Frankenstein und die Monster aus dem All

The basic set-up sure seems delicious; a whole group of Toho's most popular monsters all in one movie. Godzilla, Rodan, Anguillas, Mothra and pretty much all the others (including a few very obscure ones) packed into one movie should by all rights be simply irresistible.

And....mwelll, it is quite good, only not as tremendous as I had expected. Yes, the whole kaiju bunch get together to battle the nasty aliens in the end (who send in Ghidora against them, who's always nice to see in action as the kaiju über-baddie), and this big fight scene is pretty great. Only, it's short, and there's little else in there that really stands out. In fact, for a flick with so many monsters in it, you see shockingly little footage of the kaiju actually tearing up cities good and proper. Plus, some very obscure monsters join the fray, which eventually only clutters things, as we'd rather just see the proper big-name kaiju instead of a shady filler-material monster.

There's some kind of a plot in there, but it's not really something to write home about. Someone's had the clever idea to store all the earth's (or Toho studios') giant monsters on the aptly-named isle of Monster Island. This just begs for disaster, of course. Before long, a mysterious cataclysm causes all the monsters to escape and wreak havoc. And as usual, there's a bunch of unpleasant, and very oddly dressed aliens behind all this. Que lots of scenes with brave human heroes and their funky spaceship trying to put a halt to the aliens' evil plans. In fact, far too many of such scenes. And while there are delightfully silly cheapo sci-fi costumes and tacky spaceships in there, somehow more of the proper kaiju action that this film's concept promised would've been much better.

It's still quite an addition to a kaiju lover's collection, and is good enough to kill time in a nicely silly way, with all those groovy big monsters in there. Worth a go, but could've been much more. (still, hooray for a flick where poor old Anguillas is -not- merely used as a kaiju-sized live punching bag for a change).

Still one of my favorite Godzilla Movies but the new English dubbed version is horrible... someone stated in a previous review that the new version is comical..they got that right...is there an old copy out there with the original dubbed version out there..would love to see that version..throw this new version out the window...lol

While "Destroy All Monsters" is no doubt a great Godzilla film, it definitely has its problems and it not the non-stop awesome epic it has acquired as a reputation over the years.

I think the film's rep as the "ultimate Godzilla epic" had to do with a few certain things. As kids, we certainly remember this movie being played on Saturday afternoons of the late late show because it does have a cool title and well, plenty of monsters. Also helping was the fact that after VHS got really popular, while plenty of Godzilla films were released (mostly shoddy released from cheapo companies), DAM was not released, and therefore was highly sought-after on the bootleg market. I remember reading a magazine in the mid-80's where one guy claims he paid $150 for as bootleg copy, imagine that!

How disappointing the DVD release is. While it's nice to have the film on disc, in English and widescreen, it has no title screen, no chapters, no extras, no nothing.

The film itself, well it is really good and a lot of fun. Aliens want to cause trouble for Earth, and get the monsters off Monster Island to destroy all the planet's major cities. Unfortunately, you hardly see any actual destruction of these cities, because it's pretty much just a quick shot or two (like Godzilla destroying the UN building in NYC, and that's that). All the monsters then get together in Tokyo (they seem to travel around the world really quickly) to collectively pounce on that city (well, where else?). Some really good destruction scenes happen here, and it is here where some good scenes were cut from the film, especially the famous "Godzilla vs. Manda" (the snake) scene, which you can see on a Toho "deleted scenes and outtakes" video. It's a quick scene but extremely cool to see and have, having read and heard about the missing fight since I was a little kid.

Really disappointing is the actual final battle between Ghidrah and the monster group. Ghidrah hardly fires his lasers, and doesn't really seem to put up a great fight. But he still is probably the coolest looking monster Toho ever came up with, so he's a fan fave anyway.

Of course the lack of monsters throughout the movie is a downer, because you barely even see some of them. Varan actually comes back for a quick shot at the end of the movie when his rubber puppet just kind of rises from behind a mountain and then shoots up into the sky.

There is a lot of action though, a decent plot, good music, pretty Japanese girls, and a lot of cool camera shots. While DAM isn't quite the legend it is made to be, it probably is the last truly great Godzilla film of the original series.

Destroy All Monsters is one of the most sheerly entertaining Godzilla movies. The story,if derivative of Monster Zero,is large-scale and exciting {although the alien invasion idea would soon be done to death},the action is non-stop and the film features almost all the monsters from Toho films made up to that time. There is mass destruction,lazer gun shoot-outs,lots of barmy but cool ideas such as Monster Island,a place where all Earth's monsters are kept by scientists-how can the movie not be terrific entertainment?

There are a few flaws with the film which may not have been present if the Toho of 1964 had made it rather than the Toho of 1968. Although the story has the entire world threatened and several of Earth's cities destroyed,the budget did obviously not extend to allowing much of a depiction of this,bar some brief,unconvincing scenes. Also,a few of the monsters are only briefly shown,such as Varan {The Unbelievable},who appears only in two blink-and -you're-miss-them shots {the suit had been ruined and there was not enough money to buy a new one}. The film may therefore have actually been better with less monsters. However,criticisms of dullness are ridiculous,the film is constant action,which makes up for the lack of interesting human characters,and amazingly,the film is taken more seriously than many of the other Godzilla films,almost achieving the perfection of tone of Godzilla Vs Mothra. Of course,there are a few wonderfully stupid moments,like the sequence of our heroes severing a control device with a lazer which helariously goes on for ages. A shame the final Earth monsters vs Ghidorah fight is too short,but than Ghidorah did not really stand a chance!

Terrific fun,though,with a wonderful Akira Ifikube score featuring two of the most memorable kaiju themes! Not the best Godzilla film,but probably the most essential one to see!

Toho decided to throw a block party for monsters in Tokyo, and invited every creature they could get to sign on to do the flick. Their three biggest mega stars are featured: the lovable giant fire-breathing lizard Godzilla, the supersonic bird who stirs up hurricane winds, Rodan; and the evil three-headed serpent King Ghidora. Throw in the talents of several other monsters and you have a Battle Royale that's a feast for the eyes.

Aliens want to conquer the Earth. So they use hypnosis chips on both key humans as well as the giant beasts, forcing them to assist in a sinister scheme. The human actors, although intentionally upstaged by their larger co-stars, make for an interesting invasion from within story. The actors really do a good job showing urgency in this battle for Earth, (in spite of the sometimes questionable dubbing job). The action moves fast and furious, leading to the inevitable climactic monster showdown.

The film incorporates the monster back stories as much as possible; considering how many creatures get in the act, that's quite an accomplishment. It's fun to see them all together; and they put on several good destruction and battle scenes. The TV reporter doing a sports play-by-play in the decisive battle is a great touch, giving us great lines such as, "Listen to the monsters, with their cries of horror and sudden death!"

Fun stuff for Japanese monster movie fans or anyone who likes a good, campy, action filled flick.