Unpopular Godzilla Opinions

[Cryptid_Liker]

The problem with using animatronics like this is that they are expensive as hell to build, and are not always guaranteed to work properly- case and point, the T. rex animatronic nearly going kapoot because of the rain causing it to malfunction. JP managed to work as good as it did because of the much more intimate and suspensful approach, but the MV films have intense action sequences that simply cannot be pulled off by animatronics in the way they were shot and designed.

Now, don't get me wrong, animatronics in these films would have been absolutely fantastic for close counter shots and a blend like JP could have been sweet- but with how the monster scenes in the films go I just can't visualize an overly prominent usage of them.

I probably should have worded things better. The Shin method is a better description (even though the animatronic was scrapped in that film). Use motion capture for the fights, animatronics for more passive scenes like the final roar of G14 and the submarine scene from KOTM.

[Kaiju-Killer 751]

I probably should have worded things better. The Shin method is a better description (even though the animatronic was scrapped in that film). Use motion capture for the fights, animatronics for more passive scenes like the final roar of G14 and the submarine scene from KOTM.

Didn't they use motion capture to help portray/animate Ichi, Ni, and San/Kevin in Godzilla: King Of The Monsters? I think I saw that somewhere but I could be wrong.

[SoggyNoodles2016]

I probably should have worded things better. The Shin method is a better description (even though the animatronic was scrapped in that film). Use motion capture for the fights, animatronics for more passive scenes like the final roar of G14 and the submarine scene from KOTM.

Didn't they use motion capture to help portray/animate Ichi, Ni, and San/Kevin in Godzilla: King Of The Monsters? I think I saw that somewhere but I could be wrong.

Every kaiju but Mothra and the guys from the end(Maybe they did but I haven't found a source on them) were made with motion capture. Fight scenes as well.

[Kaiju-Killer 751]

Every kaiju but Mothra and the guys from the end(Maybe they did but I haven't found a source on them) were made with motion capture. Fight scenes as well.

Well, it's not exactly an animatronic or nothing, but Mo-Cap's pretty cool!

[SoggyNoodles2016]

Every kaiju but Mothra and the guys from the end(Maybe they did but I haven't found a source on them) were made with motion capture. Fight scenes as well.

Well, it's not exactly an animatronic or nothing, but Mo-Cap's pretty cool!

Yeah, I think its a neat way to keep suit acting alive in the CGI age

[Kaiju-Killer 751]

Yeah, I think its a neat way to keep suit acting alive in the CGI age

Beyond, of course, TOHO's suitmation...and maybe Daiei or a third person project or something.

[Ivo-goji]

The Monsterverse films were made with a lot more sincere love and affection for the Godzilla universe than most of the Millennium series entries.

Which isn't to say I think the Millennium series is just cynical cash grab movies or anything like that, just that the general thrust of that era felt a lot more marketing driven than the Monsterverse does.

[Kaiju-Killer 751]

The Monsterverse films were made with a lot more sincere love and affection for the Godzilla universe than most of the Millennium series entries.

Which isn't to say I think the Millennium series is just cynical cash grab movies or anything like that, just that the general thrust of that era felt a lot more marketing driven than the Monsterverse does.

As a fan of the Millennium series, I honestly can understand this. It has that whole 'edgy' vibe to it, and the designs of the monsters SCREAM of 'BUY THIS ACTION FIGURE' (ie LIMITED EDITION MEGAGUIRUS VINYL, GODZILLA VS ZILLA FINAL WARS ACTION BATTLE SET) Kiryu being a big offender with his Maser Blade, Jetpack, Battle Pack, and all his other neat little gagets and gizmos (I still like him a lot, but as my 24 inch toy will attest to he's practically MADE for marketing). It's just all VERY Toyetic.

Meanwhile, Monsterverse stuff is harder to make kid's toys or marketing off of, at least to the same degree as stuff like the Millennium or maybe Heisei era-but as a result you're able to focus more on building the world around you and creating an ecosystem rather than just making Godzilla action figures or battle sets or whatever. And I think that's been really good for the era.

[HedorahIsBestGirl]

The 90s Heisei movies are the most guilty of being soulless and marketing driven. They honestly feel like 100 minute Bandai commercials. I don’t feel that way about the Millennium films.

[Voyager]

The 90s Heisei movies are the most guilty of being soulless and marketing driven. They honestly feel like 100 minute Bandai commercials. I don’t feel that way about the Millennium films.

YoU wAnT sOmE tRenDmAsTeRs?

[Ivo-goji]

The only Heisei series movie I could call soulless is Godzilla vs SpaceGodzilla, and, maybe, GvsMGII. Not Godzilla vs Mothra, and absolutely not Godzilla vs King Ghidorah or Godzilla vs Destoroyah.

[Terasawa]

I wouldn’t necessarily call any of the Heisei era (1989-2019) live action Godzilla movies “soulless,” but certainly not the majority of the Millennium films.

