Toho Kingdom

50's: Gojira ( Uncut Japanese version with subtitles)
60's: Ghidrah The Three Headed Monster
70's: Tough call but gtg with Godzilla VS . Hedorah
80's: Return Of Godzilla
90's: Godzilla VS. Destoroyah
00's: GMK
10's: Shin Godzilla up to this point but we shall see.

Close Seconds
60's: Godzilla VS. Monster Zero
70's: Godzilla VS. The Cosmic Monster
80's: Godzilla VS. Biollante
90's Godzilla VS. King Ghidorah
00's: Godzilla Final Wars(I know it's really campy but I still enjoy it alot)
10's: Tie betwewn Godzilla 2014 and the first film of the Godzilla anime trilogy.

50s: Gojira
60s: Ghidorah, the Three Headed Monster
70s: Godzilla vs Gigan
80s: Godzilla vs Biollante
90s: Godzilla vs Destoroyah
00s: Godzilla against Mechagodzilla
10s: Godzilla 2014

Runner ups:

60s: Ebirah, Horror of the Deep
70s: Terror of Mechagodzilla
80s: The Return of Godzilla
90s: Godzilla vs Mechagodzilla 2
2000s: GMK

Kaeyas wrote:00's: Godzilla Final Wars(I know it's really campy but I still enjoy it alot)

Rest of your list is great, just wanted to point this out because it's nice to see someone else who enjoys it.

Classic Age: Godzilla (54 cut)
Golden Age: Mothra vs Godzilla
Champion Festival Age: Terror of Mechagodzilla
VS Age: Godzilla vs Biollante
Millenium Age: Godzilla Mothra King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack
Post Millenium Age: Shin Godzilla

50's: Gojira (I know, obvious)
60's: Mothra vs Godzilla (also obvious)
70's: Terror of Mechagodzilla (through on a purely critical level I think Godzilla vs Hedorah is the "best")
80's: Godzilla vs Biollante
90's: Godzilla vs Destoroyah
2000's: GMK
2010's: Godzilla 2014


Runner ups for the 50s and 60s, since I went with the obvious choices:
50's: Rodan
60's: Toss up between Monster Zero and Frankenstein vs Baragon.

50s: Godzilla
60s: Mothra vs. Godzilla
70s: Terror of Mechagodzilla
80s: Godzilla vs. Biollante
90s: Goddzilla vs. Destroyah
200's: GMK
2010's: Shin Godzilla

1950s - Godzilla (Well, yeah)

1960s - Mothra vs Godzilla and Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster (I also really love Ebirah, Horror of the Deep and Son of Godzilla)

1970s - Godzilla vs. Hedorah and Terror of Mechagodzilla

1980s - Return of Godzilla and Godzilla vs. Biollante (Can't pick)

1990s - Godzilla vs King Ghidorah and Godzilla 2000 (Mechagodzilla II and Destoroyah are good runner-ups)

2000s - GMK

2010s - Shin Godzilla

50's Gojira (With Godzilla King of the Monsters being close behind)
60's Invasion of the Astro Monster (Really hard to pick because between 62-68 are the best run of films in the franchise
70's Godzilla Vs Mechagodzilla (While Hedorah might be a little better of a film GVMG doesn't have an annoying kid)
80's Godzilla Vs Biollante (High point of the Heisei films downhill from here)
90's Godzilla Vs King Ghidorah (Only 90's film I can really stand)
00's Godzilla Final Wars (Although GMK is a better movie I enjoy rewatching GFW more)
10's Shin Godzilla (Can't see this changing even with the movies still to be released)

Showa:
Godzilla vs Mechagodzilla. The story is the common "alien attack" story but the monster is built up pretty impressively and the reveal leads to the best villain kaiju in the Showa era. The fights are the coolest and finally it features the best supporting kaiju in the form of King Caesar.

Heisei:
Godzilla vs Destoroyah. The ideas lead to both the best villain in the franchise, Destoroyah, and the most emotional moment of the franchise when Godzilla died.

