Extras |
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Menus (English) |
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Chapters (12/12) |
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Bringing Godzilla Down to Size (69 Minutes) |
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Captures |
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Review |
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Anthony
Romero |
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This release presents the long awaited debut
of The War of the Gargantuas on DVD
outside of Japan along with the first occurrence
of the Japanese version of the movie Rodan
seen in the States. The set is a bargain too,
considering its cheap retail price for what
is essentially two movies and two different
edits of each. Sadly, in terms of video and
audio quality the set could have been better,
although is somewhat salvaged as a whole by
a very nice 69 minute documentary included
on Godzilla. |
Video: |
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Mixed would be my single word description
for what's to be found from the video presentations
here. There is so much content though, with
four different versions of two different films,
that it's a little overwhelming to try and
hit all the points. It's best to start from
the top, though, and tackle what's available
for the Rodan disc. First off, this
disc contains both the uncut Japanese version
of the movie and the edited US version. Sadly,
the quality on the Japanese one is lacking
in several respects, including a presentation
that's too dark and one that's slightly discolored
with it appearing with a slight magenta shade.
Light flickering and scratches can also be
seen, although the latter isn't too bad considering
the movie's age. Unfortunately, Classic Media
really dropped the ball on the US version
included here. In fact, it's pretty much the
exact same video track that was found on their
earlier 2002 release,
and includes all of the same problems. These
pitfalls run the gamut too, with everything
from massive discoloration, a ton of noise
present, scratches galore and a presentation
that's too bright.
Rodan is presented
in its original aspect ratio of 1.33:1 across
the two versions.
In regards to the War of the Gargantuas
disc, it fares better. The Japanese video
track has problems of its own, though. The
foremost of these is that the brightness level
is turned way down, making the whole movie
look slightly murky and far too dark, which
is problematic during the many night sequences.
The track also shows some overt signs of compression,
appearing slightly blurred and with signs
of artifacting. The same can not be said for
the US version, though, which surprisingly
turns out to be the best video presentation
found across the two discs. While still slightly
too dark, the presentation here is acceptable
while it appears fairly sharper in terms of
visible detail and with a good spectrum of
colors. The best way to note the differences
though is by directly comparing the tracks,
and when one does so the superiority of the
US version track included is apparent:
Japanese - US
War of the Gargantuas is presented
in its original aspect ratio of 2.35:1 across
the two versions, and is Anamorphic for widescreen
TVs.
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Audio: |
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The two discs boast a total of four different
audio tracks, each of which is tied to a
respective version of their film. For the Rodan disc,
first is the Japanese track, which is also available
in its original mono format. The quality here
is passable. It sounds a little rough, but given
the age of the production there isn't anything
too bad about its presentation. The track can
also be accompanied with, removable, English
subtitles. The second track on this disc is for
the English dub track. Like the video, this track
mirrors what Classic Media released back in 2002
and suffers the same pitfalls of a scratchy and
poorly maintained presentation.
Now for the War of the Gargantuas disc, the release
passes with flying colors. Both tracks, again
available in its original Japanese presentation
and English dubbed, are superb in terms of quality.
The former is, expectedly, available with removable
English subtitles as well.
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Extras: |
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This set is light in terms of the breadth
of extras, and it's slightly disheartening to
see all the lost potential in regards to the
lack of trailers and other things. However, it
does make up for it with a very lengthy and well
produced documentary on the King of the Monsters,
although it's a slightly odd fit in this set
since neither movie features the character. The
supplement is pretty extraordinary, though. Narrated
very nicely by actor Alex Cox, the short cover
numerous aspects of the character, Toho and Japanese
science fiction in general. The feature is littered
with interview after interview, and provides
a generous amount of information for diehard
fans to mill over. Granted, there are a couple
of slightly cheesy moments to it, but nothing
too drastic. The ending, which speaks out against
the use of CGI, is a little heavy handed though
in its approach. Regardless, it's a highly recommended
feature.
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Overview: |
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Bottom
line, the quality here is disappointing in some
respects, but the price for what one gets is
very reasonable. In the end, despite some disappointing
aspects, it's a recommended purchase for the
housing both the US and Japanese version of War
of the Gargantuas, a decent presentation
of Rodan in Japanese and a good documentary on
the side all for the price of a regular retail
DVD. |
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