What is there to say about the idea behind this movie that isn’t brilliant? Back in 1933, the world was amazed with the monstrous gigantic ape known as King Kong with ground breaking effects at that time due to stop motion. It was amazing. Toho repeated a similar situation when they first created Godzilla. As such, what better way to show off these two colossal titans than to have them battle each other? It sounds great in theory, but the execution leaves something to be desired.
That is not to say this movie is bad by any means, as it is pretty good. Unfortunately, the plot behind it is weird to say the least, some of the characters are useless, and the monster designs themselves are less than stellar. First, the plot. Two Japanese men are sent to an island to collect berries when they come across islanders who worship a god named Kong. There, they find a way to knock him out and take him back to Japan to have him fight Godzilla, who has been freed from the ice he buried in in the previous movie. This plot idea just sounds better on paper than it does in action because using the berry juice to knock Kong out and then drag him across the ocean on a giant raft is just so goofy. And then to have Kong powered up by electricity while Godzilla is now weak against is also weird. To be fair, from what I have gathered, this movie was originally supposed to be Frankenstein vs. Godzilla, so the electricity powering Kong makes sense from that perspective, but having a giant gorilla randomly be powered by electricity out of the blue without any previous knowledge of it just comes off as random and be a sudden way to extend the fight beyond just Kong getting his butt whooped. For what it is worth, it does make the battle interesting and adds another layer, so I’ll stop nit picking against it.
My second gripe comes from the monster suits as I just do not care for their designs. Kong’s body looks fine but his face looks like it was beaten with a shovel as he eyes always look messed up and sleepy at every camera angle. As for Godzilla, I really do not care for this look. Yes, his head does look more reptilian than it did in the movie before it, but the costume looks more like a blow up doll than an actual monster. There does not seem to be any lining between the arms and shoulders, so it just appears as if the arms are just sticking out of the sides of the body rather than being actual arms. It also does not help when the costume seems to fold and crease when Godzilla is movie his arms about. Lastly, gone is his fourth toe and ears, which became an unfortunate trend throughout the remainder of the Showa saga. Nevertheless, as I said, these costumes just do not work for me all that well.
Moving on to the characters, some of them are good, some are fun, but some are absolutely useless. Osamu is fine as the main character, but it is like everyone else around him is a moron, especially his sister Fumiko. She is completely helpless. She has to be rescued from Godzilla’s attack only to then have to be rescued from Kong’s clutches fifteen minutes later. On the other hand, Osamu’s boss is a very fun character (see below).
Despite my issues with the costumes and plot, the effects are quite good in the movie. Kong’s face turning blue is really well done when he is struck by lightning, as are the crumbling buildings when he and Godzilla face off. The one that shines for me the most is the way they do the giant octopus monster. It is obvious they super imposed an octopus on a screen to make him look huge (which does take away from the scene, as you can see the shadows of the spears and stuff being thrown at the screen), but the execution of this scene is extremely well done. Lastly, the paint job they did on the islanders is actually pretty well done despite it being obvious that they are Japanese. It does what it is supposed to well enough, so there is no reason to nitpick it.
Overall, King Kong vs Godzilla is a missed bag of a movie in terms of execution, but for what it is, it is highly enjoyable and fun. I wouldn’t say it is anywhere near the best of Godzilla’s movies, but if you want a nice simple movie where you just see two popular behemoths go eat each other’s throats, you can do a lot worse. I give this movie a 6/10.
And here is not only what makes the boss man fun, but I can also see die hard fans making this reaction after they saw my score:
