What do you like or dislike about Godzilla vs. Destoroyah?

[Godzillian]

I really dislike how most the human cast ends up just watching everything happen in a control room for most of the film

[GojiDog]

Honestly, Godzilla Vs. Destroyah might be my 2nd favorite entry behind the original film. I'm a big fan of it.

The thing I like most about the film is the ticking timebomb aspect of Godzilla's state. Everyone is just desperately scrambling to come up with some way to prevent his death from taking out the Earth and that kind of made it different from the usual "stop the monster" scenario. The constant ticking upward of Godzilla's body temperature made the situation more tense.

I also liked the sense of finality to the film. If this truly had been the final Godzilla film, it would have been a great ending, especially with so many connections to the original film to serve as a bookend to the series. Its funny that Final Wars tried really hard to be the grand finale, but felt overstuffed. This one got it right by focusing on the history and the significance of the character of Godzilla rather than cramming everything they possibly could into it. Really all you needed was references to the Yamane family and the Oxygen Destroyer, and that provided the film with its set up.

It also has the right emotional moments, like Godzilla mourning the loss of his son, Miki Segusa getting to say goodbye to Godzilla, and Godzilla's own death which was handled about as perfectly as one would hope. Also, major points to this film for having the best Son of Godzilla ever. He actually looks like his dad and has grown into quite the capable fighter!

Destroyah is also one of my favorite monsters created for the Heisei series. His final form looks amazing. I can't help but feel like Chernabog from Fantasia was an inspiration. And all the smaller forms are neat little designs too. There is a little Hedorah in there (basic concept of smaller creatures evolving and combining to form one larger one), Xenomorph, and I detect a hint of Lovecraft as well. Great design, and after he kills Godzilla Jr, I just hated his guts and want Godzilla to blow him up good, which is what you want out of a climactic monster battle. And as a final opponent, it is perfect to put Godzilla up against something that evolved from the only weapon that was ever successful in killing one of his kind, the Oxygen Destroyer, especially for a final film.

To further tie into the original film, I love that after 40 years, we finally get a payoff to Serasawa's original fears being realized. He feared that unleashing the Oxygen Destroyer would create something much worse, and sure enough, it eventually did, further adding to his tragedy. His sacrificial death did not prevent the terrible nature of the Oxygen Destroyer from being unleashed.

Also, props to this film for creating one of the most iconic Godzilla designs with the Burning look. It just looks fantastic, makes sense within the context of the film, and can never really be used again by any other film without it being a ripoff. If you see those glowing red patches, you know exactly which Godzilla film you're watching.

And because I am a sucker for that kind of stuff, it was cool to see a Super X-III. Mechs are great and all, but I really liked the Super X and Super X-2 from earlier in the series, and it was nice to get back to having something like that in the series. Freezing lasers ranks up there as one of the most ludicrous sci-fi elements in the series, but I kind of love that nonsense. I'm a fan of the Dimension Tide as well, knowing full well how silly it is, lol.

And finally, as a final score from Akira Ifukube, I think he hit it out of the park. The main titles to this film rank among his best work, and his Requiem for Godzilla was beyond perfect to the point that I can't imagine any other piece of music accompanying the scene.

Stuff I didn't like? Well...

As per usual in the Heisei series, there were elements of poor special effects work, like that one shot of Godzilla Jr being carried by Destroyah.

And while I love the designs of the earlier Destroyah forms, the obvious references to the Xenomorphs are a bit on the nose. We could have done without the extended jaw.

Did we really need a second psychic character aside from Miki? Miki's losing her powers because of...reasons, but I think it works just fine without shoehorning another character in there, especially since she doesn't really do anything.

And this is a nitpick, but couldn't Godzilla have killed Destroyah? Come on! Just let him blast the bugger out of the sky and roast his corpse right before his big death scene. Oh well, I guess its nice that after all these years, the military FINALLY killed one, lol.

[PitchBlackProgress]

I dislike every aspect of it, with the exception of the idea of Godzilla melting down, but even then, the execution was shit.

[SoggyNoodles2016]

The only things I dislike are the asinine descions the humans make and the fact Omori and Okawara created the only fight in the Heisei series where you are emotionally invested in what happens and instead of giving an emotionally satisfying ending, copped out and let the military end the fight instead.

[Mr_Goji_and_Watch]

Like: The soundtrack is pretty good for the most part, and when the effects are good, they're pretty damn good.

Dislike: None of the characters are worth mentioning, any connections to the original film go to waste, and Destoroyah's motif gets old real quick. Most of the time the effects are either disappointing or just straight up bad. It's a lot of squandered potential, and basically represents the problems with the Heisei series past 1991.