[UltramanGoji]

I don't think there's even a single Godzilla movie I would call "soulless". Hell, there's barely any movies period that I would call "soulless". The only exception would be like, any of the Sharknado movies.

[Godzilla21]

Heisei > Millennium

I'd watch SG over all of them beside GMK.

[Gigantis]

Honestly, Tokyo S.O.S is the most soulles Godzilla film, because it doesn't even try to have fun with the concept. Godzilla vs. Mothra and GVMG2 is close behind.

[LSD Jellyfish]

I stated this before, but there's nothing wrong or soulless with the Heisei or Millennium series, just that it became "let's become super fanservicey", "planned" and "safe" versus "let's make anything as original as the Showa series". Many of the Showa entries were accidents, or altered heavily then their original intention. Swapping out Kong for Godzilla, adding and removing monsters due to suit limitations, using stock footage due to budgetary constraints, etc...A lot of the time it resulted in happy accidents. The Heisei and Millennium series was when Toho realized they had a marketable product. The films became less about writing a good story that features monsters as an important plot element, and more that everything should explicitly take a backseat to Godzilla fighting a monster. This isn't to say merchandise wasn't made for the previous films or that the Show era, didn't have a lot of Versus entries but this is when you start to get the over-satuation and standardized stories that rehash the same old.

It happens due to Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah and Mothra's success. It's why those two monsters always appear. Godzilla vs. Biollante and Ghidorah feature those two monsters in the climax and at critical moments, for sure but both films have really extensive plots that go beyond just what Godzilla Is fighting or monsters. They also take time to build up and get started. Then when they try to do different things, like GXmegagurius, the films get lukewarm box office and critical reception, pushing them into "Let's have Godzilla fight Ghidorah and Mothra and Kiryu and Mothra and Keizer Ghidorah" and maybe if we are lucky, Hedorah and Ebirah might appear for two seconds, maybe. I love GMK, and I think Ghidorah and Mothra actually fit nicely in the film, but knowing the backstory makes you realize how much executive tampering and marketing is being done here, rather than let's just let the people make movies.

I think that's why Shin's designs and choices really excite me. They allowed for some creativity (and not to the point that it was unrecognizable, I do think some creative oversight is important), but they didn't do anything super safe.

[Kaiju-Killer 751]

I don't think there's even a single Godzilla movie I would call "soulless". Hell, there's barely any movies period that I would call "soulless". The only exception would be like, any of the Sharknado movies.

I'm sure some folks might call GODZILLA (1998) soulless, which isn't inherently wrong. GINO doesn't have Godzilla's spirit in the way he/she/it acts or moves or fights- and it also has a LOT of unlikable characters-sometimes entertaining, but still a lot of them are unlikable. Audrey's the biggest offender, but even Mayor Ebert and Assistant Gene, while both having at least some funny moments or lines, were still obvious parodies and not utilized in any meaningful way.

A lot of the characters could have stood to been stomped, eaten, or lit ablaze by GINO's Power Breath, with the aforementioned monster having been able to at least escape or survive-I mean, he survives two nuclear torpedoes but then dies to F-18 Hornet missiles; The novel I think mentioned his armor was blasted off and still regrowing, but even still, that's a big difference unless he was being shot by Bunker Busters or Tomahawk Missiles or something like that. Admittedly not TERRIBLE durability for something so lightweight and lightly built, but not nearly Godzilla level durability and he still spends most of the movie running away despite him being able to shrug off the high caliber fire and tank shells-you'd think he'd realize 'Wait a minute, I can just kill these guys' .

I still like it-plus the animated show that resulted from it was GREAT, but it was based around marketing from the whole Ad Campaign to the toyline and the games they made-it was very much a merchandise driven film meant to make as much money as it could by Roland Emmerich and Dean Devlin.

I stated this before, but there's nothing wrong or soulless with the Heisei or Millennium series, just that it became "let's become super fanservicey", "planned" and "safe" versus "let's make anything as original as the Showa series". Many of the Showa entries were accidents, or altered heavily then their original intention. Swapping out Kong for Godzilla, adding and removing monsters due to suit limitations, using stock footage due to budgetary constraints, etc...A lot of the time it resulted in happy accidents. The Heisei and Millennium series was when Toho realized they had a marketable product. The films became less about writing a good story that features monsters as an important plot element, and more that everything should explicitly take a backseat to Godzilla fighting a monster. This isn't to say merchandise wasn't made for the previous films or that the Show era, didn't have a lot of Versus entries but this is when you start to get the over-satuation and standardized stories that rehash the same old.

