Released by Universe (also known as Universe Laser) in 2006, this disc for the 1989 Godzilla film is a pretty good "budget" title, as it boasts decent video and audio quality. The extras are nonexistent, though, but at the $8-12 price range that's an easy pill to swallow.

To be brutally honest, I have pretty low expectations when it comes to region 3 and 0 DVDs. So one can imagine my surprise when the title to the movie came up displaying a very vibrant array of colors and without a scratch or other overt sign of print damage in sight. Alas, it's a shame that intentional impression didn't hold for the remainder of the video track, as there are some noticeable problems with the transfer process. Granted, the colors are vivid, but a lot of details were washed out, especially during the brighter scenes, as it seems that Universe simply jacked up the color saturation to achieve this effect. Second up, there is also some noticeable signs of compression, including a soft overall image while artifacting (pixilation) is also noticeable, especially during the many darker scenes in the movie. On the plus side, there doesn't appear to be almost any apparent print damage, as there are no visible scratches while grain appears to be very minimal, although the artifacting makes this harder to gauge.

Also on the plus side, this movie is presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1, and is Anamorphic for widescreen TVs. So there are some problems, but given the extreme budget nature of the release I was still fairly impressed with Universe' efforts here.

The disc contains two audio tracks, one being the original Japanese audio and the other dubbed into Cantonese. Both of them are presented in two channel stereo. In terms of audio quality, the two tracks are identical, as clearly the included Japanese track was used to master the dubbed version from. There is nice clarity in the two as well, with dialogue coming through clear and no inconsistencies to speak of as the audio sounds very nice. My only complaint with the actual tracks would be that it was recorded a little low, but that's easily adjustable on one's set.

In terms of subtitles, the disc comes with three different variations, all of which apply to the Japanese track. The first two are in Chinese, traditional and simplified, while the third features English subtitles that are accompanied by traditional Chinese subtitles as well. In terms of the accuracy of the subtitles, well there are definitely some problems. Even the English lines are fudged here, as Universe seems to have gone to translating the dialogue from Japanese (or English as is sometimes spoken in the movie) to Chinese and then finally to English, leaving the lines a little muddled, but the general gist is there and I have certainly seen far, far worse attempts from other Hong Kong based firms.

This disc has menus, a sparse eight chapters and nothing else. People are going to have to look elsewhere if they want "bonus material" for the 1989 production.

Bottom line, this is far from a great DVD, but those looking to just experience the film at a very low price, and have access to a region 3/free player, will likely enjoy this release for what it is.