Least Favorite '70's Godzilla film

[GigaGoji]

To be honest, I actually enjoyed the cast of GODZILLA VS. GIGAN, just as I love the characters in GODZILLA VS. THE SEA MONSTER. The special effects, besides MEGALON, is the most lackluster, especially the King Ghidorah prop.

To me, Gigan has the second best cast out of the 70s films. I enjoy the protagonist quite a bit.

[GojiraGuy2016]

Is it really wrong to ignore the weaknesses of movies and love them all the way they are?
But if I had to pick one, it would be Godzilla vs. Megalon.

[Maritonic]

Is it really wrong to ignore the weaknesses of movies and love them all the way they are?
But if I had to pick one, it would be Godzilla vs. Megalon.

Not at all. I love the entire franchise. Doesn't mean we can't discuss weaknesses.

[GojiraGuy2016]

I see. I recognize movie weaknesses, but they are not bothering me. For example. Yesterday I had the chance to watch GUNHED (1989) in Japanese with subs + the movie in it's entirety for the first time: the telling of the story was so slow, but the visuals and the designs kept me watching.

I only wondered why it happened, still a unique movie which I enjoyed very, very much.

[tbeasley]

No one should make you feel bad for enjoying a movie.

[gojira96]

I can't believe I voted for Hedorah on this several years back. I'd definitely vote for Megalon now.

[KillCrites]

I quite enjoy all of the 70s Godzilla movies, Hedorah & Gigan are actually some of my favorites, but Megalon I definitely enjoy the least

[KaijuCanuck]

Its a tough question. Megaton is definitely the worst movie, but I personally enjoy how stupid it is.

Maybe Gigan is my least favourite? I still enjoy it, it has some great Ifukube tracks and everything with Gigan is great, but it’s annoying how it seems like they just used Ghidorah and Anguirus so they could use a bunch of stock footage. Outside of AMA, where the stock footage is kind of the point, I’m always disappointed by stock footage and in GvG it’s just very in your face.

Megalon admitidedly is also like that... but Jet Jaguar, amirite?

[YouTube]https://youtu.be/7cxV8Bf8ND4[/YouTube]

[LegendZilla]

How was it that the late film critic Vincent Canby actually gave Godzilla Vs Megalon a positive review, yet negative ones to both G'85 and GTTHM, two of the more respected films in the series?

[KaijuCanuck]

How was it that the late film critic Vincent Canby actually gave Godzilla Vs Megalon a positive review, yet negative ones to both G'85 and GTTHM, two of the more respected films in the series?

Maybe he’s just one of those ‘stupid’ people you hear about every now and then.

[eabaker]

How was it that the late film critic Vincent Canby actually gave Godzilla Vs Megalon a positive review, yet negative ones to both G'85 and GTTHM, two of the more respected films in the series?

If one approaches this genre with an assumption that the movies are garbage, one will find oneself liking the ones that are obviously garbage more than the well-crafted entries, because the well-crafted entries will function according to mechanics one cannot grasp, whereas the obvious garbage will feel like the movies performing at the expected level.

[Zarm]

To be fair, from my perspective, I find RoG poorly-paced, tonally inconsistent, and with Godzilla's rampage a rather poorly-done and incongruous entry. That's not to say that the political story doesn't work, there aren't some great moments (like the ethereal post-nuclear twilight), and so forth. Whereas vs. Megalon, in the right mood, is quite entertaining. It certainly has the longest kaiju battle that I'm aware of (which in the wrong mood, can be wearing)- but Jet Jaguar is awesome, and for all its insanity, it is a certain amount of fun. If I'm watching these two films not for 'which is the better crafted entry,' but for 'which one would I be more likely to pull out and watch on a rainy afternoon'- for pure entertainment value- I can see Megalon as a winner and RoG as a loser. (GtTHM I can't speak to, as I haven't observed it in those terms or watched in nearly as often, while I've had cause for 3-4 rewatches of each of the other two in the last year).

I don't think it necessarily requires an expectation of garbage or cheese- just an expectation of entertainment rather than high art. (Which may well account for those of us, too, who prefer G14 over Shin). It all dpeends on what you're judging a movie on, or looking for out of it- but I can see categories there which vs. Megalon has, but '85 doesn't.

[GojiDog]

Godzilla Vs. Megalon, easily.

And I hate to rag on it because alot of people do. It does have a campy appeal to it with elements like Jet Jaguar, but the production as a whole feels lazily slapped together and far to derivative of other Japanese TV shows at the time to stand on its own.

Also, Megalon is one of my least favorite Godzilla opponents. Toho was typically pretty good about making the monsters look like what they were supposed to look like. For example, Kumonga looked like a Spider. Kamacuras looked like a mantis, and so on. Megalon is supposed to be a beetle, but is far too humanoid in shape, and only has four limbs, so he comes off looking more like a Power Rangers villain in that he looks like a guy in a suit with a bug mask. But beyond that, his behavior was off, to say the least. So he's supposed to be the monster god of this underground world, but they need a robot to guide him to places to destroy? I mean shouldn't the god be able to destroy at will and just tear through anything in his path? And if he doesn't have the robot to guide him, he just bounces around aimlessly? WHAT?!

