I review a Kaiju film a day leading up to the new Godzilla film

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Intro: Here in America, there is a common stereotype about all Godzilla films having crappy special effects, bad dubbing, and not being quality films. To be honest, anyone who thinks that is just plain ignorant. This film is partially responsible for these negative comments. Let's try to endure Godzilla vs. Megalon.

Plot: Underground nuclear tests are being conducted in the Pacific. They're even effected the monsters on Monster Island. Godzilal is greatly annoyed and Anguirus fall into a large ravine caused by the ground splitting up. These tests anger the citizens of the underground kingdom Seatopia. Their king Antonio calls upon their god Megalon to deal with the humans. At the same time, an inventor named Goro, his nephew Rokuro, and Goro's brother/friend/gay lover (it's never really explained) Hiroshi return to Goro's house to find that it has been ransacked by burglars. They don't appear to have stolen anything. Luckily, Goro's special project is still intact, a robot named Jet Jaguar. The next day he completes the robot, much to the delight of Hiroshi and Rokuro.

The burglars, who are Seatopian citizens, left microphones in the house. When they hear that Jet Jaguar is finished, they return home and kidnap Rokuro and Goro and lock them in a container that they plan to deposit into a lake. Hiroshi is left tied up in the house. At the same time, Megalon arrives on the surface and begins mindlessly ravaging the countryside. Jet Jaguar is now controlled by the Seatopians and is used to lure Megalon towrads Tokyo where he can destroy it. However, Megalon's rampage cuts off the truck with Goro and his nephew. The container is knocked far away and they fall unconscious. Hiroshi also escapes and finds them. After they wake up, the inform the military that the only way to stop Megalon is with help from Godzilla. Using his special device, Goro resumes control of Jet Jaguar and has it fly out to Monster Island to fetch Godzilla.

Jet Jaguar summons Godzilla and the king of the monsters begins swimming towards the mainland. The Seatopians, learning that they lost control of Jet Jaguar, seek the help of the aliens from Godzilla vs. Gigan, who lend Gigan to them. Jet Jaguar returns and his now functioning under his own will. he approaches Megalon and then miraculously grows to kaiju size! Jet Jaguar barely holds his own and when Gigan shows up as well, the odds seem impossible. Fortunately, Godzilla arrives just in time and tag teams with Jet. After a long battle, Gigan and Megalon both retreat, Godzilla heads home, the Seatopians accept defeat, and Jet returns to human size to join back up with Goro.

Reflection: This one is bad. I mean really bad. Like, I almost fell asleep watching this one.

Characters? You can hardly call them that. These characters hardly have any personality. We don't even know the relationship between Goro and Hiroshi. They could be brothers, friends, gay lovers, anything really. They essentially live together, and that's about it. Also worth noting is that there are no female teachers in this film at all. Except for a couple scantly clad Seatopian dancers, there are no female characters to speak of.

The monsters aren't that much better. The Godzilla suit is pretty meh. The body is fine but the face is too cute looking for my taste. Anguirus is in the film for a few seconds but the suit still looks good. The Megalon suit is decent and he has a unique design. He does have a bit of personality, like the scene where he high fives Gigan. Gigan himself hasn't really changed from the last film. Though he isn't as threatening or powerful as before. Then there's Jet Jaguar, easily the strangest kaiju we've seen up to this point. He looks like a power ranger and has that creepy Jack Nicholson smile the entire time. He can also change size... somehow. Like the last film, there are a couple of accidental stock footage cameos like Gaira. The Godzilla suit also changes from scene to scene due to the stock footage.

The music is also pretty odd. It's goofy, so I guess it fits the tone of the film. but you can't talk about the music in this film without talking about the Jet Jaguar song. Look it up right now. It has to be seen to be believed. Also look up the Godzilla flying kick from this movie. It is the most hilarious thing you'll see all day.

This is easily one of the worst Godzilla films. Not even a great villain like Gigan can save it. To get maximum enjoyment, watch the MST3K version of this one.

Final Score: 1.5/5
 
As someone completely Kaiju-illeterate, I'm vaguely enjoying these.

What's the concensus on the Hanna-Barbera cartoon?
 
Glowsquid said:
As someone completely Kaiju-illeterate, I'm vaguely enjoying these.

What's the concensus on the Hanna-Barbera cartoon?
Click to expand...
Haven't seen that in years. If I had it on DVD, I'd give it a look.
 
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Intro: After a string of films that ranged from awful to mediocre, Toho brought it back with Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla. This fun film has kaiju, aliens, and robots. What more could you want?