[eabaker]

None of the characters are worth mentioning, any connections to the original film go to waste

These two points walk frustratingly hand-in-hand, most notably in the character of Kenichi Yamane, who really should be one of the most interesting aspects of the movie, but simply fails to contribute anything of particular significance.

[HillyHulk]

I like Destoroyah itself: it looks awesome, its forms are cool (the final form especially), and it's an absolute beast of a fighter. Its easily my second favorite Kaiju (behind Godzilla himself). Also, its origin was creative in connecting what started Godzilla's legacy to its final adversary (of this era, anyway).

[GodzillaBurgh]

Like: I consider this movie to be the perfect finale for the Godzilla series. Lots of fantastic callbacks to the original, a monster spawned from the very same device that killed the first Godzilla: awesome concept.

Dislike: I wish they incorporate some footage of the original ending where Godzilla continues to beat the living hell out of Destoroyah as he reaches his meltdown as Destoroyah melts with him. I like the ending in the film, But I wish this makes Godzilla's death more impact in BOTH awe and sadness.

[PitchBlackProgress]

I hate how everything and everyone relating to the first film or Oxygen Destroyer is COMPLETELY wasted or underutilized.

I hate how boring the film overall is. Even the fights (save for Junior vs. Destroyah) are awfully choreographed and the farthest thing from amazing, which is sad for the “supposed” end of the Godzilla franchise.
Idk, DAM gave us a great battle, why couldn’t Destroyah?

[HedorahIsBestGirl]

Like: Destoroyah's design (in all forms), both kaiju fights, Ifukube's score, the emotional death of Godzilla scene, the dark tone, most of the special effects work
Dislike: The useless human cast, the anti-climactic ending of the final battle, Destoroyah's weak tie-in to the Oxygen Destroyer

I used to think this was the third best Godzilla film, right after the original and GMK. Now I'm thinking I may have overrated it. There are some very strong aspects to this film, but it's far from flawless. While most of the Heisei films after Biollante had kind of bland human casts, this one is particularly weak (although still a lot better than Space Godzilla). Destoroyah is an awesome-looking monster, but making it a spawn of the Oxygen Destroyer feels forced. Also, Hedorah is just better-realized Destoroyah. I still think this film is strong for the Heisei series, but maybe that's not saying much because the Heisei series is pretty weak overall. Right now, I'd rank this film behind half of the Showa series, GMK and Shin Gojira for sure. Maybe Biollante and MG2 as well. Still a pretty good Godzilla film, but with more flaws than I once recognized.

[BlankAccount]

The fact some of the effects are bad and the lackluster tone overall is "eh, Godzilla on the rampage again, must be Tuesday". Godzilla is gonna die, can we actually treat this like a special movie for all of it and not just the last 5 minutes when he actually dies?

[Omegazilla]

I like it overall. While it could have been a better conclusion, it feels MUCH more conclusive than ToMG and GFW ever did. Dessy is a magnificent villain, even if he looks stiff as a board. Having Godzilla Jr. was a nice touch, especially in his role at the tail-end of the film. I also like how this film ties together the very first Godzilla movie with the Oxygen Destroyer's link with Dessy. I also love Godzilla's meltdown incarnation. He's like a glowing red giant star, in the sense he just gets more destructive right before he dies. Both Burning Godzilla and Des have become iconic monsters in their own right and rightfully so. A shame the scenes that got deleted didn't make it in the official cut because I thought the original ending along with Des' chest beam would have been awesome in the final film.

[Terasawa]

While it could have been a better conclusion, it feels MUCH more conclusive than ToMG and GFW ever did.

TOMG wasn’t intended to be a concluding entry in the series. GFW wasn’t really either; it was more like a celebration of the franchise as a whole.

[eabaker]

While it could have been a better conclusion, it feels MUCH more conclusive than ToMG and GFW ever did.

TOMG wasn’t intended to be a concluding entry in the series. GFW wasn’t really either; it was more like a celebration of the franchise as a whole.

Though I'd actually say TOMG feels as much like a conclusion in its own way, but less self-consciously (obviously) than GvsD. And because it's not designed as a conclusion, it's able to focus more on its own story.

While there's a lot that I like about GvsD, it's a very busy movie, trying very hard to present itself as a significant, epic event, and when it fails to live up to that, it's a bit disappointing.

[mikelcho]

I like it overall. While it could have been a better conclusion, it feels MUCH more conclusive than ToMG and GFW ever did. Dessy is a magnificent villain, even if he looks stiff as a board. Having Godzilla Jr. was a nice touch, especially in his role at the tail-end of the film. I also like how this film ties together the very first Godzilla movie with the Oxygen Destroyer's link with Dessy. I also love Godzilla's meltdown incarnation. He's like a glowing red giant star, in the sense he just gets more destructive right before he dies. Both Burning Godzilla and Des have become iconic monsters in their own right and rightfully so. A shame the scenes that got deleted didn't make it in the official cut because I thought the original ending along with Des' chest beam would have been awesome in the final film.

