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Godzilla, Kong, Gamera & Co.: The Kaiju Mega-Thread

JD said:
I watched Mothra vs Godzilla on Freevee/Amazon Prime, and I liked it a lot more than Godzilla Raids Again, the human story was a lot more interesting this time, and it had lots of fun monster action.
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Yeah, MvG is one of the best Showa films. It's basically the same story as the previous film, King Kong vs. Godzilla, but done much better.

It's interesting in retrospect how long it took for Toho to embrace Godzilla as its main kaiju. After the first two films, Godzilla didn't appear for seven years, as Toho tried out other kaiju like Rodan, Varan, and Mothra. Then, when Goji did appear, it was as the villain in films where King Kong and Mothra were respectively the top-billed kaiju. And the next several films teamed Godzilla up with Rodan and/or Mothra, so they were more kaiju ensemble films than "Godzilla films" per se.
 
I didn't realize that, I thought Godzilla was always the top billed Kaiju in all movies he was in. I was a little surprised it was Mothra vs Godzilla, and not the other way around like most of the other movies' titles, but that would explain it.
 
The comedic elements that were in King Kong vs Godzilla were toned down for Mothra vs Godzilla, which probably helps make it a better film. I also happen to think Mothra vs Godzilla has probably one of the best suits in the entire Showa era, with the heavier brow giving Godzilla a truly menacing look, that, unfortunately, softened over time. I also think it has one of the best entrances of the series, with Godzilla rising up out of the sand.
 
JD said:
I didn't realize that, I thought Godzilla was always the top billed Kaiju in all movies he was in. I was a little surprised it was Mothra vs Godzilla, and not the other way around like most of the other movies' titles, but that would explain it.
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It's still pretty early on. We're only 3 movies away from the original. Godzilla was still the bad guy here. Other monsters were being introduced in the meantime in their own solo movies.
 
JD said:
I didn't realize that, I thought Godzilla was always the top billed Kaiju in all movies he was in. I was a little surprised it was Mothra vs Godzilla, and not the other way around like most of the other movies' titles, but that would explain it.
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Yeah, MvG is essentially Mothra II with Godzilla as the bad guy.

Heck, for the majority of the '60s, Godzilla's name wasn't consistently in the titles at all. Here are the literally translated original titles post-MvG with the standard English titles in parentheses:

1964: Three Giant Monsters: The Greatest Battle on Earth (Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster)
1965: The Giant Monster War (Invasion of Astro-Monster, originally released in US as Monster Zero)
1966: Godzilla, Ebirah, Mothra: Great Duel in the South Seas (Ebirah: Horror of the Deep, orig. Godzilla versus the Sea Monster in US)
1967: Monster Island's Decisive Battle: Son of Godzilla (Son of Godzilla)
1968: Monster All-Out Attack (Destroy All Monsters)
1969: Godzilla, Minilla, and Gabara: All Monsters Great Attack (All Monsters Attack, orig. Godzilla's Revenge in US)

It wasn't until the '70s that the "Godzilla vs." formula was standardized.
 
Huh, that's interesting. I had just assumed he was the big monster that from the moment the first movie came out
 
Yeah, it seems that for most of the '60s, it wasn't just Godzilla but kaiju in general that Toho treated as the star attraction. He was the lead monster, but the lead of an ensemble.
 
Still have to wait a few days for the German release. Meanwhile, Godzilla artist Matt Frank has seen the movie and shared his first impressions on his YT channel:
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Though, to be honest, as much as he talks about the movie, my favorite part is calling it Godzilla Twitter Kong. I think that's how I'll refer to it from now on.
 
Godzilla x Kong opening weekend total is $75-80 million, which is about $25 million more than initial projections.
 
New Empire was pretty good but it was too much Kong for my liking. I'm more of a Godzilla guy.
Saying that however, I did get a good laugh at the fight Kong has with "mini Kong" when we are introduced with him.
 
DarrenTR1970 said:
Godzilla x Kong opening weekend total is $75-80 million, which is about $25 million more than initial projections.
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Wow, a movie is actually doing better than expected.
Are the Show era Gamera movies worth watching? It seems like most of what I've heard about them isn't very good.
 
JD said:
A re the Show era Gamera movies worth watching? It seems like most of what I've heard about them isn't very good.
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The second movie in the series, Gamera vs. Barugon, is probably the only decent one in that it doesn't have a child as part of the cast, and Gamera hasn't fully made the transition from bad guy to hero and protector of children; he's simply the lesser of two evils. Good luck finding decent copies though, I don't think any exist outside of expensive imports.
 
It's on Amazon Prime Video, along with Gamer: Guardian of the Universe, Gamera The Brave, vs Viras, Super Monster, vs Jiger, Attack of Legion, Revenge of Iris, The Giant Monster, vs Gyaos, and vs Guiron. I own the Heisei trilogy, but only watch Guardian of the Universe and Attack of Legion before I got distracted and forgot to watch Revenge of Iris.
 
Color me surprised. I did not know that. And judging by the Gamera vs. Barugon clip I watched, it's actually a good clean transfer with subtitles; not the Sandy Frank cut and paste version.
 
JD said:
Wow, a movie is actually doing better than expected.
Are the Show era Gamera movies worth watching? It seems like most of what I've heard about them isn't very good.
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The first is good. The others are just worse versions of the Godzilla ones. One is just a blatant clip show as well.
 
WB sure has a hell of a year so far. Just bought my ticket for Godzilla Twitter Kong, seeing it Thursday.

Dan Murrell released an over 100 minute long video the other day ranking all official Godzilla and/or Kong movies, and for this ranking he watched the majority of Godzilla movies for the first time.
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While my ranking would definitely look different, I found this very entertaining and insightful. For one, it's nice to see the birth of what appears to be a new fan, and it's interesting to hear the point of view on these movies of somebody who hasn't watched a lot of them before. And he still noticed something that I wasn't aware of before, namely the first "appearance" of Akira Ifukube's Godzilla fanfare (not to be confused with the Godzilla theme) was in the Japanese cut of King Kong vs Godzilla, which didn't make the international version. Nice catch.

Now I'll keep an eye out if he ever does a Gamera ranking.
 
Just watched GvK E .. enjoyed it but honestly.. Godzilla was an after thought. This was a kong movie. And they could have left G out and be the same movie. Owell.
 
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