Overrated/Underrated Toho movies

[JVM]

The classic thread returns!

Most Overrated: Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack (2001)

A great film, but I feel too many people hold it candlelight next to the original as the franchise's best entry aside it. Don't get me wrong - I've grown to love GMK, but I just don't feel it's the best Godzilla has to offer besides the original.

Most Underrated: Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah (1991)

Always been my favorite Heisei film, although I haven't seen the eighties ones yet, but I feel it's too often overlooked due to the poor continuity in future movies, when on it's own it's a pretty fantastic entry.

[GotengoXGodzilla]

Overrated: The Return Of Godzilla.

Aside from the music, the film is pretty boring and dull. Nothing happens for the most part, and even Godzilla's attack is boring. Maybe its just the "I don't care. I'm just going to do this because I feel like it. Rawr." look on Godzilla's face.

Underrated: Godzilla vs. Megalon

Yeah, the plot and characters are stupid, but that's not the reason that you watch a Godzilla film like Godzilla vs. Megalon. You watch it to see giant monster fights, and see shit blow up. And that's what you get with Megalon. The plot maybe dumb, but the film itself is entertaining as hell.

[Gorosaurus Rex]

Overrated: The whole Hesei series
Still my least favorite Godzilla saga. It's just disappointing and slow paced. They are good, but it is not the best Godzilla series to date like many fans claim it to be.

Underrated: Godzillas Revenge
My least favorite Godzilla film, but still its not a bad movie.

[Red-Death Gigan]

Under-rated: Tokyo S.O.S.

Over-rated: Destroy All Monsters.

[Arrow]

Most Overrated: Godzilla vs. Biollante (1989)

How this went from one of the more underrated and overlooked Godzilla films to being the most overrated is beyond me. The monster action and the SPFX are great, but there's too many characters and subplots running around that you don't get time to truly appreciate them. Toho Godzilla films work better with a small cast in order to develop them properly within the time strain. Biollante simply tried to push too many human characters on the audience and it suffered because of that. The musical score doesn't fit the movie at all. The story tries to be complex, but I feel that it never really lives up to its potential.

Most Underrated: Godzilla's Revenge (1969)

I feel that most people never really give this film the chance it truly deserves. The story is endearing and one I think many could relate to. No, it isn't Godzilla's best hour, but I can appreciate it for what it is. It's not really much of a Godzilla movie as it is a movie that features him and Minilla as "guest stars". The stock footage can be irritating I suppose, but it honestly doesn't bother me. I think Godzilla's Revenge gets a lot more hate than it deserves, really. It's not perfect, but it's a fun movie. Gabara is a unique monster and I like that he's different from all of Godzilla's other opponents - like King Ghidorah or Mechagodzilla. He's not here to destroy the world or anything like that. He's an overgrown bully. I remember when I re-watched the movie, I found myself cheering when Minilla and Godzilla kicked his ass and sent him running. Ichrio goes through a good deal of development, something that most other Godzilla movies can't claim to have. I would even go as far to say that it's one of the better Godzilla movies made around that time.

[godzilla898]

Overrated: DAM
Not to great, except for the final fight. Quite entertaining with all the explosions and monsters. And Japan's aim stinks.

Underrated: TOM

[JVM]

I'm a little surprised by all of the Godzilla's Revenge/All Monsters Attack ones, as it seems to be undergoing a bit of a renaissance these days, like Friday the 13th Part V - once the most hated, it's now quite beloved.

[omgitsgodzilla]

Overrated: Godzilla vs. Biollante
Don't get me wrong, it's a great movie, and Biollante is one of the coolest monsters I've ever seen. The honest political expression doesn't hurt either. But seriously, all the orgasming over this movie gets old. It's good. We know.

Underrated: Godzilla Final Wars
Okay, yeah, it's not the best, it doesn't fit any specific continuity set before (but none of the Millennium flicks really did), the battles are too short, it's ripping off DAM... whatever. It's fun, it's big, it's Godzilla celebrating his 50th by fighting a shitload of monsters in one movie, and I think it's a damn good way to send the big guy out for a while.

[Darkness]

Overrated: Godzilla Tokyo SOS

This is one of my least favorites in the whole series. The fight just drags on long enough that I get bored with it halfway in. I didn't like any of the main characters at all and I still cannot stand how Godzilla is portrayed in it. He just stands around and lets himself get shot at and webbed up with an occassional trick attack such as tripping Kiryu to blast him with his ray in the face. A lot of people love this one, but it's just not very good to me.

Underrated: Godzilla Raids Again

I used to consider this to be one of my least favorites in the whole franchise, but after watching it again recently, it's really grown on me as a good movie. It's obviously not the greatest and there are plenty of other Godzilla movies that outshine it, but for what it is, it's pretty good.

