By the time this Godzilla movie was made, Toho was having its own budget problem. Several scenes in the movie are stock footage taken from earlier Toho movies, and Akira Ifukube's music is merely a reused soundtrack from music taken from no less than nine other Toho movies. But, a lighthearted story here: *possible spoilers* A cartoonist named Gengo stumbles upon a plot by the invading Cockroach Aliens to overtake Earth, trying to find "perfect peace." Their own planet (which for some reason looks exactly like Earth), was being polluted (echoing the pollution theme from Godzilla vs Hedorah). They employ chicken-like monster Gigan and Godzilla's old fiend King Ghidorah to lay waste to Tokyo. But, Godzilla and Anguirus are awakened on Monster Island, and, sensing that something is wrong from a mysterious tape that Gengo played, goes to Tokyo to do battle with the invading monsters.
The human characters are funny and enjoyable to watch, and they cheer for Godzilla (making him look like the hero in him). Gengo has a humorous, "black-belt and karate" girlfriend, and a hippie-looking friend. Bell-bottoms are worn, making this look like a real '70s Godzilla film. Lots of city destruction (even though some are stock footage) and monster fights (though Godzilla is pretty weak and some of the fight sequences really dragged on and on). A little intriguing part is where Gengo and friends go to investigate the backgrounds of his mysterious employers. *another possible spoiler* Why one of the aliens (disguised as a human) give Gengo a job at his "Godzilla Tower" and tip him off about his Earth-conquest plot is beyond me.
Overall, a pretty fun Godzilla flick to watch, if you don't mind all the stock footage and stock music. A good directing job by Jun Fukuda. But, I think the alien-invasion plot that Toho has been using is a little over-used by the time this movie was made. Just to note, this movie is the first (and only) time we get to see and hear Godzilla talk (at least in the US version).
Grade B-
The human characters are funny and enjoyable to watch, and they cheer for Godzilla (making him look like the hero in him). Gengo has a humorous, "black-belt and karate" girlfriend, and a hippie-looking friend. Bell-bottoms are worn, making this look like a real '70s Godzilla film. Lots of city destruction (even though some are stock footage) and monster fights (though Godzilla is pretty weak and some of the fight sequences really dragged on and on). A little intriguing part is where Gengo and friends go to investigate the backgrounds of his mysterious employers. *another possible spoiler* Why one of the aliens (disguised as a human) give Gengo a job at his "Godzilla Tower" and tip him off about his Earth-conquest plot is beyond me.
Overall, a pretty fun Godzilla flick to watch, if you don't mind all the stock footage and stock music. A good directing job by Jun Fukuda. But, I think the alien-invasion plot that Toho has been using is a little over-used by the time this movie was made. Just to note, this movie is the first (and only) time we get to see and hear Godzilla talk (at least in the US version).
Grade B-