Frankenstein und die Monster aus dem All

All the monsters on "Monster Island" have been taken control of by an alien race through a mystical fart like cloud, and are set off on a rampage across earth. Meanwhile, a team of astronauts must band together to gain back control of the monster squad before it's too late.

As the end of the so called "Golden Era" of the Toho produced films, "Destroy All Monsters" is a suitably cheesy and throughly entertaining finale to this part of the Showa-era. Although I miss the darkness of the original, at this point in the series I was on board with the silliness of the plots. As always, the practical effects here are fantastic for the time period. The rampaging monsters look the best they have ever looked, and every scene that the monsters are on screen is so fun.

I'd be reluctant to say it's the best of the Showa era, but I would say it's one of the most entertaining in terms of pure monster madness. A must watch for Kajiu fans.

Side note: I've never watched a rated G movie that literally shows a guy getting shot in the face, with blood and all, AND a suicide. Damn the 60's were wild.

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

Love Godzilla, love other monsters, love aliens, love destruction, love this movie.Destroy All Monsters takes us into the future where all monsters are now confined to Monster Island. All goes well until a race of alien metal people kidnap the monsters. Then, they brainwash them and set them to attack the major cities of the world. After so many Godzilla island adventures, it was so good to see the cities having their asses whooped. Great designs and model work left for a series of inventive attacks. By the end it all descends into a chaotic (and very unfair) fight. However, their were some genuine moments of panic. There was a moment between Anguilas and King Ghiddorah which left me almost covering my eyes. The sheer intensity, and likable monsters made it an engaging affair. We're left to deliberate how creatures instinctively know who their enemies are. This is a greatest hits for all fans of the genre.

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!