Plot: In Okinawa, a young priestess named Nami has a strange vision of a monster (King Ghidorah) destroying cities and killing millions. She consults her religious grandfather, who becomes very scared when he hears of this. Two brothers, Keisuke and Masahiko who witnessed her prediction, explore a nearby cave for any information about this prophecy. Masahiko finds a strange piece of metal that he takes to Professor Miyajima (Akihiko Hirata). Keisuke, who is joined by an archaeologist named Saeko, discover old hieroglyphics. Saeko translates them. The prophecy tells that when a black mountain appears above the clouds, a monster will destroy the world and when the sun rises in the west, two monsters will defend Japan. They also find the statue of a lion like creature. Saeko recognizes it as the deity King Caesar.

The two take the small statue to Dr. Wagura to investigate. while there, they are stalked by two men. One has a mustache while the other one wears shades and a trench coat. The mustached man tries to steal the statue, but he is fought off by Keisuke. He flees but the man in the shades continues to observe them. Keisuke decides to drive up to Mt. Fuji to see Miyajima. However, at this time, Godzilla erupts forth from the mountain. He destroys everything in his path. His roar is also noticeably different. During Godzilla's rampage, he is halted by Anguirus. Godzilla brutally beats Anguirus, even snapping his jaw, but Anguirus manages to tear off a piece of Godzilla's skin, revealing a metallic surface. Keisuke avoids the fight and meets up with Mashiko, Miyajima, and the professor's daughter Ikuko.

The four follow Godzilla in their car. The monster is attacking a refinery with his atomic ray, which is yellow for some odd reason. Suddenly, another Godzilla appears on the scene, much to confusion of our heroes. Far away, a man is watching the scene unfold in a high tech looking base. He grimaces about the real Godzilla appearing so soon. The two Godzilla battle it out. The first one continues to have bits of its hide blown away, revealing more metal underneath. Godzilla continues to blast him until the creature sheds his hide, revealing the mechanical titan Mechagodzilla, much to the horror of Miyajima and the others. the two fight again and it ends in stand still. Godzilla retreats, wounded and bloody while Mechagodzilla is flown back to base for repairs. Miyajima concludes that this, plus the strange metal must mean whoever is behind Mechagodzilla is alien.

Keisuke and Saeko take a ferry back to Okinawa where the King Caesar statue can be used to awaken the god to fight Mechagodzilla. On the ship, the mustached man again attempts to steal the statue. When he shot by Keisuke, his face vaporizes to reveal a hideous ape like creature underneath. The ape man, still alive, runs off with the statue. Keisuke tries to fight back, but he is too strong. He holds Keisuke at gunpoint, but the ape man is shot from an unknown source, causing him to fall off into the ocean with the statue. Keisuke and Saeko again get a glimpse of the strange man with the shades. At the same time, Miyajima, Ikuko, and Masahiko explore the cave, looking for signs of the spacemen. They are captured by the aliens, who reveal themselves to be the aliens from the third planet of the black hole. They force Miyajima to help rebuild Mechagodzilla and threaten to kill the other two if he refuses. He agrees.

Keisuke goes to investigate the cave when he notices that Miyajima has not returned for several days. In the cave, he is attacked by a black hole alien. However, the alien is knocked out by the man with the shades, who is revealed to be Nanbara, an agent of Interpol. The two storm the alien base and manage to break the other three out. They attempt to escape in the car, but Nanbara sees that it is rigged to blow if they turn the ignition. They blow it up without getting in, making the alien commander believe them to be dead. Masahiko, Miyajima, and Nanbara plan to go back in and destroy the base, while Keisuke, Saeko and Ikuko head back to the temple to place the statute to awaken King Caesar. However, Nami and her grandfather are being held by two aliens. However, the spacemen are shot by another Interpol agent working with Nanbara. They place the statue on the pedestal, causing the sunlight to reflect into it. This causes the light to shoot out as a laser and blow open a mountain, revealing the sleeping King Caesar. Seeing this, the alien launch Mechagodzilla, who approaches the sleeping giant. Nami's prayer allows the god to wake up and he challenges Mechagodzilla. The space beast gains the upper hand until Godzilla returns.

Mechagodzilla proves to be a nearly unbeatable foe. Godzilla however uses his new found ability to make his body magnetic and he pulls the robot towards him. With all his might, Godzilla rips off the robot's head, shutting it down. At the same time, the three inside the base manage to blow it up and barely escape. King Caesar goes back to sleep and Godzilla swims away.

