If one says Echo Bridge Home Entertainment, the instinct for many is to groan. The company has picked up a reputation for low quality, low effort, budget releases. The company's Godzilla vs. Biollante release is, thankfully, none of these qualities with the exception of being incredibly affordable at a very low price point. The effort placed into the release is notable from the minute the disc starts, featuring creative menus designs and touches that will make the film's fans smile. While the Blu-ray as a whole isn't particularly exemplary for what the format is capable of, held down a bit by decent video quality for the format, it does boast a great collection of audio options and some very interesting extras that make this a must own for fans of the title character.
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The creation process behind this Blu-ray is well documented, thanks to one of the Echo Bridge employee's openness on our forums. So fans knew going in that Echo Bridge would be getting access to Toho's original HD transfer that they used on their own Blu-ray in 2009. Sadly, the video quality shows signs of some additional compression that is notably from the start at seeing the pixilation during the all blue "Toho production" note after the Toho logo. The result is that the sharpness and clarity in the image takes a blow versus the HD transfer, and to be fair Toho's original HD transfer wasn't exactly great to begin with in terms of clarity.
The colors here also feel very dull, not at all vibrant. However, this was a common complaint of Toho's original release as well. On the plus side, although the color spectrum and blacks need some work, at least they didn't go overblown with lots of saturation like the region 3 Godzilla vs. Biollante Universe release. In terms of the condition of the print used, Toho used a very good source for their original creation of the transfer and it has no overt signs of print damage.
On a side note, the disc uses the original Japanese version of the film.
This means that the alert levels are in Japanese, naturally, but also that they are burned in Japanese subtitles for the numerous scenes where the characters speak English. While the Japanese version should always be included, it would have been nice to see the international version as well, but that's fan nitpicking at that point.
Godzilla vs. Biollante is presented in its
original aspect ratio of 1.85:1.
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The disc contains a wealth of audio tracks, with two for the Japanese version and one for the English dubbed. The original 2.0 stereo version is included, and has never sounded better with no distortions and solid clarity. The 5.1 surround audio track, which Toho originally created for the first DVD release in Japan, is also included here. Purists will probably prefer the original stereo, but there is decent directionality here and it's nice to have the option.
Finally, the disc also contains the English dubbed version. While the dub is infamous to many, including such gems as "Godziller", it does provide a much more tolerable way to hear the English lines in the film. Sadly, the extra is a 1.0 mono presentation, and it's unfortunate a stereo version wasn't included. Also, for those curious, the slight audio hiccup in the music that occurs when the Super-X2 is taking off, which was found on the Miramax/HBO VHS release, is still present.
The disc comes with optional
English subtitles that were freshly created for this release, and even presents two options: subtitles for the original Japanese film and "dubtitles" which are subtitles for the English dub audio.
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This review right now is for the original release of the film on Blu-ray, which has only two extra features on it.
- The first extra on the disc is the fantastic "Making of" featurette for the film that was created right after Godzilla vs. Mothra (1992) had finished production and was originally released by itself on VHS in a 1.33:1 aspect ratio. This almost 50 minute extra was later packed as a feature on the DVD release of the film in Japan along with the subsequent Blu-ray release in the country, and makes its grand debut in the US on this release. What's even better is that Echo Bridge has subtitled the feature with removable English subtitles, offering additional insight. For those unfamiliar with the feature, it covers numerous cut scenes from the film, including the infamous removed scene where the cartoon animated Biollante swallows Godzilla at the end.
Sadly, the feature is standard definition and the video quality is generally lacking, although this is the way the extra has looked even as far back as its VHS release and its unlikely a better copy of it exists.
- The second feature on the Blu-ray is a "Behind the Design" short, which shows off three designs for the rose form of Biollante, the final design along with two designs that were very closely considered, and one model for the Super-X2. At just three minutes, the feature is a little short but interesting. It's also, sadly, in standard definiton.
These are the only features included on the first printing run of the Blu-ray. A commentary by Ed Godziszewski, mastermind behind the Japanese Giants publication, was also planned but delayed due to awaiting approval from Toho and was said to make it into later runs.
In terms of this release versus the Japanese Blu-Ray, it's missing the trailers, news flash announcement and the audio commentary by special effects director Koichi Kawakita and director Kazuki Omori. While unfortunate that it didn't match all of the extras, this release does at least contain the best two bonus features found on its Japanese counterpart.
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While not a great Blu-ray release, the disc is far better than it deserves to be considering the $8-$15 price tag it carries. Decent video quality that is superior to any DVD, good audio presentation with a lot of options and some very worthwhile extras... plus an amazing Godzilla film (yes, yes, my bias). Any fans of the King of the Monsters should add this to their collection, even if they own the Japanese Blu-ray since it adds English subtitles and the English dubbed track to the mix.
To end on a funny side note, one can take somewhat glee in the fact that the film was rated PG for traditional Godzilla violence as stated at the start of the movie on the disc, especially considering this is by all accounts one of the more violent Godzilla films with a lot of people gunned down or seeing Godzilla get his hand ripped apart.
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