I forgot, what was the original ending to this film and is it currently available on YouTube (along with the chest beam scene)?

And did you know that, in addition to the Burning Godzilla figure from Bandai Creation/Bandai USA, there was also going to be a Meltdown Godzilla figure that somewhat resembled the Burning Godzilla one, but was all bright orange? It was going to be released solely as one of the figures in the Godzilla Fusion Series subset (meaning that there wasn't going to be a matching regular figure) but, for unknown reasons, it was announced but never released. I'll just bet that you wish that you had that one in your collection!

[Omegazilla]

TOMG wasn’t intended to be a concluding entry in the series. GFW wasn’t really either; it was more like a celebration of the franchise as a whole.

Yes that much I know. I was pointing out the reality, not what was actually intended.

I forgot, what was the original ending to this film and is it currently available on YouTube (along with the chest beam scene)?

Sure I found the chest beam scene, albeit with mediocre quality:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vhmNsBGQQ0c

The reason why you don't actually see the beam is because they couldn't afford to do the post production work on it I believe. However it is neat you can see that it was intended for Godzilla's retaliatory beam attack to punch a hole clear through Des!

I remember seeing the original ending somewhere on Youtube but can't find it now so I am not sure if it is still up. Personally I would prefer if both deleted scenes had made it to the final movie.

And did you know that, in addition to the Burning Godzilla figure from Bandai Creation/Bandai USA, there was also going to be a Meltdown Godzilla figure that somewhat resembled the Burning Godzilla one, but was all bright orange? It was going to be released solely as one of the figures in the Godzilla Fusion Series subset (meaning that there wasn't going to be a matching regular figure) but, for unknown reasons, it was announced but never released. I'll just bet that you wish that you had that one in your collection!

Sounds pretty awesome a shame it never got released.

[LSD Jellyfish]

Destroyah is well executed, the monster starts out small, and innocuous and gradually becomes a bigger threat. I like the aquarium scene. I like the scene with the troops versus the small one, and the car scene. I like how the military later blasts them away, only for them to grow into the big version. I like how the adult Destroyah savagely kills Junior and has a really good fight with Godzilla.

Godzilla Junior and Godzilla are handled well. The monsters get enough screentime. The issue is really the characters. I remember always actively hating the otaku dude that winds up agreeing just because Miki is there. Speaking of Miki, she barely does anything, and is paired with the random American psychic who is also pointless. Despite the dire nature of what is unfolding, Godzilla causing a cataclysmic event, it doesn't feel like they're taking it seriously. The other issue is that the oxygen destroyer stuff comes off as a gimmick. You could remove that aspect of the monster and it would be relatively the same. All the historical calbacks are sort of pointless.

[Gigantis]

Well for one the giant crustacean himself (or her,whatever ) has an absolutely fantastic design created. But besides that he's kinda just the typical Heisei Era Godzilla enemy. Bulky as Skreoonk, spams beam and causes the fight to drag on for eternity.

Junior also has a nice design to him,and Burning Godzilla is just one cool glowing ball of death. However the human characters don't so much,and the Aggregate forms are clearly just ripping off Aliens, but still a cool scene. And of course,Godzilla's death makes me choke up every time. Still wish we had a follow up movie to continue Juniors story.

[LSD Jellyfish]

Recently I have been working on a translation of a manga adaptation of Godzilla vs. Destoroyah (look at the comics thread).

I think what's interesting, is that the manga, by accident, shows how negligible the humans are in terms of the overall plot. In a span of 18 or so pages, most of the plot is intact, and yet most of the characters only appear for a panel or two.

In fact, in some ways, the manga is noticeably tonally darker, by removing a lot of the fluff the film has.

[Desghidorah]

Like
-It's a nice conclusion to the Heisei saga and franchise as a whole
-Destoroyah's forms all look great to me and the juvenile and aggregate forms are a nice return of non-standard kaiju designs after years of suits and 'kites'.
-Godzilla Junior finally looking like a young Godzilla
-A well made, knockdown drag out brawl
-Heck, I like all of Destoroyah's forms
-The human characters are mostly well handled aside from the Otaku scientist crushing on Miki being headtilting.


Dislike
-Soundtrack is just 'okay' to me, I feel Destoroyah has an inferior individual theme song to the likes of Biollante, Mechagodzilla, and Spacegodzilla
-Destoroyah's final form is the apex of bulky thunder-thighed 90s suits and does make the physical fights a bit awkward, too boolky