But the biggest issue I had with this was the over reliance on stock footage. That was something that ruined Godzilla's Revenge (among other things) and severely hurt Godzilla Vs. Gigan. I can accept a lot of things with these movies, but reusing old footage just feels lazy and doesn't have the charm to it that other campy elements do. I guess that's the difference between this film and Godzilla Vs. Hedorah. GvH is campy, no question, but it feels sincere in its execution and everything is done to the fullest, whether it works or not, and that is charming. Gigan is in this movie just so they could reuse almost all of his footage from the last film. They gave Megalon a beam weapon identical to King Ghidorah's just so they could reuse old footage of him blowing up buildings.

Also hurting the film is that it is boring. Say what you will about Godzilla Vs. Gigan, but at least I kind of liked the Scooby Doo gang of characters that banded together against these aliens and they said things I remember. The pacing and execution feels like the pilot to a bad TV show. Nothing truly memorable happens until the big fight at the end, and even that is hampered by the aforementioned stock footage issues.

The best things about this movie are Jet Jaguar and some of the goofier monster moments in the climax. If the whole movie had been as colorful as say Godzilla's gravity defying dropkick or something as silly as Gigan threatening Godzilla not to come any closer or he'll cut Jaguar's head off, this could have worked as a fun and goofy camp fest. As is, it feels like a lazy effort with a couple of memorable silly moments that keep us from forgetting it.

[Jeff-Goldblum1]

I thought about this and was surprised with the result. Godzilla Vs Hedorah is insane, so that's my favorite. Godzilla Vs Megalon is too much fun, so that's in second place. I like Titanosaurus and Katsura the robot girl so Terror of Mechagodzilla is next.

So my bottom choice was probably going to be Godzilla Vs Gigan but then I remembered that movie has The Homework Monster and Mamagon, The Monster of Strict Mothers. So I am surprised with my own choice but after deduction my answer is Godzilla Vs Mechagodzilla.

[MinorBone Good]

Honestly, GvG for me. I love the ideas in the film but most are executed terribly. The idea of a theme park with a Godzilla tower is great, but the theme park around it looks lackluster for a kid. The monster 2v2 match idea is great, but the stock footage. Cockroach aliens that wear human skin, BUT other aliens have showed up, so it's not impressive. Then there is...Ghidorah flying.. and Godzilla and Anguirus talking. However, Gigan does slip through the cracks and is great! I also think the reveal of the Godzilla Tower being a secret weapon and can actually fire a laser beam from it's mouth is really cool. Overall, it has it's moments, most ideas fall flat.

[MandaSaurus]

Is it really wrong to ignore the weaknesses of movies and love them all the way they are?
But if I had to pick one, it would be Godzilla vs. Megalon.

Not at all. I love the entire franchise. Doesn't mean we can't discuss weaknesses.

True Dat. Megalon is a stellar monster, and JJ is a stellar hero, but the movie itself is rather weak. If Honda was helming it, it would've been a better movie...

[Monster X]

It was a hard pick between Gigan and Megalon but while both are not great Godzilla vs Megalon is easily the more inferior of the two.

Even though Gigan dose abuse stock footage, had a pretty bad budget and had the kaiju talking scenes, the characters are interesting and the plot has an ok mystery to it. The alien reveal is actually pretty cool in its own way.

Megealon.....look its a kaiju move, I'm not hear for world class story telling but its just bad. The cast is not great, the villains are just there and far from interesting and I almost always end up fast forwarding just to get to the monster fights. Megalon's saving grace is that the monster stuff absurdly great. The very powerful but dim-witted and childish Megalon who is worshipped as a god and the totally insanity that is Jet Jaguar (the robot that reprogrammed himself to turn into a giant). But thats what also makes it weaker as a film over all compared to Gigan. I totally don't care about anything else in the film.

[eabaker]

the kaiju talking scenes

To me, the kaiju communicating via dialogue balloons was a really nice fit with the manga theme of the movie. It's a shame that they didn't reproduce the effect for the U.S. release.

[Maritonic]

the kaiju talking scenes

To me, the kaiju communicating via dialogue balloons was a really nice fit with the manga theme of the movie. It's a shame that they didn't reproduce the effect for the U.S. release.

This this this this THIS.

It's always been such a gripe of mine that we've never seen the dialogue balloons in any U.S. Release.

As much as I love my blu-rays, I've often considered rebuying my entire collection as the straight up Japanese versions. Just for those little differences that haven't transferred over.

[Zarm]

the kaiju talking scenes

To me, the kaiju communicating via dialogue balloons was a really nice fit with the manga theme of the movie. It's a shame that they didn't reproduce the effect for the U.S. release.

This this this this THIS.

It's always been such a gripe of mine that we've never seen the dialogue balloons in any U.S. Release.

As much as I love my blu-rays, I've often considered rebuying my entire collection as the straight up Japanese versions. Just for those little differences that haven't transferred over.

Yes! Agreed! I really want a version where that is included.

...Actually, I would be surprised if our fan-edit community hasn't done that already.

...Actually, I could very easily do that if someone wants to help with ripping the blu-ray scene.