Monstrolândia

One of my sci-fi/horror/fantasy reviews written 50 years ago: Directed by Ishiro Honda; Produced by Tomoyuki Tanaka, for Toho; released in America as "Godzilla's Revenge" by Maron Films. Screenplay by Shinichi Sekizawa; Photography by Sokei Tomioka; Edited by Masahisa Himi; Music by Kunio Miyauchi. Starring: Kenji Sahara, Machiko Naka, Shigeki Ishida, Tomonori Yazaki and Hideyo Amamoto.

Latterday entry in Honda's series of childish monster films, quickly shuttled to television. The film is kiddie/boy scout-oriented, with "Ultraman"-styled monster fights on Monster Island, where biggies from "Destroy All Monsters" congregate, including Godzilla, Manda, a new-styled Gamera and Minya, Godzilla's son who is boy-sized this time out. The story is dream-style and weak on plot, with flashy, pointless, modernistic techniu.

Okay, alot of people said this film was the worst ever made, but I disagree. I say the English version released by UPA did the film NO justice what-so-ever.

Here, let me give you all the run-down:

Sound Effects: US version- They sound very weird and almost muted out. And the sounds that Ichiro's voice actress keeps making does not go with what the child star is saying.

Sound Effects: Japanese version- Ah, now that I can hear better. I don't need to tune up the volume now!

Picture: US version- Pan and Scan.

Picture: Japanese version- Widescreen format. You get to see alot more on what's going on.

Music: US version- Probably one of the few descent things. The theme song is quite upbeat and quite unusual. However, the music may be good, but does it really sound like a Kaiju Eiga soundtrack though?

Music: Japanese Version- Some have thought of it being cutesy poo, but I liked it. Ichiro's actor's voice is soooooo cute! Fits the movie more.

And most importantly......

Minilla's voice: US version- GAAAAAAH! No, no, no, no, no! Is this what gave the Barney creator's their sinister idea? The voice actor gave Minilla-kun no justice!

Minilla's voice: Japanese version- Ahhhh, now that is BETTER! Sounds cuter and more child like. More fitting for Minilla. NOTE: The late Michiko Hirai, who voiced Sally Yumeno in an old school anime series called "Mahô tsukai Sally (aka. Witch girl Sally) did Minilla's voice in Japan.

Overall: Get the Japanese version. It is more pleasant.

Set at the end of the 1960s a young boy named Ichiro (Tomonori Yazaki) is a shy lonely boy who is often by himself due to his parents needing to work two jobs and is often a target for bullies such as Gabara (Junichi Ito) and his gang. Ichiro returns home after school to check in with his toymaker neighbor Minami (Hideyo Amamoto) who looks after him and then proceeds to dream about visiting Monster Island where Godzilla lives and going on adventures with Godzilla's son Minilla. When Ichiro comes across a driver's license in an abandoned building, he inadvertently crosses paths with two bank robbers who stole 50 million Yen.

Although Toho Studios had considered putting the Godzilla series to rest after Destroy All Monsters, the successful export of Destroy All Monsters to countries abroad most likely helped persuade Toho to continue the series. After a deal to co-produce an animated series with Filmation fell through (similar to Toho's deal with Rankin-Bass regarding King Kong Escapes' ties with the cartoon The King Kong Show), Toho continued with the mindset of producing an additional Godzilla film aimed at children that would be produced quickly and cheaply through use of stock footage. The film proved to be a decent performer at the time making about as much as Destroy All Monsters had made (and likely more profitable due to a reduced budget) but critical and audience reception has remained tepid to put it generously with many often declaring it the worst Godzilla movie. Objectively speaking, All Monsters Attack/Godzilla's Revenge falls short of the standards one expects from a Godzilla movie and yet at the same time I can't fully dismiss it either.

To get things out of the way: Yes, all the problems you've heard about this movie are true now and they were true then. The movie's brazen recycling of stock footage from the last three Godzilla films is massively excessive and the fact that much of the "plot" takes place in dream/fantasy sequences robs the movie of any real sense of stakes or weight for much of the time since we know it's a dream. Then of course we have Minilla who now speaks (with a gratingly silly voice in the American dub) and has the personality of being a cowardly simpleton alternating between hackneyed "Gee gosh" dialogue and his braying and squealing he had in the prior two films. There is some new monster footage featuring Godzilla and Minilla fighting against a new creature called Gabara and while Gabara's design isn't great it's good enough even if the fights feature a lot of flailing slapstick from Minilla.

So yeah, the actual monster element of this monster film isn't that great but at the same time I can't fully dismiss it. Despite the film having a clearly tighter budget, that frugalness does actually kind of work to the film's benefit in depicting contemporary Japan in the real world sequences. This is where I feel that director Ishiro Honda deserves some slack because Toho wanted a cheap children's movie using stock footage and they were going to get it, at least Honda tries to add some semblance of weight and substance to what could've been a purely cynical cash grab. As the film was made during a time of economic hardship in Japan where rising living costs necessitated both parents taking jobs leading to a rise in latchkey kids, you do get a sense of the times in which the film was made with how Ichiro and several other children are basically left to fend for themselves. While the plot where Ichiro comes across and foils two bank robbers has more than an air of the fantastical to it, you can see Honda trying to make an empowerment story for children in overcoming their own personal "monsters" and having that strength within themselves. Does that make the movie underrated? I won't go that far because the lackluster production values coupled with a sometimes confused script (such as the ending sequence where he beats his bullies only to befriend them through a mischievous prank) have issues that are hard to ignore, but given the time and situation surrounding this material this isn't as bad as it should be especially when compared to similar films like Gamera: Super Monster or Space Warriors 2000.

All Monsters Attack is clearly originated from cynical executives looking to sucker people into something with low costs and low effort, but at the same time that cynicism isn't coming through in the writing or direction. If you're looking for a Godzilla movie to watch this isn't one you should see as there are far better examples, but it also doesn't deserve as much scorn as I first thought.

I'm was never a Godzilla fan until my son got involved. These movies have never meant anything to me until they began taking up so much of his life. He is just about to turn four, and nothing is going to make me happier than to give this to him for his 4th birthday! It will get him off my back!!!!

Godzilla's Revenge is often regarded as one of the worst Godzilla films,and it's reputation was not helped by coming after the terrifically entertaining Destroy All Monsters. The film was obviously made on a tiny budget,with the majority of the monster stuff footage from Godzilla Vs The Sea Monster,Son Of Godzilla and even King Kong Escapes! However,look closer and the film is actually quite interesting,especially if you remember it was aimed at very young children.

Having all of the monster footage exist in the mind of a small boy almost justifies the stock footage in a way,as if he was remembering previous stuff he'd seen. The 'real'footage takes place in a much more realistic environment than usual,and addresses concerns that might mean a lot to young children-parents spending not enough time with them,loneliness,bullying,etc. Of course things like the son of Godzilla shrinking down to human size and talking irritate some older Godzilla fans,and none of the 'new'monster footage is particularly good,but some films one just has to judge by thinking of the target audience,and as a kid's film it's really quite good,perhaps a perfect film for parents to introduce Godzilla to their children!

People who claim Godzilla movies are all the same should see this and maybe the surreal Godzilla Vs Hedorah,both are very unusual and original variations on the kaiju formula.