Godzilla vs Megaguirus

After Tristar failed to impress with its infamous 1998 "remake", Toho wanted to redeem their beloved kaiju's honor by starting the Millennium films. This series started off pretty strong with "Godzilla 2000" but then went downhill with this next installment. How so?

Plot: Set in an alternate history where Godzilla was never killed by the Oxygen Destroyer, the King of the Monsters has Japan living in terror in his shadow for years. Fed up with his destructive antics, the military force known as G-Graspers recruits a few of the most brilliant minds to create the ultimate weapon Dimension Tide, a cannon that fires miniature black holes. During one of DT's tests, however, a wormhole is formed, causing giant prehistoric dragonflies to come forth, chief among them being their parasitic queen Megaguirus. When Godzilla suddenly reappears, it becomes a three-way struggle between man, reptile, and bug.

Positives: Godzilla retains his look from "Godzilla 2000", a radical but cool design, but this time he is actually green instead of charcoal grey/black. He's also given a bit of personality with simple but subtle movements giving the viewer an idea of what he is thinking. In an interesting move, Toho brought back the insects (Meganulons, based on an actual extinct species called Meganeura) from "Rodan" and gave them a modern update. They're legitimately creepy and Megaguirus is a nice foe for Godzilla, being not only brutal but pretty sadistic. I have to admit using a black hole gun against Godzilla is creative, proving once again that there is still room for imagination in a series about a giant city-smashing, monster-bashing dinosaur. The film's central theme is an interesting one to say the least, how man seeks newer and hopefully cleaner sources of power but somehow keeps failing with Godzilla and Megaguirus being dark parallels/antitheses of that concept. The music is also decent, the main theme of which gets carried on in future films, and the action is entertaining enough with a few unexpectedly funny moments.

Where this film falls flat is ultimately the execution of every aspect of it. While some of the practical stuff looks fine, a majority of the effects are terribly outdated, especially when compared to other Godzilla films like "Godzilla 2000"; the predecessor manages to hide its flaws as most of the kaiju scenes happen at night while most of this film occurs during the day where the flaws are far more noticeable. The suits/puppets, despite having decent range of motion, tend to feel stiff and the CGI+green screen are far too obvious and not well-rendered. The movie really does seem cheap because of these shortcomings. While some effort was put in the human characters, most of them don't leave that big of an impression. Technician Kudo is at least amusing in that he's a bit egotistical in his talents but is still willing to help others, especially his crush Major Kiriko. As the female lead, an attempt was made in making Kiriko compelling but she fails to pull any heartstrings and almost comes off as a b****, plus her vendetta against Godzilla doesn't hold much weight when you really consider her choices within her backstory. Hell, some of the human characters make decisions that don't have any legit sense of logic. Finally, the film has many great ideas but doesn't go far enough with them, especially when you get down to the insects, which seem more of an inconvenience to the humans rather than a serious threat rivaling Godzilla, therefore there's this lack of presence to them from time to time.

This is by far the weakest of the Millennium films, a good concept hampered by an underwhelming execution. This may be worth a watch, but it would be best viewed with low expectations. Not the worst in the franchise (*cough* "Godzilla's Revenge"), but not the best either.

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.

I avoided this movie for months; most online reviews I read were negative, and it just had a bad stench about it. But then my ever-wise brother recommended it, and I'm glad he did.

It's fun - damn fun. Where else can you see Godzilla besieged by giant dragonflies, or cool visuals like a half-submerged city and a woman riding on Godzilla's purple-tinged spines? Many of the special effects shots are a touch sloppy in execution (obvious CGI is rampant), but they're tremendously imaginative in concept. So, improbably enough, they work.

Megaguirus is a cool opponent for Godzilla, and their climatic battle is practically high comedy. Both monsters get great reaction shots and some particularly nasty moves. In one infamous - but quite amusing - shot, Godzilla wallops Megaguirus with a leaping tackle that evokes the wrestling maneuvers of his 1960s-70s movies. Fans who complain that too many of the Big G's more recent battles have been decided by "beam contests" should delight in the wacky grappling on display here.

The human characters have interesting motivations, and are even allowed to be selfish, which is a nice change of pace from the preachy and saintly types you usually get in these movies. There's even a cute kid who manages not to be annoying. In short, it's all good - I like the silly monsters AND the incredibly earnest humans AND the totally insane visual effects. All these ingredients add up to a rare Godzilla feast.

Now I'm more jazzed than ever to see "Final Wars"!

Megaguirus often gets the short end of the Millienium Films as it is typically seen as a porotype for the story seen Masaaki Tezuka's later film, Godzilla against Mechagodzilla. The latter film certainly proves superior as the story in this film feels aimless at times. Perhaps a symptom of franchise fatigue that this entry comes of as rather dull and unremarkable though there are things to appreciate. Megaguirus is an interesting opponent for Godzilla and the original soundtrack is fantastic.

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