Already some of you know what rating I might probably give this film, however, as you may already know, I'm reviewing the English dub of the film and despite that I never saw the original Japanese cut, I have a feeling that this cut might make this Godzilla film worse than it already is. However, I'm still going to review this movie with an open-mind, and maybe find myself thinking that this film isn't as bad as people make it out to be. As for those who are wondering why I'm reviewing it in its English dubbing, that's because I couldn't find the original Japanese cut anywhere for me to rent, and the DVD of this movie is way too expensive and not worth the risk considering that I haven't seen the film yet. So I'm just going to settle with reviewing the English dubbed film that I was able to rent online. Do I think that this film is good or bad; and does this cut make the film worse than the mixed reception that this film has already received from Godzilla fans; ON WITH THE REVIEW!
On an uninhabited Island with human sized praying Mantises'; a group of scientists are conducting a Weather experiment, while also having to deal with a nosy News reporter who parachuted on to the Island to get a story. The Weather experiment goes wrong and creates a radioactive storm which makes the Mantises monsters become gigantic. The giant Mantises' dig out a giant egg and after taking a whole entire night of smashing this giant egg open (Wow, that's either one strong egg; or the giant Mantises' are just weak) they discover that Godzilla's Baby was inside the egg. As the Mantises' attack the baby, Godzilla comes to the rescue after hearing his telepathic cries for help, and fights them off. However, the scientists’ lab got destroyed during Godzilla's arrival and the scientists, along with the News reporter and an Island native girl that they found who raised herself since birth (Uh...how?) must now figure out how to get out of this Island full of monsters since all contact they have is destroyed. Meanwhile, we see Godzilla try to teach his Son how to be like him. For a film that I didn't think I was going to like (Especially when considering the fact that it’s an English dubbed version of a mixed Godzilla film), I actually didn't think it was as bad as some Godzilla fans make it out to be.
The idea of Godzilla raising a son that’s meant to be all cutesy didn't at all seem to please Godzilla fans. In fact, some feel very insulted by the fact that their favorite giant monster has decided to become a light hearted Father figure; as well as Godzilla fans being completely annoyed by Godzilla’s son who's meant to be adorable and play out towards kids. In many respects, I can understand why, but for me, I don't think it’s bad at all, nor seems out of character for this giant monster to raise a baby. First of all, ever since "Ghidorah, The Three Headed Monster" he already was given a personality to appeal to young kids as a hero, while also still maintaining his tough personality. Here (and not counting him in the last film) his heroic kid friendly image and tough personality remains the same in this film. Even when raising his son he's still very tough, while still keeping his heroic kickass qualities to protect his son. Godzilla by the way, gets another new design in this film and despite still looking less threatening so kids won't be afraid of him, he at least doesn't look as Muppetish as he did in the last film. As for his son, a part me does feel like that I should hate him because of his silly design, and those Donkey and Dolphin noises mixed together as he cries, which do get annoying at times; but I still freaking adore him (At least in this movie). As silly as his design is, he's still lovably cute; as annoying as the sound he makes gets at times, his innocence and fear of the danger that he's in when he makes these cries make me feel sorry for him; and the relationship between him and his Father, as his Father strictly teaches him how to be like him, as Baby Godzilla fails and wants to play with his annoyed and stubborn Dad, is fun, cute, interesting, and even at times heartwarming. I really do personally enjoy this relationship and find it adorable and entertaining, especially for the film's target audience which are kids. If you hate the idea and concept, as well as being annoyed with how innocent, cutesy, and goofy it is; I'm not going to blame you for it at all. For me though, I enjoy it, and don't find it as annoying, cheesy, or even insulting to the character as other fans may feel about this family friendly relationship.