Millennium.
This was the most awesome movie in the franchise. Heart pumping action, human characters that you actually care about because they do something interesting, the most bad*bleep* version of the Millennium Godzilla.

'50s - Godzilla (of course)
'60s - Mothra vs. Godzilla
'70s - Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla (narrowly edging out Hedorah)
'80s - Return of Godzilla
'90s - Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah
'00s - Godzilla 2000 if I can sneak it in there. Otherwise I might begrudgingly go with Megaguirus.
'10s - Shin Godzilla

HillyHulk wrote:
Millennium.
This was the most awesome movie in the franchise. Heart pumping action, human characters that you actually care about because they do something interesting, the most bad*bleep* version of the Millennium Godzilla.

What movie are you talking 'bout? You didn't list it. So imma gonna guess........ GMK?

50s: Gojira
60s: DAM
70s: ToMG
80s: GvB (but the two 80s movies are probably subject to swapping every time you ask me)
90s: GvMGII
00s: G2K
10s: Shin

MechaGoji Bro7503 wrote:

HillyHulk wrote:
Millennium.
This was the most awesome movie in the franchise. Heart pumping action, human characters that you actually care about because they do something interesting, the most bad*bleep* version of the Millennium Godzilla.

What movie are you talking 'bout? You didn't list it. So imma gonna guess........ GMK?

Oops, apparently I didn't recognize I forgot to add the title when I was writing it. I meant Final Wars. Thanks for reminding me.

Which is funny. Because I think that description applies both equally, and pretty much exclusively, to both films. You're either in the group that finds it true of GMK and not Final Wars, or Final Wars and not GMK.

(Cue all the pedants coming out and saying they find both to share those qualities, just to prove me wrong.)

For me, it applies more to Final Wars, although I actually care more about the characters in G2K and Against MechaGodzilla (in that order, with Final Wars third and GMK probably fourth),t the most bad*bleep* Godzilla also goes to the 1999 model. But the action is pretty good; heck, I used 'Kazuma's Sacrifice' on the 'ol MP3 player to push through the tough last few minutes of my workout.

50s: Gojira
60s: Destroy All Monsters
70s: Terror of Mechagodzilla (favorite film overall)
80s: The Return of Godzilla (still haven’t gotten around to watching Biollante yet)
90s: Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah
00s: Godzilla: Final Wars
10s: Godzilla: King of the Monsters (Yes, it’s already my favorite and I’ve only seen the trailer.)

Runnerups:
50s: Can I say the unused script for Bride of Godzilla?
60s: King Kong vs. Godzilla
70s: Godzilla vs. Hedorah
80s: Godzilla vs. Biollante
90s: Godzilla vs. Destoroyah
00s: Godzilla: Final Wars
10s: Godzilla (2014)

Personal Favorites:
50's: Gojira
60's: King Kong vs. Godzilla
70's: Godzilla vs. Gigan
80's: The Return of Godzilla
90's: Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah
00's: GMK
10's: Shin Gojira

What I think are the "best" of those Eras though...:

50's: Gojira
60's: Invasion of the Astro-Monster
70's: Terror of Mechagodzilla
80's: The Return of Godzilla
90's: Godzilla 2000
00's: GMK
10's: Shin Gojira

50s: Gojira...duh. Its one of my top ten favorite films of all time, and GRA doesn't come close measuring up to it. The only other kaiju film from the 50s I would even consider putting up against it is Rodan, and even then, I'd still give Gojira the nod.

60s: Mothra Vs. Godzilla: I hate to just go along with everyone else and say the same thing, but when the majority is right, they're right. This film represents the high mark of quality for Godzilla's key creators with arguably Honda's best job as director, arguably Ifukube's best score, arguably Nakajima's best performance as Godzilla, and arguably Tsuburaya's teams best overall effort in the special effects department (seriously, Mothra has never looked more alive than in this film). It is a damn fine monster classic. The 60s featured quite a few gems for the series like Kong Vs. Godzilla, Ghidorah TTHM, Monster Zero, Son of Godzilla (I like that one, don't judge me), and DAM, with a wealth of other stand alone monster classics like Mothra, War of the Gargantuas, and many others. However, MVG is just a cut above the rest.

