One of my all time favorites.

Good start, but then it gets ruined

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

Indeed, this one takes me way back. I first saw this film on Disney Channels "Cool Nights" back in the late 90's. I recorded it on VHS and since then, I've rewatched it again and again. One part that I do like about the film is that it seems to delve right into the monsters, and that's something that any Godzilla fan can really appreciate. It's kinda weird though, soldiers who are apparently inherently evil are kidnapping natives of Mothra's island (who makes an extremely brief appearance in this film) and using them as slaves to grind fruits into a liquid. The soldiers use this liquid as a natural repellent against the Giant Lobster, Ebirah. To my knowledge, they never actually call it "Ebirah", they simply call it "the giant lobster". It contains a few interesting scenes not found in any other film. We have Godzilla fighting a Giant bird whose origin is unknown, and we also have a scene where a giant monster actually devours a person. It's really neat to see Godzilla fight underwater as well. I wouldn't put this as one of the top Godzilla films, but I would definitely say it's worth the watch.

Seventh Godzilla picture sees the big guy being re-awakened by young castaways who became stranded on an island whose local population is being used as slave labor by a terrorist organization called Red Bamboo, who are trying to escape the clutches of a giant lobster named Ebirah. Mothra also appears to help out, as the Red Bamboo are in for a really rough time... Change of pace entry is set away from the cities for a change, which was welcome, and the story is most enjoyable, although Ebirah never quite caught on like other Toho studio monsters did (for whatever reason). Last appearance of the "Twin Fairies"( played by new actresses as well.)

It certainly picked up towards the end, but this was a slow, boring, and often weird Godzilla movie. The beginning sees a woman talking with a psychic about her eldest son that has vanished at sea. The psychic claims the son is still alive. His brother wants to find him, but the government wont do anything. He goes to a reporter, and as the reporter is talking to his editor, the young man sees a poster for a dance marathon, where the prize is a boat, and runs off before the reporter returns. The dance marathon has already been going for 3 days, and it is too late to enter. However, the young man meets two men that take him to see some boats. They enter a boat and the man there says they can stay the night. During the night the young man sets sail. This is THE loooooooooooongest way of doing anything ever. Couldn't the script writer just have him go and steal a boat after the psychic. It all happens very quickly. They are eventually attacked by a huge shrimp, and crash on an island. This is Mothra's island, where Godzilla also happens to be laying dormant, and some drug/fruit/weapon manufacturing army are also based. This film was originally written for King Kong, and it shows. Without big city destruction, Godzilla just fumbles about an island. There are some great parts, such as the tennis scene between Godzilla and Ebirah, but it is filled with unexplored avenues and just plain confusion.

This was one of my child-hood favorites. It's Jun Fukuda's first chance to direct and he actually did an okay job. Masuro Sato scored the film and while its intention was to provide something new to the series, it was too "Hawaii-Five-o" for me. Several Toho stars are in this flick, among them Kumi Mizuno, who looked finer than ever! Akihiko Hirata and Jun Tazki both played bad guy roles as commanders of the secret terrorist organization the Red Bamboo. Akira Takarada was a bank robber who later decides to "go straight from now on." All had interesting roles and like the human characters and the story is a fun one at best. Most of the SFX look good, all EXCEPT for the low budget Godzilla suit. And this time no stock footage at all is used, yeahhhh!! Starting from when Godzilla attacks the Red Bamboo base, the suit looks like straight up *&^%! Excuse me, but I could've said worse. You can see damage from the pyrotechnic explosions from "Invasion of Astro-Monster" and the face is repulsive. The shoulders are a real pity and the overall posture and baggy look of the suit, plus the pants- like legs, create the worst suit of the Showa era. The story was actually intended for Kong after the success of "King Kong vs. Godzilla" back in 1962. This explains why Godzilla is revived by lightning and attracted to Dayo (Kumi Mizuno). He doesn't pick her up and climb onto the nearest tall building, but he does fight some jets. Of course, he massacres them, one of my favorite scenes in the film.There are two major things, besides the music, that really bring this film down: Ebirah and the Giant Condor. A giant shrimp and a giant bird. This was a very pathetic sense of creativity on Sekizawa's part. Let's do better in the future (he only does to a degree). None the less, the giant lobster looked good in the Toho pool and his duels with Godzilla were entertaining. The best part is Godzilla ripping off his claws obviously. The music really doesn't match the film here ( or anywhere for that matter) And how I wish so dearly Ifukbe had scored it! The Giant Condor is just an annoying pigeon that gets fried pretty quick, nothing much to talk about. Mothra manages to star in the film and when Godzilla attacks her it shows he still isn't a hero quite yet. Plus there we're no low blows, but Godzilla kind of 'dancing', and some brief boulder volleyball. Damn,...I couldn't enjoy the destruction of the Red Bamboo base because Godzilla was so damn hideous and yeah that pretty much sums up this movie. From here, not including 1971 and'68, the series will go lower and lower till its reprisal in 1975. Although I can't judge "Son of Godzilla" because it's the only one in the original series I have yet to see. It's a rehash of this film; Godzilla on an island with slightly better monsters but Minilla arrives . Oh, *&^% I can only assume I might be a wee bit disappointed...