Toho Kingdom

Thank you to those who explained their reasons for loving this movie. I don't think I appreciated the effects work and the narrative originality in Biollante enough before, and I can see why fans typically rank this as the best of the Heisei series. Hell, I might even agree with that ranking, although I don't exactly hold the Heisei series in very high regard. I think the ending of Biollante will always leave a bad taste in my mouth, but the rest of the movie is pretty excellent, so I guess I'll just have to learn to live with that.

For you young 'uns out there, the release of Biollante on home video in 1992, without fanfare, was like being lost in the woods and finding a compass to a young Godzilla fan. It had been seven years since Godzilla 1985 was released and Biollante's 1992 release was the first indication for many people, myself included, that Toho was still making Godzilla films. It would be a long six years before newer Godzilla films were released stateside, so Biollante holds very strong memories for me.

Exactly.

It’s also just a damned good film with some of the best effects in the series.

For me, it really is the perfect Godzilla film

JAGzilla wrote:That scene with the psychic kids and the drawings of their dreams deserves a mention.

That’s such an effective moment. The innocence of the children, who have no concept of what their visions bode for Japan, juxtaposed with the adults, whose worst fears have been confirmed before their eyes. After 5 peaceful years, Godzilla is alive- and he’s coming back.

The atmosphere has to be mentioned, too. The whole movie has this seedy, grungy look and feel to it. Biollante is spectacularly beautiful and frightening at the same time. I love the deep reds, the earthy tones, the grain of the film stock. Humans fight for their lives in cold concrete settings, whether they’re violently murdering each other, or making a sacrificial stand against Godzilla himself. It’s memorable stuff, to say the least.

The final battle is too short, there’s no debating that. Biollante ends up being much less formidable than she looks, getting a hole blasted through her head right before Godzilla succumbs to his anemia. That one unused ending, with Biollante bursting into a massive field of multicolored giant roses, and Godzilla looking at them confusedly before leaving without harming them, should’ve probably been kept.

But still, the movie we got is one of the best in the series. That, and it has a little bit of everything that makes a textbook Godzilla movie. It has sci-fi, fantasy, cheese, good special effects, not-so-good special effects, Engrish, drama, gunfights, beam spam, military assaults, crumbling buildings, tooth-and-claw brawling, and social commentary. It neatly encapsulates the appeal of Godzilla, without really trying to. I love Godzilla vs. Biollante.