Along
with writing one of the seemingly endless book adaptations
of GODZILLA
(1998) released by Scholastic, Jigsaw Jones
author James Preller is responsible for The Godzilla
Movie Scrapbook!—an eccentric, if quite
brief, means of retelling the basic story of Deanzilla
once again… only this time via a faux special
report released after the climax within the context
of the film's world, purporting to tell the true
story behind the monster's attack, and the heroes
who saved what was left of Manhattan.
Now, I was no fan of Preller's, shall we
say, conventional retelling of the American Godzilla
story in GODZILLA:
A Storybook. That book, though aimed at
a young readership, still felt blunted and weak
in its storytelling. Perhaps because of the greater
creativity allowed in this production, Preller is
able to imbue the prose with a bit more verve. Composed
in a journalistic vein, Preller manages to sketch
in some unexpected details in the form of brief
news articles pertaining to particular key events
from the movie. We get a little glimpse into the
life of the Japanese sea cook who survives Godzilla's
initial attack, for example. Sprinkled throughout
the book are pseudo newspaper headlines (“Panic
Hits New York!”, “Cameraman Risks Life
for Daring Photo”)… one of which actually
includes a misspelled word (“Mysterious French
Secrect Service Agent Involved!”), which is
pretty accurate to the status of a lot of real newspapers
these days. A panoply of uninspired lines from the
movie have also been liberally inserted into the
design, popping out with big, multi-colored text
on almost every page with such examples of genius
and originality as “We have an emergency.”
The multi-colored dialogue drops are just one part
of an overall gaudy design ethos that pervades throughout
the publication. Like many kids magazines, loud
colors and garish designs dominate each page. The
usual attempt to defeat boredom in young readers
by throwing splash and dash over shallow content
and calling it good enough for ignorant kids, isn't
aided by the fact that, as usual, most of the photos
are of the actors, and Godzilla is barely represented.
The strongest impression I got from looking through
the shots was how much of an odious ham Matthew
Broderick was in this movie. Even the asinine cover
showcasing a close-up of G's back spines is
preferable.
My (used) copy did not come with the six-foot poster
that originally was included in the publication.
Yes, six foot—because size does matter after
all. I bet the poster didn't show Godzilla
either. I wonder if it even had a close-up on Godzilla's
eye or something. Perhaps a reader could provide
such information? I am certainly not going out of
my way to procure another copy of this book.
Preller's Scrapbook, while mildly superior
to his Storybook, is still thimble-shallow. While
the prose is punchy and fun, nothing else is worth
the cash, and the book is just ugly. In this case,
despite the good bits, I have to say that “Scrapbook”
proves an apt descriptor.
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