Gojira tai Megagirasu: Jî shômetsu sakusen

An action heroine in this one surprisingly gets as much screen time as the big G, and her character surprisingly has as much depth as the G's wrinkles when he smiles. Of course, he never smiles. But the plot of the humans has received more attention than the big G's carnage for this one. It's basically the plot of the heroine of Gamera 3, but with more development. And, unlike the Gamera teenager, the heroine of Gojira vs Megagirasu does not wait for a monster egg to fall on her laps to go after the big G. She kicks ass big time! Don't worry Gojira fans, the movie's title is not Tom Boy kicks Gojira's ass, so you know who's the boss. And this one's got a trick up its sleeve too! I'm sure you'll all fall for it. This movie has nothing to do with Gojira 2000, if you couldn't stand that little brat and the journalist, or worse, the guy who's last wishes were GOJIRAAAAAAA. I won't say action girl in here does better than Jean Reno in the infamous Godzilla, but the monster she's fighting is more lovingly menacing. No raptor look-alikes running around here. Just the big G and her. The music also changed. Each movie in the new Gojira trilogy must have been made for different audiences. This one is for the wide movie-going female audience between the kids for whom they made Gojira 2000, and the otakus and die-hard fans for whom they've made Daikaiju Soukougeki.

Having seen Godzilla X Megaguiras, I can say that technically, it is one of the best Godzilla movies ever made. Now, I liked Godzilla 2000, but this totally and utterly blows it away! The way Godzilla is presented in the movie is absolutely superb. He has seldom looked more powerful. Megaguiras is such a better foe than G2000's Orga. The spfx are majorly improved from the last outing. I hope that Tristar releases it here soon in theaters or direct to video and DVD This film deserves great praise!

Masaaki Tezuka clearly understands the secret to making rubber monster movies - make 'em big, and make 'em fun! GXM returns the element of spectacle to the series that had been missing in the later 90s entries. The battles are epic, the monsters believably gigantic and menacing, and the destruction sweeping. When crowds of extras run away in GXM, they look genuinely terrified. The wonderful musical score and "old school" directorial style come as close to rivalling the best of Honda-Tsuburaya-Ifukube as anything Toho has done since their heyday. Perhaps most important, the monsters have personalities, without sacrificing menace. No more stiff, slow-moving suits lumbering in a straight line toward one another for a battle consisting primarily of optical effects. Both Godzilla and Megaguiras are intelligent, cunning combatants, and their climactic war is among the best of its kind ever filmed. On a whole, GXM is not as flashy or technically seamless as its followup, 2001's GMK(also an outstanding film), but I found it to be more fun. It reminded me of nothing so much as curling up on the floor on Saturday as a kid, watching an AIP rubber monster epic on Shock Theatre or Son of Svengoolie. GODZILLA VS MEGAGUIRUS is a genuine classic!

Version: Eastern Eye R4 DVD - Japanese, English subtitles

Godzilla is back to stomp all over Japan, but this time he has to fight a giant dragonfly... Sounds awesome, yes no?

In 1996, Japan has been running on clean, renewable energy for thirty years, and has not seen Godzilla since 1966. Clean energy can no longer provide enough power for Japan, the government begins research into neutron energy. Naturally, Godzilla takes the opportunity to announce his coming out of retirement and levels the neutron facility while decimating the anti-Godzilla force 'G-Grasper'. Obviously, military's plan was to confuse Godzilla with a funny name, and then fire a few missiles at him. Needless to say, it doesn't work.

Several years later, Kiriko Tsujimori (Misato Tanaka) - a survivor of G-Grasper's 1996 encounter with Godzilla - is now the G-Grasper commander and has a grudge against Godzilla. Obviously G-Grasper need a new weapon to take on Godzilla, and so they turn to Japan's crazy scientists. The result is a cannon called the 'Dimension Tide': a weapon designed to shoot black holes, which they intend to shoot at Godzilla, from space, to minimize the damage to Earth. Obviously no one thought of any possible negative consequences of shooting a black hole - from space, mind you - towards a moving target Earth. The mad scientists have really gone off the deep end here. Of course, they test it first, and open up a rift to another dimension, letting a swarm of Meganuron (over-sized dragonflies) through.

Essentially, 'Godzilla vs Megaguirus' is a lighter, happier version of both 'Godzilla vs Destroyer' and 'Gamera 2'. The Meganuron / Megaguirus greatly resembles the Legion from 'Gamera 2'. The shots of Godzilla being swarmed by the Meganuron, look much like the shots of Gamera being swarmed by the Legion. However, going one up on the other two movies, 'Godzilla vs Megaguirus' has better special effects. The 'Alien' style Meganuron look a lot better than the 'Alien' style Destroyer(s) from 'Godzilla vs Destroyer'. Also, it has mad scientists. A big bonus. They might not look like mad scientists, but they certainly think like them.

There is some nice monster action, even if it is heavily offset by the human characters running shooting black holes at things. The Tokyo showdown between Godzilla vs Megaguirus is fun. It may not come close to one of the best monster fight scenes, but its funny and entertaining. Smart use of CGI ensures the monsters and fights look good, but on the other hand, for a giant dragonfly, Megaguirus does not beat his wing that often.

'Godzilla vs Megaguirus' is a fun Godzilla movie, and should appeal to Godzilla fans. It does drag on a little though - 7/10

I rate this a 7 for fans of the very earliest Godzilla movies. For everyone else, it's going to rank 1 or 2 points lower depending on you're comfort level with tacky special effects and dubbing.

If you're a fan, forget timelines and developments from previous movies. This movie is basically Godzilla vs. both Japan and another monster. Sound familiar? It's basically a throwback to a 1970s look and feel (even though it takes place modern day). Toy buildings, dubbing and obvious "man in a monster suit" special effects all give it a special nostalgia charm.

But that's not all that's good. The fast paced plot keeps the viewer well engaged at all times. Something is always happening. The basic plot is simple: during a failed attempt to destroy Godzilla using exotic means (creating a mini black hole), another creature enters this realm. It is eventually learned that it is a winged creature. Naturally, it's only a matter of time before there's a showdown between the two.

If you liked early 70's Godzilla movies, you'll like this one. If not, you're probably better off looking for a different movie.