Wonderful character development!

Sorry, this movie sucks

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

One of the best Godzilla sequels. A fun monster rally that introduces the title monster, King Ghidorah, a three-headed dragon from space. There's a lot of silliness in this involving a Martian princess and the two singing fairy twins from the last two Mothra movies. They can communicate with the monsters. They play a big part in the film, convincing Godzilla and Rodan to join forces with Mothra and save Earth from Ghidorah. This would mark Godzilla's official turn to hero for future sequels. The special effects are a lot of fun. If you see the American version you'll get lots of amusing dubbing. As with most of these Godzilla movies, there's a lot of time before any monsters show up. I haven't seen one of the sequels yet that couldn't have benefited from losing 10 or 15 minutes of people standing around talking. At least with the American versions the most boring segments have some cheesy entertainment value from the silly dubbed voices. Anyway, it's all harmless fun with nice visuals and ideas. The selling point, of course, is when Godzilla & co. do their thing. The monster battles are awesome. The rock fight between Godzilla and Rodan is especially goofy. The climactic battle has Godzilla, Rodan, and Mothra versus King Ghidorah -- what's not to love about that?

After a meteorite unleashes a three-headed beast upon Tokyo, Mothra tries to unite with Godzilla and Rodan to battle the extraterrestrial threat.This film has pretty decent effects, particularly during the "birth" of Ghidorah. It also happens to be pretty much the dividing point between the earlier, more serious films, and the later, more fun (and sometimes campy) versions of the monster that would become an international pop culture icon (if he had not already).As with other Godzilla releases, the David Kalat commentary is worth the price of the film. Not only is he informed, but he speaks fast, meaning you get about 180 minutes of information packed into 90 minutes of film. He also makes a good case for dubbing, while still expressing the preference for subtitles when critically analyzing a film.This film has received acclaim among many Godzilla fans and is considered to be one of the best Godzilla films of the Showa era. Reviewing the American version, Leonard Maltin gives the film two and a half stars, calling it "one of the better Toho monster rallies".

This is the seventh kaijyu (monster) movie written by Toho's screen writer Shinichi Sekizawa, and the first to portray the monsters in a comical light which would become Toho's style for the following 10 years. The story differs somewhat between the Japanese version and the American version. This commentary is about the Japanese version.Princess Mars Dourina Salno (Eiko Wakabayashi) of Sergina requests Japanese police to give her protection due to political instability of her country. Detective Shindo (Yosuke Natsuki) is assigned by his boss Okita (Akihiko Hirata) to body guard the princess, but the plane carrying the princess explodes on its way to Japan. Shortly afterward a woman proclaiming to be from Venus appears and prophecies that Rodan and Godzilla will appear in Japan. Thinking that his assignment was over before it got started Shindo goes home, reads about mysterious Venusian woman who's attracting media's attention looks exactly like princess Mars. Convinced that the self proclaimed "Venusian" is princess Mars, he launches his own investigation. His sister Naoko who is a reporter is also on the heel of the Venusian woman. In the mean time a mysterious asteroid falls in the Kurobe area of Japan. Assistant professor Murai (Hiroshi Koizumi) is the team leader that's sent to investigate the asteroid witnesses the asteroid turning into a three headed monster. Naoko finally catches up with the Venusian woman and escorts her to a near by hotel. By this time assassins from Sergina is also on her trail suspecting that the Venusian woman is princess Mars. They converge at the hotel and shooting ensues between the assassins and detective Shindo. Assassins flees and detective Shindo, and Naoko escorts the Venusian to Dr. Tsukamoto's (Takashi Shimura) lab to see if her memories can be revived. In the mean time Rodan and Godzilla is sited and they converge near Mt. Fuji and starts a battle. Vanusian woman tells a story that 5000 years ago Venus was attacked by the monster King Gidora and was turned into a waste land, and that Gidora is now on earth. Mothra is called to Japan to ask Godzilla and Rodan to fight against King Gidora, but the two monsters aren't exactly interested in helping mankind.The plot of this movie is superbly written with each element supporting the entire flow of the story. Many die hard Godzilla fans might not like the campy flavor of this movie, but so many elements crammed into this movie that runs just over 90 minutes has intricacies and originality never seen in previous Japanese monster movies. This movie by far has the most intricate plot of movies written by Shinichi Sekizawa, but is hidden behind the tong in cheek humor that runs throughout the movie. In the US released DVD, three men accuses the Venusian woman as "kichigai" (crazy). The broadcast code in Japan has tightened up since this movie was made and this word is no longer allowed to be used in a movie, so the Japanese DVD has this word changed to another dialog, but you will hear it as it was in the US release DVD. Princess Mars' full name Mars, Dourina, Salno is a play on the Japanese phrase "Ma, sudori, nasaruno" (Are you just going to pass me by ?) and is intended to be an injoke.You'll get much more out of this movie if you catch the details of the movie. It was the first time Gidora was seen on screen. Gidora became a staple of subsequent movies guaranteeing a crowd draw for Toho.Watch this movie to see if you can catch the details.

