Too much of everything

Absolutely Fantastic

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.

In this militaristic revision of Japan's troubled history with kaiju, Godzilla attacked once before, in 1954, and was defeated by Serizawa's oxygen destroyer. Other monsters have since attacked (Mothra and Gaira ("War of the Gargantuas", 1966)) and Japan's response to each attack is to develop newer, more powerful weapons. Now Godzilla has returned and a new weapon is needed, so tissue from the original Godzilla's skeleton is incorporated into a giant mecha to create a cybernetic "Mechagodzilla" (that this is the third incarnation of a "Mechagodzilla" is not part of this film's alternative history). Similar to the previous films in the millennium-series, Godzilla is a simply rampaging monster that needs to be destroyed (the concept that he's just a misunderstood dad, or that he is our guardian, or that he is our friend was (fortunately) put aside for this series). "Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla" (number 27 in the canon) is a pretty typical Godzilla outing. There is some backstory about the cyborg expert Tokumitsu Yuhara (Shin Takuma ) who is brought in to help design Mechagodzilla and his daughter Sara (Kana Onodera, she's OK - kids in Godzilla movies just keep getting less annoying) as well as Akane Yashiro (Yumiko Shaku), a Mechagodzilla operator with a personal vendetta against the big guy, all of which exists simply as a scaffold to support the kaiju scenes. Both Godzilla and his cyborg doppelganger look pretty good, especially when trashing cities, as do the "White Heron" transport/command and control aircraft. I always thought the mechagodzillas looked silly when flying, so was pleased to see this one being towed into battle (later it turns out that it can fly, and, once again, looks silly doing so). The battle scenes are a mixed bag - despite having the ultimate Godzilla weapon installed in the mecha's chest, the crew seem obligated to fire numerous useless cannon, missiles, ray guns, etc. before activating the 'absolute zero' canon. The battling colossi look OK when grappling or blasting each other with death-rays, but the scenes where Mechagodzilla jumps over Godzilla or spins him around by his tail look 'fake' in comparison and detract from the overall quality of the brawls. The film's score is also a mixed bag, with some good (and familiar) themes mixed in with the grating 'fanfare' music that accompanies shots of Mechagodzilla. Acting (including English subtitling in my version) is on par with other film's in the series (although I got tired of Yumiko Shaku 's po-faced Akane and her heroic pose at the film's close was pretty trite). While neither as imaginative or well-executed as 2000's "G. vs Megaguirus") or as off-beat as 2001's "Giant Monsters All-Out Attack", this latest version of Godzilla fighting his robotic-self is an entertaining enough entry into the long running daikaiju franchise.

GMK changed gears from the mediocre predecessors that were Godzilla 2000 (1999) and GvM (2000). But thankfully, Toho didn't allow for there to be just one great G movie in the Millennium series, so they launched the Mechagodzilla pair of films, this being the first. Remaking a classic monster can be tricky. Toho decided not to revamp the origins of Mechagodzilla this time. The plot is much like 1993's Godzilla vs Mechagodzilla II in that Japan built the giant mech to defend themselves against Godzilla.Actually, I'm sorry I even brought the 1993 film up. This one is so much better. Unlike the Heisei series Godzilla, the Millennium Godzilla (and his foes) can actually physically fight and some fun scenes are carried out here. Godzilla looks good, his menace toned down just a tad from his previous Millennium suits. They also returned Godzilla's atomic ray back to a blue color, whereas Godzilla 2000 and GvM had deviated from the rest of the movies by giving him an orange-ish atomic ray. Mechagodzilla looks good, far more sleek, agile, and athletic than the 1993 version and more like the 1974-1975 MG. Special effects work is also great.There are a few minuses in the film, however. Character development was rather lacking and followed Godzilla vs Megaguirus too closely. One strange piece to the film, and I don't know if it applies only to the region one release, is Mechagodzilla's name. They start out calling it Mechagodzilla but quickly begin calling it Kiryu and keep that name for the duration of the film (and in its direct sequel, 2003's Tokyo SOS, they go back to calling it Mechagodzilla or Mecha-G). Why they started referring to it as Kiryu is never explained and is a little odd.Nevertheless, this is a good film, even without the human character strength that was a bit better in GMK that came before it. It's easy to see why Toho decided to keep this universe going with a sequel as opposed to just starting over again like all of the other Millennium series Godzilla films. I rate it 7/10.

I've read some of the comments on IMDb and thought, what the heck, let's give it a try ... What a big mistake that was! As much as I can understand that some 15yr old kid created a childish movie on his little PC (and it would have been better than this crap) ... I can't understand all the positive comments on IMDb - who are you people? 5 yr old? Mentally challenged? Blind? What the heck is wrong with you ... an amateur could produce a better movie with better effects in 1970ties!Even my little kids laughed when they saw the initial scene when Godawfulzilla comes out of the water ... and let me tell you, that wasn't supposed to be a funny scene ... they laughed because they thought it was a big joke, someone pretending it's a Godzilla by using a rubber toy - they were actually watching for a "Made in Taiwan" sign on the side of that "monster". Or maybe it had some kind of a food poisoning and was stiff from some muscle spasm? Yeah, right.Oh well, just thought I'll warn any other unsuspecting suckers from wasting their time on this one!

Yes, they do it again. Rather than make a series of movies that are interconnected they instead reinvent Godzilla yet again. This time though it is done much better than the previous three movies. This time a new Godzilla arrives to wreck Japan. The army sends out their monster killers, but their weapons are useless against this new Godzilla monster. This group was created after the first Godzilla attack in 1954 and was destroyed by the oxygen destroying device. This group apparently destroyed Mothra (though anyone who has seen that movie knows this was not the case) and some dumb looking monster I had never seen before. The new Godzilla however is to powerful. So they use the skeleton of the old Godzilla of 54 and make a MechaGodzilla weapon they call Kiyru. MechaGodzilla is my favorite of Godzilla's adversaries so I really enjoyed this movie. There are some good fights in this one, though I do wish Godzilla got in some more hits. Though there is this one cool scene where Godzilla kicks MechaGodzilla through a building. Also in this one you are supposed to be pulling for the robot, but I always find myself pulling for Godzilla to win. I will not tell you the end, but it did suggest a sequel and I do believe there is one. Which will be a nice change of pace rather than reinventing Godzilla yet another time.