Toho Kingdom

I personally find Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla really enjoyable. Easily the best Tezuka film in my opinion, and one of my favorites overall. It's not perfect, but the human characters are so much more entertaining than in most of the movies, which goes a long way for me. The script is just really well-constructed and seems more polished and thought through than this one or Tokyo SOS.

(I have to agree that TSOS, despite some really wonderful special effects, is bland as hell. It feels like they tried to repeat the elements of the previous movie that made it work, but they kind of half-assed it. Godzilla vs. Megaguirus, while it wasn't nearly developed enough, was at least making an honest attempt at something original and interesting. While I personally rate it the lowest of the Tezuka movies in terms of entertainment value, I definitely give it credit for making an honest effort and taking chances.)

Yeah, Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla is easily my favorite Millennium film. It's not perfect, but there's so much that works in it that I can overlook its flaws--and it has one of my all-time favorite human protagonists in a Godzilla film.

Godzilla: Tokyo SOS, now, I still have to say is better than Godzilla vs. Megaguirus, but that's a highly qualified comparison because they're both pretty awful. Mainly, the human characters and the effects make Tokyo SOS the more enjoyable watch--especially since it doesn't end with possibly the worst Godzilla fight ever put on film. However, Megaguirus, for all its many, many weaknesses is at least kind of original. Tokyo SOS, meanwhile, could be made up almost entirely of stock footage from Mothra vs. Godzilla, Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah, and Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla and it wouldn't change anything.

That's not even getting into the fact that the whole plot device about Mothra being opposed to Kiryu's existence and Kiryu somehow being responsible for Godzilla's return makes very little sense and is utterly inconsistent in its execution. (Like how Mothra wants Kiryu scrapped, but for some reason stops Godzilla from destroying it and then helps Kiryu defeat Godzilla) Yet, even with all that I have to say I find it a lot easier to toss it on when I'm in the mood for a Godzilla movie, or looking to show my son one, than Megaguirus.

I'd be lying if I said it wasn't at least partially because the (sadly underused) heroine is cute as a button.

I prefer Megaguirus. It feels like a made for tv movie, but it moves at a brisk pace, has a new kaiju, and the music score is quite good. I find G vs MG to be more fun to watch. If I want to see a good G film, I'll watch G against MG.

I watched this today for not-technically-but-practically the first time, as my previous attempts both utilized a library copy of the film that wasn't in good shape and would cut out close to the climax.

I thought it was okay - I can't argue it's a fantastic entry, but it's not outright terrible. I was mostly fine with the human cast - they're not the best characters Toho ever created, but most of them come from good ideas. The film is driven by such a complex plot that the characters don't shine through well, and I think the actors over-acted to compensate, but it didn't bother me on a strictly personal level. I've become just a little bored with the trope of pilot protagonists controlling giant robots, so the G-Graspers felt like a creative twist on directly dealing with kaiju as monsters, but it's obviously not something Toho should be trying to milk out in the future. I do have mixed feelings on the Dimension Tide epilogue after the climactic fight though, as it detracts from Megagurius' defeat and while it services Kiriko very well, it really takes away from the kaiju side of the film for me.

The SFX sequences for Godzilla feel a lot more imaginative than in some recent entries, but aren't always pulled off as effectively as one would hope - a positive highlight is, as often mentioned, Kiriko riding on Godzilla, while a negative one is pretty much any shot that is supposed to convey expression from the suit's head, which seems only capable of opening and closing it's jaw. Megagurius herself feels like a great concept with meh execution, mostly the aforementioned issues with her wings taking a lot of life out of the character. I wish more had also been done with her energy-stealing ability. The body slam bit is an interesting idea on paper, but comes off terrible in execution. But imo, the most distractingly bad effects work was the Dimension Tide itself.

I would call it mediocre more so than bland, if only because I admire a lot of the more creative aspects of the film, even when poorly-handled.

Anyone else remember seeing the premiere on SciFi almost 13 years ago? I had an unwatchable cam bootleg for about a year so it was great to actually see the movie finally.

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xvqkma ... shortfilms

Yes indeed! It was shown in a marathon with Rebirth of Mothra 3 and GMK, right? I still have my old VHS recording of this somewhere.

I probably saw part of it, too. I definitely saw it on SciFi right around that time, anyway. I'd had no idea the movie even existed, so I was pretty excited to stumble across it.

I think my first viewing was on Encore Action or some channel with a similar name.

Just saw this for the first time and honestly was a bit bored by it. The fights were great, I actually did like the female lead. The ending was super weird though. I should add that this was the dub I saw. Megaguirus isn't all that interesting to me, insect like kaiju are hit and miss with me. Overall it was okay for me.

I really enjoyed the movie overall. I questioned the movie's "science" of the mini black hole as it did not sound like real black holes.

That said, the ending monster fight was the MOST ENJOYABLE and EXCITING fight I've ever seen! What a great back and forth between the two

Tamura wrote:Anyone else remember seeing the premiere on SciFi almost 13 years ago? I had an unwatchable cam bootleg for about a year so it was great to actually see the movie finally.

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xvqkma ... shortfilms

Really? I had a widescreen fansubbed bootleg VHS that I got not long after the Japanese home video release. It even included a CD-R of the film's soundtrack.

This has to be the worst of the millennium series! The effects are so rushed, and the lighting for the sets is so bad!

I've never really understood why this film is so hated. It's just a lot fun to me.

None of the characters are really compelling or likeable enough (GXMG has a much better female protagonist in Akane) and the film runs at a very slow pace. Godzilla and Megaguirus don't really do much in the film until the final act. It's too long of a buildup for too little of a payout.

The music and the overall concept and design of Megaguirus are great, but it's wasted on a slow and mediocre film. Not the worst in the franchise, but far from enjoyable.

UltramanGoji wrote:None of the characters are really compelling or likeable enough (GXMG has a much better female protagonist in Akane) and the film runs at a very slow pace. Godzilla and Megaguirus don't really do much in the film until the final act. It's too long of a buildup for too little of a payout.

The music and the overall concept and design of Megaguirus are great, but it's wasted on a slow and mediocre film. Not the worst in the franchise, but far from enjoyable.

Fair enough. I'll admit it's not high tier or even mid tier, but I just have a lot of fun with it. Really there's only a handful of films in the series I'd call "bad". (Final Wars, Tokyo SOS, Mothra '92).

I was just thinking a Godzilla movie with more focus on that inter-dimensional aspect might've been interesting. It isn't a very original idea, although what if they were going to use Dimension Tide to send Godzilla to another dimension only to do the reverse and pull monsters from another dimension into this dimension, sort of Mist/Pacific Rim style?

It would be a larger sci fi concept, and I could see some potential in it. However, I think the film makers were going for a more realistic sounding weapon.

Realistic being a... relative term.

UltramanGoji wrote:Yes indeed! It was shown in a marathon with Rebirth of Mothra 3 and GMK, right? I still have my old VHS recording of this somewhere.

Did you ever have this transferred to DVD? It would make a nice nostalgia archive piece for sure.

Right now, my 2-and-a-half-year-old is loving 'the bad buggy and the dinosaur!' We're watching the ending fight for the second time in a row.