70s: Terror of Mechagodzilla: I could have gone a few different ways with this as I really enjoyed Godzilla Vs. Hedorah for its sheer wackiness and Godzilla Vs. Mechagodzilla for being part spy movie, part sci fi film, and part fantasy, while also featuring the bloodiest monster fights in the series. But with Terror of MG, having Honda back at the helm one last time gave us a classier and more polished film than we were used to seeing in the 70s, and the tragedy surrounding Katsura and Mafune created one of the more interesting human dramas in the series. Also, points for making superhero Godzilla a total BAMF.

80s: Godzilla Vs. Biollante: With only two Godzilla films to choose from, there isn't much. While I respect what the 84 film tried to do, Godzilla Vs. Biollante is way more of a wild ride. It combines so many different elements like espionage, terrorism, genetic splicing, horror movie scenes, psychics, and wacky military sci-fi weapons (seriously, this film might feature the most ambitious strategies to take down Godzilla without using a giant mech or super death weapon) this one could have easily collapsed under the weight of itself, but it never does. It stays engaging all the way through, and the special effects are some of the best in the series. Godzilla, IMO, has never looked better, and Biollante is just a marvelous spectacle to witness.

90s: Godzilla Vs. Destroyah: I had it down to either this or Godzilla Vs. King Ghidorah. I know liking the Heisei Series isn't too popular these days, but I enjoyed most of them, and Destroyah is my favorite of the bunch. It serves as a nice book end to the original film and gives Godzilla such a good send off that it kind of makes me wish it was the final Godzilla film. Also, I love me some great kaiju designs and Destroyah is one of the better ones to come out of the Heisei series. From the 90s, I also liked Godzilla Vs. Mechagodzilla II and Godzilla 2000. Neither one I'd call a super favorite, but both are solidly entertaining, and G2K deserves credit for being a nice pallet cleanser after the Tristar debacle in 1998.

00s: GMK: Giant Monsters All Out Attack: Director Kaneko didn't quite match the high quality he had achieved with the Gamera Trilogy, but as a stand alone Godzilla film, it is very good, giving us one of the most destructive and powerful Godzillas ever put on film. I also liked that it was more based in fantasy, myths, and legends, giving it a bit of a different feel than most entries. I would have preferred the original concept of Varan, Anguiras, and Baragon being the guardian monsters, but for what it is, we got a damn fine entry out of it. From the Millennium series, I also enjoyed Tokyo SOS quite a bit for serving as a nice conclusion to the previous film, a movie I felt had a lot of set up with very little payoff, and Godzilla Final Wars was fun for its sheer bombastic nature, even if the story left a lot to be desired.

10s: Shin Godzilla: I liked the Legendary Godzilla film quite a bit as it turns out, it served as a nice starting point for the Monsterverse. We'll see next year what KOTM delivers, but for right now, I'd say Shin Godzilla is top of the line with its political satire and down right monstrous interpretation of the King. The Anime Trilogy unfortunately have been a disappointed with great ideas and tons of promises, but almost no payoff. Hopefully the third film works out and redeems the whole experience.

GojiDog wrote:Son of Godzilla (I like that one, don't judge me)

There’s nothing wrong with liking Son of Godzilla. I think all the ‘60s Godzilla films up to Revenge are well-crafted entries and Son is no different.

GojiDog wrote:Son of Godzilla (I like that one, don't judge me)

Son of Godzilla is criminally underappreciated in this fanbase. It's one of the best in the series.

Taking another stab at it, mirroring Maritonic by separating favourite and best.

My personal favourite:

50s: Gojira
60s: Destroy all Monsters
70s: Terror of Mechagodzilla
80s: Return of Godzilla
90s: Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II
2000s: Godzilla 2000
2010s: Shin Godzilla

Best:

50s: Gojira
60s: Mothra vs. Godzilla
70s: Godzilla vs. Hedorah
80s: Godzilla vs. Biollante
90s: Godzilla vs. Destroyah
2000s: GMK
2010s: Shin Godzilla