This film is one of the original series' best in my opinion. Four of my favorite monsters coming together for the hugest battle yet seen (at the time of course). This film also holds a very special place in my heart, seeing as it was the first GOOD Godzilla movie I ever owned. Back when I must've been four I'd estimate. The only G-film I'd seen prior to this was "Godzilla vs. Megalon", but compared to this film it only looks even crappier! I unfortunately broke my VHS copy of it at nine due to excitement over a new G-film I'd been given as a present and up until 2007 I thought I would never see the film again. Fortunately, Classic Media recognized its greatness and released on a spectacular DVD. Another reason I love this film is the fun plot. Of course it's dropped any mention of nukes or strong themes, but I still find it one of Sekizawa's best. Next time around let's say Princess Salno used a parachute instead of "leaping in between dimensions". As for the characters, this film has a really good cast. Akikko Wakabayashi (the Princess/Martian prophet) is excellent and fine by the way. Takashi Shimura stars as another 'Dr.' character and his performance is as usual, top notch. Akihiko Hirata stars in a small role where as Yuriko Hoshi returns playing a very similar character to her previous role in "Mothra vs. Godzilla", done well. Along with all the other actors, every one gives entertaining performances, Honda even adding some cool shoot out scenes.The special effects are mostly good. King Ghidorah was an incredible accomplishment for Eiji Tsubaraya. The three headed dragon looks magnificent both on the ground and flying. The gravity beams were done exceptionally well, where as Godzilla's heat ray became a mist due to the money spent on Ghidorah. Anyways, the space demons rampage scenes are beautiful and I love the odd shriek. All the sets are huge and well constructed, my favorite being the downwards sloping hill where Ghidorah (or Ghidrah as he's called in the dubbing) is first confronted by Godzilla and Mothra. Godzilla and Rodan's battle is just cool and full of energy and Ifukube's music fits it perfectly. The best two parts were Godzilla using his tail and Rodan lifting the King of the Monsters into the sky and dropping him onto the electrical tower. The continuity is still there and still no aliens (although King Ghidorah is technically an extraterrestrial). Godzilla looked great, considering it's the incredible suit from the last film. Except for its eyes, which didn't look as imposing. Rodan looked decent, but nowhere near as impressive as the 1956 original. The final battle is an excellent display of SFX and real action. Total highlight of the film no doubt.When you're a seven or nine year old watching these films you don't notice these things but times change. Whereas Sekizawa was quite the writer, it can be noted he brung the first essences of campiness into the original Godzilla series. The monster summit isn't really campy per say, but it does lower the seriousness of the film. It is the beginning of Godzilla's hero stance, which will soon become the beginning of the end for his career till 1984 ("Godzilla 1985" begins the second series of films). Luckily, Godzilla still gets his menacing scenes at Yokohama harbor and he does kill hundreds of innocent people on a cruise boat when he first emerges from the ocean depths, done nicely. The characters still fear him and don't look at him as a hero just yet. In a way he just settled a brief negotiation. But I didn't know Godzilla cursed: "Oohhh, Godzilla what horrible language", twin fairies translating at the monster summit. In the end it's rather funny so I appreciate it more and more with each viewing. And seeing as I as I watch the film on a weekly basis, you get the idea.Well, the first three G-films had elaborate and often unnecessary Americanization's, with added American scenes, changes to the SCORE, and even changing Godzilla's name to Gigantis! "Mothra vs. Godzilla" was the first to avoid it, but this film to a degree didn't. The story is left intact and there are no American actors edited in but Ifukube's score is AGAIN tampered with!! Thankfully not as much as in "King Kong vs. Godzilla". Other than that the American cuts actually make sense and actually fix that continuity error with King Ghidorah (buy the Classic Media DVD and watch the Japanese version). Overall, I love this film for several reasons and if you haven't seen it, you most definitely should.