Monster Zero x SciFi Japan - Archive Only

"This car for sale! Very cheap! Very good!"

Man I love this movie. Can't bring myself to ever call it All Monsters Attack though. That isn't it's name.

Its a good kids movie at best, but I hate watching the US version. When I play it in my DVD player, I only watch the Japanese cut. In general its one of my less favorite Ishiro Honda movie but again its a good kids movie.

What kills this movie is the overuse of stock footage. It's one thing to lift a few bits from Ghidorah or DAM and stick them in among the original action footage in Gigan or Megalon (annoying, but tolerable), but most of the action sequences in this movie are 100% stock footage. I don't mind that a kid dreams about visiting Monster Island or Minilla talking, the stock footage overkill is what kills this flick for me. Even as a kid, I had seen all of these fights shot for shot before in better movies. If I want to watch Godzilla's fights with Kamacuras, Ebirah, the jets, the giant condor, or Kumonga, I'll watch the much superior Sea Monster or Son of Godzilla.

Godzilla's rumble with Gabara is great. If all of the action sequences in Revenge boasted original effects footage, with newly staged battles against all of those aforementioned foes, then it could have been one of the coolest Godzilla movies ever. As it is, it just falls flat.

I see Godzilla's Revenge as more of a celebratory film, a best-of type flick as opposed to a legit entry in the Godzilla series. I've always kind of felt that Ichiro is replaying scenes in his mind of Godzilla movies he's already watched and expanding on them by introducing the imaginary monster Gabara and a Minya than can talk and be a playmate to him.

The stock footage doesn't bother me so much because so much of it is spliced with the back and forth banter between Minya and Ichiro. So that breaks it up a little. And the score actually succeeds in giving the stock battles a little more life than in the films they actually came from. Not that I don't like Sato's scores. It's just that his Godzilla theme in Son of Godzilla is a little lifeless.

You're free to feel however you want about this movie, Ben. I'm not here to change your mind.

when I saw this first as a kid back in late 1972, I had no idea the footage came from other movies. as far as I knew, there were only 2 other Godzilla movies, KING KONG VS GODZILLA and GODZILLA VS THE SMOG MONSTER. so seeing so many NEW monsters in GODZILLA'S REVENGE was a treat and a revelation.

there was no instant information back then. by 1976 I had started finding and reading as much as possible, so had figured out this movie had chunks of previous movies, but it was so well done I didn't care. still don't, for that matter!

David

I'm not sure for All Monsters Attack but for Ghidorah, Mothra vs Godzilla and Mothra there are champion prints when it was rerelease for the Toho Champion Festival.

I assumed it was for the Champion Festival, but then I found out this movie was made specifically for the festival, so the edit I'm thinking of is probably for television. ...Just not too sure.

I do agree, I love the music in All Monsters Attack. It reminds alot about watching maybe Japanese Superhero show like Ultraman.

it should, since Kunio Miyauchi did the music for Ultraman and Ultra Q as well as GODZILLA'S REVENGE.

David

I've done a full review of this movie (my first review of the new year!)

it's kind of like my Avatar review, only completely opposite. I spend most of the review saying what I LIKE and then give it a BAD score...but I feel like it's not worthy of a high score, despite the fact that I personally enjoy it