It happens due to Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah and Mothra's success. It's why those two monsters always appear. Godzilla vs. Biollante and Ghidorah feature those two monsters in the climax and at critical moments, for sure but both films have really extensive plots that go beyond just what Godzilla Is fighting or monsters. They also take time to build up and get started. Then when they try to do different things, like GXmegagurius, the films get lukewarm box office and critical reception, pushing them into "Let's have Godzilla fight Ghidorah and Mothra and Kiryu and Mothra and Keizer Ghidorah" and maybe if we are lucky, Hedorah and Ebirah might appear for two seconds, maybe. I love GMK, and I think Ghidorah and Mothra actually fit nicely in the film, but knowing the backstory makes you realize how much executive tampering and marketing is being done here, rather than let's just let the people make movies.

I think that's why Shin's designs and choices really excite me. They allowed for some creativity (and not to the point that it was unrecognizable, I do think some creative oversight is important), but they didn't do anything super safe.

Shin is definitely a major departure from the King Of The Monster's usual look-Granted, ShodaiGoji/Goji'54 was meant to be kinda monstrous or look mutated or even burned, but he was still, y'know, a big dinosaur lookin' creature-plus later on this angle was dropped in the later eras to be just however they needed or wanted him to be portrayed. So having the more realistic burns, anatomy, design and origins were definitely a bold move on the part of the creators; Admittedly one that led to a lot of debate and arguing, but you can't fault them for trying to make Godzilla a unique new look. My only problem with Shin was it felt like they were making a whole 'tail measuring contest' on who can make the biggest, baddest and strongest Godzilla-Giving him multiple atomic breaths and super size and strength and whatever, but I'm over it now and I enjoy Shin on his own merits and abilities, especially considering he's not really the reason behind this trend, or even the product necessarily.

I also agree with the idea that we just get a lot of shit for the sake of pleasing fans that Godzilla has to act a certain set way, and fight the most popular or famous monsters all the time; It's definitely kind of formulaic, and ties slightly in with my frustration that Godzilla always seems to pull sudden new strength out from nowhere and effortlessly destroy anything in his path with all different kinds of Atomic Breath, or that he is invincible and nothing can even scratch him (tanks a nuke, and a volcano, and a meteorite in his various media appearances) and that he's got incredible reflexes and strength and is unbeatable. Admittedly, this is an issue with Composite Godzilla more than anything, but even so seeing him destroy the entire Greek God pantheon, traipsing through Hell itself or blowing up planets and then seeing people take it like gospel is frustrating, because once a character reaches such a peak where do they go from there? I don't think Godzilla needs to be nearly a thousand feet tall or to be the biggest, baddest and bestest monster ever-the Anime Trilogy only got away with it because at that point Godzilla had been around for literal thousands of years, probably more, and he still had a few weaknesses-But even then I'm not a humongous fan of it because of how far we have to suspend belief or how suddenly Godzilla's fighting enemies who cross over from another dimensional plane of existence. It just sorta cheapens any threat, tension, or really anything related to build-up and suspense if Godzilla is suddenly breezing through screeonking everything because they're so dang strong.

Admittedly, you kind of have to have Godzilla win-He's the 'hero' so to speak, and heroes aren't really allowed to lose except in special circumstances, not like there wouldn't be a legendary poopshow if Godzilla was beaten or, heaven forbid, DIES. So it's understandable, but it's so expected at this point that you can't really think anything else, especially considering Godzilla's been fighting the same rogues gallery for years now. In addition, I think in certain circumstances, a really strong Godzilla with good stats in every category (ie he's very big and strong and tough, but has no noticeable drawbacks like slow speed or being less agile or tiring) if two major conditions are met; (1) The world around him is scaled and buffed to match this insane strength, with even 'lesser' Kaiju at least able to make him sweat a bit or people able to keep him at bay, even if they can't hurt him or kill him, and (2) Godzilla is made a compelling monster with believable actions or something to make people at least understand his motives, so probably nothing to do with killing immortal gods or blowing up entire planes of existence unless he has a reason to, not just because they're THERE or the age old excuse 'Force of nature'. Mostly, this just comes down to good writing, and at the end of the day this is just my long whiny rant about my issues with Godzilla. I'm still gonna be watching his movies or reading his comics of my own volition, and if you like Godzilla a certain way or believe he NEEDS to be super strong or tough, that's great! But I agree with LSD Jellyfish that Godzilla could benefit from branching out more and not just doing the same song and dance he's been doing with the same allies and enemies for the past decade or so.

[Moogabunga]

I think this is more of an unpopular opinion, but I'm not sure; but after just watching Godzilla: Final Wars again, I strongly believe Godzilla's design in that is the best of the entire Toho series

[_JNavs_]

Definitely the most stream-lined. Makes top 10 just for that alone.

[Cryptid_Liker]

I think this is more of an unpopular opinion, but I'm not sure; but after just watching Godzilla: Final Wars again, I strongly believe Godzilla's design in that is the best of the entire Toho series

It does look pretty good and I don't get the "rat face" complaint at all.