Moving on to the other giant monsters in the film, they're not anywhere near as creative as Toho's other giant monsters, but for the most part they're decent. The giant Mantises' I'll admit is just as lame of an opponent for Godzilla to fight as Ebirah from the last Godzilla film. They're so weak and so non-threatening towards Godzilla that you know Godzilla is going to fry their asses easily which is exactly what he does, but unlike his fight with Ebirah, his fight with them is actually fun and at times cool to watch, especially how he burns them. The effects and designs for these giant Mantises' are also pretty cool as well. My real favorite monster in the movie has to be the giant Spider that attacks the humans and Baby Godzilla. Unlike the giant Mantises' he is a threat towards both Godzilla and his Son, and the fight between Godzilla and the Giant Spider, as Godzilla's Son is in danger while also trying to help his Father is pretty tense fight. The design and effect for this Giant Spider is also cool as well. As a matter of fact, these giant bug monsters aren't even guys in rubber suits, they're actually puppets, and the way the scenes with these giant bug like monsters are shot and edited as they walk across the Island and fight Godzilla make these monsters seem gigantic and not look like puppets as we hardly (If not never) see the strings at all! If I had any problem with the effects or any of these creatures (Outside of the giant Mantises’ being lame opponents) is the scene when Godzilla destroys the Science lab. Just like how he destroyed terrorist base in the previous film, the Science lab looks just as toy-like as the terrorist base in the last film, and the destruction of the base was also pretty boring since he's simply throwing rocks at it most of the time, which I'm not going to lie is starting to annoy me. But I must say that the most insufferably annoying thing in the whole entire film (Not counting dubbing, which I will get too) is the screeching from those giant Mantises'. It sounds just as horrible as hearing nails on a chalk board, or hearing The Siren's screeching sound in Season 3 of the 60s Batman Show! It’s just beyond irritating and not at all scary or cool.
Starting with the English dubbing for the human characters, it was worse than I expected it to be! The lip-syncing is so awful that not only do their lips don't match what the actors are saying, but we can still hear them talking when they don't move their lips at all! The worst part about this horrible dubbing that makes it sickening is they don't even sound like Asian actors, they sound like typical White American actors from that era, which is more distracting and awful than you can imagine! The dubbing is so awful, that you wouldn't believe how badly I wished to review this film in its original Japanese cut! Outside of the dubbing, in terms of human characters I only found two human characters that were likable and interesting and those characters are the Reporter and the Native girl, and outside of being fun and interesting characters, the chemistry that they have together is quite nice. As for the rest of the human characters, they're all as boring and very forgettable as most of the characters in the previous film.
While I can totally understand why people would hate this Godzilla flick,
for me personally I enjoyed it. I like the effects for these bug monsters on
the Island; I enjoy the fight scenes; I admire the human couple; and above all, I really enjoyed watching the relationship
between Godzilla and his Son. I'm not going to say that this film has the
perfect balance of being kid friendly, while carrying out the dark giant
monster movie element like the film "Mothra" for example, since
"Mothra" was a lot darker compared to this film, but I think this a
good Godzilla film to show to the kids! I do really, and I mean really
despise the horrible English dubbing in this cut, but I guess that this is the version
you show to English speaking kids who cannot read subtitles yet. With that
said, while there are plenty of monster action and moments with Godzilla and his
Son, I do feel like kids won't be that into the film whenever we hear some
science talk. Actually, despite knowing that there are humans in this movie, I
thought this film would be more about just Godzilla and his Son, and instead just have the
humans observe. And I'm glad the film didn't go that route because it
would make the human characters pointless (If written just to observe); and if
the whole film was based on two Monsters just roaring at each other constantly
as they interact, it would probably be as annoying as hearing Chewie's family roar in the "Star Wars: Holiday Special"; and I do think the film has enough stuff to keep the
kids entertained, so I guess its good enough to show the English dubbed version
to kids. As much as I enjoyed it, I don't think I wouldn't go as far yet to
consider it to be one of my favorite Godzilla movies nor would I consider it a
must see to Godzilla fans, but it is still a cute and entertaining movie that I
actually would give a 3/5 for the stuff that Godzilla fans may like or heavily
dislike. However, since the atrocious dubbing does really weigh the film down,
I'm going have to give it the worth a watch rating and recommend this version
only for kids and not die hard Godzilla fans. However, if you don't have a copy
of the original Japanese cut, resorting to watching this version is an ok
substitute. I'll tell you this, when this movie gets a re-release in its
original Japanese cut with subtitles, you can bet that I'm definitely going to
purchase it!
RATING FOR THE ENGLISH DUB 2/5
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