Gojira tai Mekagojira

The original Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla is quite an enjoyable entry in the franchise and definitely an improvement then it's three predecessors, but it's not without it's flaws. The story is simply another alien invasion story, this time about aliens who are actually rip-offs of the apes from Planet of the Apes. There's a prophecy about a monster that will arise and destroy Japan while two monsters will save it. They think the destroyer is Godzilla when he appears and destroys some stuff, but it's revealed to be an imposter, while the humans and aliens fight over a statue to awaken King Caesar. The story is entertaining but at the same time the reusing of aliens over and over for these last few entries makes it feel stale, and so do the characters, as they are another cast of forgettable, shallow archetypes with nothing to them. None of the characters, except maybe the alien commander, really resonate and are one-dimensional. In fact, you can actually end up mixing them up. Also, the aliens in this film make no sense, with some of their decisions being rather questionable, and the reveal that they are actually space apes raises a lot of questions, such as why they suddenly lose their human-like intelligence when they revert back to their true forms, and why they need help from the human scientist to fix Mechagodzilla, which they created from their own technology. The ape makeup and the effect of them transforming also look atrocious. The monster side of things, however, makes up for these somewhat lacking areas. Mechagodzilla looks great, with a design resembling a menacing cartoon villain, Godzilla's design is a vast improvement over the previous one and is definitely one of the best Showa Godzilla designs, Anguirus looks just as good as ever, and King Caesar is another creative new monster that adds a mammalian touch to Godzilla's vast array of kaiju. The special effects are also an improvement over the last few entries and quite well done, with many satisfying and entertaining monster scenes and tons of awesome explosions. Masaru Sato delivers probably his best musical score here, as his music is fun and jazzy while also being foreboding. Overall, Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla is a decent, enjoyable Godzilla film. While it lacks in delivering compelling human characters, it delivers in satisfying kaiju action that will leave any Godzilla fan entertained.

This film was pretty much the beginning of the end of the Showa era. This film was very fast paced and had a lot of good fight sequences between the two monsters. However, the story left a little bit to be desired. In fact, the non monster scenes almost cause this movie to grind to a halt. At least the battle at the end featuring the new monster King Seesar helps to keep the film from going totally down the tubes. Also, this film isn't really for the faint of heart due to the fact that it is probably the bloodiest of all the Godzilla films. This film may not have been among the best in the series, but it still was pretty decent.

When I was young, I was very poor, and this was pretty much the only Godzilla film I owned at the time. That being said, I've seen this one more than most others just out of the fact I had not much else to watch. However, It's definitely not bad. There is a scene in the film that was a bit more gruesome than many other Godzilla films, the splitting open of Anguirus's mouth kinda caught me off guard, even though it looked like they used pepto bismol for blood. MechaGodzilla is one of the most popular and well known monsters in the series, and for good reason, he has an awesome design and concept. The first MechaGodzilla, which is in this film was created by aliens, but the other ones were made by humans, which takes some of the novelty out of it. It's a great film, not the best but not the worst.

Godzilla's 14th film, his 20th Anniversary, is pretty good, better than the last two, that's for sure. Finally, we aren't bombarded with stock-footage, crappy monsters, and karate moves. The story was good, and so were most of the SFX. Plus, a reason of its own to give the film a star, it introduced MechaGodzilla, one of my favorite monsters! The story wasn't a rehash of the others and they actually brought back some of the best Toho actors, Akihiko Hirata and Hiroshi Koizumi! The music was all right for the most part, with its jazzy feel to it. The aliens are a bit of a disappointment, being monkeys, but they didn't ruin it like the cockroaches in "Godzilla vs. Gigan". This is the first film since "Godzilla vs. Hedorah", a whole three years (!!), for SFX director Teruyoshi Nakano to actually display something presentable and all of Mecha-G's rampage scenes are carried out nicely. But the doppelganger's chest ray looked too simple compared to his eye beams, which looked incredible. To the monsters....

Angiurus returns, now able to leap at his foes like Baragon in "Frankenstien Conquers the World", a bit odd but cool. His fight with Mecha-G is very physical, ripping Anguirus' jaws apart and all. Mecha-G was incredibly cool looking and all his weapons are brought to life fantastically. I'm glad he returns in "Terror of MechaGodzilla". King Seeser is actually a decent monster but I hate the fact that that braud had to sing for over a minute to awaken him! It was the Mothra song coming back to haunt us all. Godzilla is still the suit from "Godzilla vs. Megalon". The final battle was spectacular and fun goes to bloody levels never before seen in a G-film and the Monster King takes quite a beating. In this film Godzilla also doesn't do any goofy moves or that many human tactics. Of course, besides that scene where he missed his mechanical twin with his heat ray and seemed to snap his fingers in anger. The human characters all give good performances and a few espionage scenes, but the aliens' aluminum foil base wasn't that impressive.

I really enjoyed this movie and really think it's one of the better at a time when Godzilla films were really going downhill. The sequel surpasses this film, but the end of the original series I guess was inevitable at this point.

To start, I have to say Mechagodzilla is amazing in this. From his design to his abilities he's just cool all around. He even poses a real threat to all of its opponents. The action was great though, specifically the first battle between Godzilla and Mechagodzilla caught my eyes and looked visually stunning especially for its time. Godzilla vs. Mechagodzillas story was okay, it felt fresh enough for me not to want to compare it too heavily to Invasion of Astro-Monster or Destroy All Monsters with its alien villains because it does bring in some interesting new concepts and depth that the others didn't have. The archeology / statue prophecy side of the story intrigued me at first, but kinda of lost me in the middle of the film and never really gripped me again. It even had some great memorable characters like Agent Nanbara, who if there was ever an Americanized verizon of this film, would definitely be played by Keanu Reeves. All in all I feel like this was yet another solid entry in the Showa era Godzilla universe with the introduction of Mechagodzilla along with a pretty decent story and some great action.