[omgitsgodzilla]

Underrated: Godzilla Final Wars
Okay, yeah, it's not the best, it doesn't fit any specific continuity set before (but none of the Millennium flicks really did), the battles are too short, it's ripping off DAM... whatever. It's fun, it's big, it's Godzilla celebrating his 50th by fighting a shitload of monsters in one movie, and I think it's a damn good way to send the big guy out for a while.

I hope you're not serious.

I am serious. I'm not gonna go saying it's the best of all of them, because I hate it when people so that, but really, everyone saying it's so bad kind of annoys me. I don't think it's a great film, really, but it's more than satisfactory as a 50th anniversary celebration movie.

[GotengoXGodzilla]

Underrated: Godzilla Final Wars
Okay, yeah, it's not the best, it doesn't fit any specific continuity set before (but none of the Millennium flicks really did), the battles are too short, it's ripping off DAM... whatever. It's fun, it's big, it's Godzilla celebrating his 50th by fighting a shitload of monsters in one movie, and I think it's a damn good way to send the big guy out for a while.

I hope you're not serious.

I am serious. I'm not gonna go saying it's the best of all of them, because I hate it when people so that, but really, everyone saying it's so bad kind of annoys me. I don't think it's a great film, really, but it's more than satisfactory as a 50th anniversary celebration movie.

Oh, I wouldn't even go that far.

If it were a "satisfactory" way to celebrate Godzilla's 50th anniversary, then why does Godzilla not appear until past the halfway point in the film? Why are the fights so lame and short? Why is everything pretty much a rip-off of something else? Why did the hire Kitamura, a guy who clearly does not care for Godzilla? I think you get the point.

GFW was a very poor way to celebrate 50 years of Godzilla.

[omgitsgodzilla]

Okay, Jesus, I surrender...
Though I can definitely agree with some of your points, there's still something in the movie that makes it enjoyable to me. Make of that what you will, but I still find it fun, if not necessarily a "good" Godzilla movie.

[Ethan]

Overrated: The Mysterians, Godzilla vs. Biollante.
Underrated: All of Masaki Tezuka's films, Terror of Mechagodzilla.

[Malchik]

Overrated: The whole Millennium series
Still my least favorite Godzilla saga. It's just disappointing and slow paced. They are good, but it is not the best Godzilla series to date like many fans claim it to be.

Underrated: Godzillas Revenge
My least favorite Godzilla film, but still its not a bad movie.

I agree with the above statement.

[JVM]

Godzilla's Revenge isn't really underrated - I actually haven't seen anyone hate it in months.

GFW is underrated. It DOES suck, but it's not the WORST.

[JVM]

^ I've never used that as reasoning in years.

It's far from Godzilla's finest hour but it does have a few things to offer - if brief, the destruction scenes, particularly Rodan's coming to mind, are pretty well-done and don't just look like a monster super-imposed in the background with buildings in front. There's also a lot more variety in them - Rodan perches on a skyscraper, Ebirah attacks the refinery, etc. The monsters all get re-designs, including a lot of fan favorites who haven't appeared in ages - Anguirus, Hedorah and King Caesar, among others, get their first appearances in decades. We got the scene with Zilla as well, a more than fair redemption for the American remake. Captain Gordon's one of the best characters in the Millennium series.

All I'm trying to say right now is it's not the WORST, that's my goal here. I'd say it's better than Godzilla's Revenge and Godzilla 98 at the very least.

[omgitsgodzilla]

^This.
Seeing Zilla get pwned adds something for me, as well as Monster X (probably the coolest new monster of the Millennium series) and Keizer Ghidorah. I can understand why people don't like it (ripping off the Matrix, ripping off DAM, ripping off Astro-Monster), but overall, I think the things JVM listed above are pretty much what redeems it for me as well.

[KaijuSapian]

Overrated: Return of Godzilla

While I do get some enjoyment out of this one, I find that it just drags on for awhile. Plus there are moments were the suits eyes are cockeyed, which really distracts from the film. Just nitpicks really.

Underrated: Godzilla 2000

Funny how both of these films are the starters for their respective series. I just really enjoy this film. Plus it was the only Godzilla film I got to see in theaters. The dubs are good, Godzilla gets a great redesign, and as an added bonus we get Orga. Oh and let's not forget the always great "KANAGIRIIIIIIII!" line.

[Jamitor27]

Overrated: Not many but I think GMK. It's an entertaining movie but not amazing in my opinion.

Underrated: Godzilla vs Gigan. I know it's cheesy but I like Gigan and it's a fun movie.

Also GFW. It was fun for what it was and I think it gets more hate than it deserves.

There are a lot of underrated movies tho.

[Drunken Kong]

Overrated: DAM. Yeah the final fight scene is amazing, but as a whole, the movie is kinda boring.

Underrated: Godzilla vs. Megalon. Hey, f--k you. That's an awesome movie.