Godzilla. King of the Monsters.

Ok, I admit it. I am a Godzilla Fan. I first saw the Tokyo stomping monster in the movie "Ghidrah, The Three Headed Monster" in the 70's. It was the first movie of this genre that I saw and I was hooked. Over the years many Godzilla movies were produced by Toho, but, alas they never seemed to appear on our screens. It was only when I went to the USA in 2000/2001 that I was able to indulge myself in more monster antics.
Godzilla first appeared on the big screen in 1954 and proceeded to trash Tokyo. The westernised version of the movie featured Raymond Burr as an American reporter who tells the story of how Godzilla runs amock and how attempts to kill him with all manner of weapons fail dismally. The armour plated, behemoth with the radioactive breath was capable of frying everything in his path or flattening it with equal ease. Godzilla also had a certain screen "presence" which would endear him to loyal fans all over the world. Godzilla is supposedly killed by an "Oxygen Destroyer" in that first movie, but fortunately he crops up in a surprising number of follow up movies too. It appears as if the producers did try add some sort of thread and commonality to the movies as many of the subequent monsters from the movies would do battle again and Godzilla would go from being the bad monster to being the good one.
Alas I fear somewhere the plot was lost with the early movies, but that doesn't stop them from being sheer escapist stuff, but the later movies which were made are more impressive (those tanks don't look so plasticy anymore) and Godzilla is much more menacing. Movies like Destoroyah and Godzilla 2000 were full of high tech gadgets and gimmicks, yet in spite of their much improved effects and slickness they still retain a certain something that will always set them apart. Sadly Godzilla Final Wars seems to be more of a rip off of movies like The Matrix and Godzilla is no longer the main character. However Godzilla is still being played by a man in a suit, and that is part of why we love him so much, he is so human.

The Godzilla movies. My rating is as follows: = Bad, = Not Bad,
= Watchable, = Enjoyable, = Excellent, = Not Seen

The Showa Series 1954-1975 Godzilla: King of the Monsters (1954) Gigantis, The Fire Monster / Godzilla Raids Again King Kong vs. Godzilla Godzilla vs. The Thing (1962) (a.k.a. "Godzilla vs. Mothra") Ghidrah, the Three Headed Monster (1965) Godzilla vs. Monster Zero Godzilla vs. The Sea Monster (1969) (aka Godzilla Vs. Ebirah) Son of Godzilla Destroy All Monsters Godzilla's Revenge Godzilla vs. The Smog Monster (1971) (aka Godzilla Vs. Hedorah) Godzilla vs. Gigan (a.k.a. "Godzilla on Monster Island") Godzilla vs. Megalon (1976) Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla (a.k.a. "Godzilla vs. The Bionic Monster", "Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla", Cosmic Monster) Terror of Mechagodzilla (1975) The Heisei Series 1984-1995 ("Gojira 1984") / Godzilla 1985 Godzilla vs. Biollante (1989) Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah (1991) Godzilla and Mothra. The battle for Earth (1992) Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla (1993) Godzilla vs. Space Godzilla (1994) Godzilla vs. Destoroyah (1995) The Shinsei Series 1999-2004 Godzilla 2000 (Millenium) (1999) Godzilla vs. Megaguirus: G-Eradication Operation (2000) Godzilla Mothra King Ghidorah. Giant monster all out attack (2001) Godzilla vs Mechagodzilla (2002) Godzilla Mothra Mechagodzilla. Tokyo SOS (2003) Godzilla Final Wars (2004)

My Godzilla Plushy.

DVD Covers.

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