Gojira ni-sen mireniamu

"Godzilla 2000," actually completed in 1999 (and was released during the summer of 2000 in America), was the first Toho-backed kaiju-eiga film to receive a major theatrical distribution in the U.S. since 1985. I saw "Godzilla 2000" at the theater and wasn't disappointed, even though a lot has changed since Toho killed off their iconic monster at the end of 1995's "Godzilla Vs. Destoroyah."

I'm 19; I've been a hardcore "G"-fan since I was four years-old and of course, I was quite hesitant about seeing a new "Godzilla" film, being that the Americanized 1998 version wasn't that good. The Toho logo that appears during the opening credits reassured me that "Godzilla 2000" was taking me back to the good old days when Godzilla wasn't afraid to knock down a building or stomp down the military when they threatened him.

With their third generation of "Godzilla" films being kicked off with this flashy new movie, Toho continued a trend that was seen in generation two, where they discard the events of the previous Godzilla incarnation and instead start with the original 1954 "Godzilla" and work from there.

Toho took full advantage of this new series by designing a distinctly reptilian Godzilla, who as the film opens, has already popped up on the radar of some brainy scientist who argues that Godzilla should be studied, instead of destroyed.

And Toho didn't skimp on creating a new monster either, which is a giant UFO that yields something a lot more than just martians. This new foe is actually a nasty little creature that's never given a name, though subsequent debate about the film has concluded that its name is "Orga," who proceeds to try to consume Godzilla and his powers, thus creating one powerful monster.

"Godzilla 2000" has a lot of problems too, which may or may not mar an otherwise decent stomping experience. Though on the whole, it's nice to see Godzilla back in form (somewhat) and this Toho production firmly returns their most beloved creation to dominance, it also suffers a lot from the problems that have plagued its predecessors, and some of those problems may have been due to Roland Emmerich's 1998 Americanized version of the big green guy.

Of course, since I never really cared for the people in a "Godzilla" movie and those feelings haven't changed, it must be pointed out here that the people have been drastically short-changed in favor of the all-out monster showdown that is the film's climax. You're really given a reason to not care about humans in this picture, whereas any previous "Godzilla" movie may have made you have an inkling of feeling for them.

Godzilla himself has changed a lot, with massive plates that line his back and he's also been given a pretty nifty set of fangs. But the thing is, this Godzilla looks and behaves quite... different. Though it's evident with this production that Godzilla is the bad guy (pending on your view), this was one of the things that really struck me as unique about the previous generation of kaiju-eiga films - in that you never really knew if he was the bad guy or not - this movie makes that pretty clear to you, even though the new monster Orga is clearly the bigger problem for the people of Japan.

The special effects in this third generation "Godzilla" film seem to actually be a step back too. The previous generation (the first two movies at least) had really beautiful and thoughtful effects that put you into wonder about how they were achieved. This series doesn't have that level of wonder for some reason. You'd expect their effects to improve over five years or so, but these effects look rushed and unrealistic.

Aside from these quibbles, "Godzilla 2000" doesn't suffer a whole lot, but I was glad to see that it firmly reestablished Godzilla back to his good old, stomping self.

7/10

Goji 200 is a rather poorly paced film with uninteresting human characters and a rather bland telling of the "Goji Attacks Japan" story. The effects however are cool and I am very fond of the Goji 2000 design, so it gets 6 Missiles out of 10 from me.

I enjoyed this flick. Sure it wasn't the best movie made and it surely would not win an award, but it was a fun film. There are a couple of the Godzilla movies in the 90's I liked more, but this one did not disappoint. The dubbing is rather good for everyone except the guy who is trying to kill Godzilla. He sounds a bit to deep voiced and at one point when he laughs he goes "Ha, Ha, Ha", but other than him the dubbing is good. There is also a bit of dead zone where godzilla isn't around between godzilla's first encounter the flying saucer and the final battle, but it is not to bad. Also, they kind of ignore the movie Godzilla vs. Destroyah even though they show Godzilla's son taking over the reigns this fact is ignored and all the characters from the 90 films are ignored as well. All and all it is a fun movie and there is a good battle at the end.

This is old school Godzilla plain and simple. Nothing terribly exciting, no super cool computer effects. Just a guy in a rubber suit and godzilla breathe drawn on the film. Actually there is a little computer stuff, but nothing that hasn't been done for years.

This is not a great movie, by any stretch of the imagination, but nostalgia makes it enjoyable. I think this is also a better movie for kids than most of the action monster movies coming out. Almost no one dies in the movie and there is little swearing or sexual overtones. This might make it too simple for adults who are not nostalgic for the old movies, but others should enjoy it.

Godzilla 2000: Millennium (1999) is a movie that I recently watched on a random streaming service. The storyline follows an alien artifact that crashes to Earth leading to the emergence of Godzilla. Initially they find Godzilla's attacks to be a threat to humanity, but what he's really doing is preparing for what's about to emerge from the alien rock. What could be more threatening than Godzilla and is he powerful enough to stop the alien?

This movie is directed by Takao Okawara (Yukai) and stars Hiroshi Abe (After the Storm), Shirô Sano (Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack), Masahiko Nishimura (Princess Mononoke) and Denden (Cold Fish).

I adored that this movie went back to the Godzilla roots of a man in a costume and the traditional model trains and civilizations for Godzilla to destroy. The modern tanks and airplanes used via CGI were fine also. The dialogue in this was hilarious at times and the acting was as you'd expect for the monster universe. The alien monster CGI initially is awful but the final monster battle is fun, just not as good as some of the legendary monster fight conclusions. The music also uses the classic soundtrack which was a treat.

Overall, this falls short of some of the monster universe classics but it's still worth a viewing. I would score this a 5-5.5/10 and strongly recommend it.