Reflection: This film is quite better than the last two films. We have a lot of characters this time around. The leads aren't that interesting. Whoever is playing Keisuke constantly has this grimacing look on his face. Jesus dude, lighten up. Akhiko Hirata makes his return, playing a scientist in a Godzilla film. who would've thought. The aliens are also pretty cool. Their ape forms are very creepy looking. This film is also very violent on the human side of things. People get shot, stabbed, strangled, the list goes on.

The monsters are good also. The Godzilla suit is the same as last time, but there have beeen some subtle changes. The face has been made to look fiercer and the eyes aren't as puppy dog looking. Anguirus looks solid as always. Shame he gets beaten to a bloody pulp in this movie. King Caesar also has a unique design as well as some cool powers. He can absorb beam attacks and shoot them back through his eyes. Then there's Mechagodzilla. HOLY SHIT, this guy is badass. Easily one of my top five favorite kaiju. He's got finger missiles, knee missiles, toe missiles, nose missiles, eye beams, and a chest beam. Not to mention flight and a forcefield. Easily up there with Ghidorah and Hedorah as one of Godzilla's strongest enemies. The monsters are also pretty violent. Anguirus gets his jaw broken in a rerally bloody fashion and Godzilla gets turned into a blood sprinkler by Godzilla.

One great thing about this film is that there is nearly no stock footage, unlike the last two films.

There may be no Ifukube music in this film, but I'm not complaining because Sato's music in this film is excellent. In fact, one of the themes contains a few notes of Ifukube's classic Godzilla theme. The music in this film is very jazzy, upbeat, and catchy. My personal favorite theme is the one that plays when Anguirus fights the fake Godzilla. It's stuck in my head right now and likely will be for the rest of the night. One odd music choice is Kumonga's theme. It plays during one of the fight scenes. While there's nothing wrong with it, it feels odd to hear it without Kumonga present.

Toho really stepped it up this time around. This film is fun and memorable. Mechagodzilla would go on to become one of the most famous and popular kaiju in the Toho universe. In fact, someone at Toho must have really liked Mechagodzilla, because in the next film....

Final Score: 3.5/5
 
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Intro: Mechagodzilla is back and better than ever. While the last film was a step towards the more traditional Godzilla films, this one feels like the golden age of the 60s and by God is it good. Without further ado, here's Terror of Mechagodzilla.

Plot: A young woman sits on the beach, watching a submarine begin its expedition. It's mission, to locate the remains of Mechagodzilla after its titanic battle with Godzilla. They search, but are not able to find any scrap of the mecha, not even a tiny piece. Soon, the sub is ambushed by strange kaiju that resembles both a dinosaur and a fish. INTERPOL investigates the incident. Ichinose, a marine biologist, joins them. They learn of a scientist who may know something about the beast, which he named Titanosaurus. At the same time, two of the aliens from the third planet are meeting, one of which is the leader of the entire race. They discuss their plans for conquering Tokyo and the second in command suggest they get the help of Dr. Mafune (Akihiko Hirata), the scientist who allegedly has a connection to Titanosaurus.

Ichinose and his Interpol friend Murakoshi visit Dr. Mafune's house. The only one there is a young woman named Katsura (Tomoko Ai), the daughter of Mafune. She informs them that Mafune is dead and tells them to leave. The two men agree, but they still suspect her. They are right to do so, as Mafune and the aliens are sharing a drink in the underground lab below the house. In exchange for funding his animal control device, the aliens ask that he aid them in repairing Mechagodzilla, who's wreckage they have recovered from the ocean floor. Katsura secretly meets up with Ichinose again to give him some notes about Titanosaurus. She is beginning to fall in love with the marine biologist and begs him not to go looking for Titanosaurus. He ignores her warnings and goes anyway. Katsura tries to convince him otherwise over the phone, but the aliens stop her. They remind her that she is actually a cyborg. She nearly died years ago but the aliens saved her by turning her into a cyborg. They brainwash her into doing their bidding. While searching, Ichinose discovers that Titanosaurus has a weakness to supersonic waves. He tells this to Katsura, who reports it to her father. He scoffs, thinking Titanosaurus invincible. He decides to let Titanosaurus loose on the mainland.

Titanosaurus arrives on the mainland, and fights the military and easily disposes of them. The military tries to use the super sonic wave weapon, but they find that someone has sabotaged and cut the wires. Fortunately, Godzilla arrives on the scene and does battle with Titanosaurus. while this is happening, Murakoshi and othe