of the best
special effects of the series are in this one.
DESTROY ALL MONSTERS (1969)
KAIJU SOSHINGEKI (1968)
Eleven monsters (Godzilla, Rodan, Mothra, Angilas,
Minya, Ghidrah, Spiga, Varan (Baran), Baragon (same),
Manda (same), and Gorosaurus (same)) all manage to
get into the act in this one. Aliens called Kilaaks
gain control over the monsters and send them off to
destroy all of the world's major cities. Godzilla
comes to New York and destroys the U.N. building.
In the end, the aliens' control over the monsters
is broken, and the Kilaaks are then defeated. This
is a favorite of many not only for its many monsters,
but also for its great special effects. Tokyo was
never destroyed so well.
GODZILLA'S REVENGE (1970)
ORU KAIJU DAISHINGEKI (1969)
The creator of Godzilla, Eiji Tsuburaya, died during
the shooting of this film, and so much stock footage
was used. The only new scenes involve Godzilla show-
ing Minya how to fight (and use his breath), and a
fight between the two and Gaborah (Gabara), a bully
monster. This is purely a very young children's film,
and as such isn't bad.
GODZILLA VS. THE SMOG MONSTER (1972)
GOJIRA TAI HEDORAH (1971)
Pollution spawns a hideous monster who is able to
change form at will. Hedorah (Hedora) is able to
swim, walk, and even fly, all while spewing poison-
ous sulphuric acid gas. Godzilla, of course, comes
along to save the day, eventually taking to flying
himself thanks to his breath. Not a bad first out-
ing for Tsuburaya's successor, Teruyoshi Nakano,
although his forte was in demolition, rather than
making believable-looking monsters.
GODZILLA VS. GIGAN (1978)
GOJIRA TAI GAIGAN (1972)
Godzilla and Angilas team up to fight space aliens
as well as Ghidrah and Gigan (Gaigan), a bird-like
monster with a buzz-saw on his belly. Godzilla
looks good, but the rest of the monsters, particu-
larly Ghidrah, look pretty bad. Some of the effects
are done well.
GODZILLA VS. MEGALON (1974)
GOJIRA TAI MEGARO (1973)
Seatopia, an underwater empire, sends Megalon (Megaro)
to destroy mankind because atomic bomb experiments are
destroying it. A robot, Jet Jaguar (Jet Jagar), is
sent to summon Godzilla from his home on Monster Island,
so Gigan is brought in by the Seatopians to help Mega-
lon. A battle between the two and Godzilla, assisted by
the robot, follows. Needless to say, Godzilla wins and
Seatopia is defeated. This is unquestionably one of the
worst of the series. Godzilla does karate, shakes hands
with Jet Jaguar at the end of the battle, etc. A very
few scenes of Megalon destroying a damn are nice, though.
GODZILLA VS. MECHAGODZILLA (1975)
GOJIRA TAI MEGAGOJIRA (1974)
Godzilla, along with King Seesar (King Seasar), a Chinese
dragon-like monster, fights his mechanical double. Space
aliens decide that the only way to defeat Godzilla, and,
of course, take over the Earth, is to construct a robot
just like him. Even though this film is only slightly
better than the one previous to it, its special effects
are really pretty good.
TERROR OF MECHAGODZILLA (1977)
MEGAGOJIRA NO GYAKUSHU (1975)
Space aliens decide to try again with a new and improved
MechaGodzilla, and just to make sure he gets it right
this time, they enlist Titanosaurus (Chitanosaurus), a
monster who's able to create whirlwinds with his tail,
to give him a hand. Again, a slight step up, with good
effects.
GODZILLA 1985 (1985)
GOJIRA (1984)
A return to Godzilla's bad boy days. Raymond Burr returns
as well. Much improved all around. Certainly up there
with the best in the series.
GODZILLA VS. BIOLLANTE (1990)
GOJIRA TAI BIORANTE (1989)
This film has yet to be released in this country. Godzilla
cells are genetically combined with those of a rose to
create Biollante (Biorante), a giant rose that eventually
turns into the most hideous monster Godzilla has ever faced.
This film represents, in many ways, a return to the "vs."
film type, and, despite its enormous budget, is inferior
to GODZILLA 1985.
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