Posted: Mon Apr 29, 2013 2:03 pm
This is one of the weaker entries in the Heisei series for sure. I love the monster action and Battra is very cool. But the message is way to heavy handed.
It isn't that I hate environmental messages, but this one felt really forced. Godzilla originally was a metaphor for the dangers of nuclear radiation. It was a very real potential danger that was showcased through a fantasy creature. I could say the same thing about Hedorah as well. Sure they pounded the message home in that movie too, but at least they used Hedorah to showcase the real potential dangers of pollution. This one, I am not sure of the connection between cutting down trees and a giant death moth coming after me. Is the message don't cut down trees or the Earth will get pissed off and kill you? If so, that isn't very realistic. Truthfully, they just wanted to drive their message home whether it made sense or not.
Getting into the human characters, I could have done without the blatant Indiana Jones ripoff scenes. The whole story with the divorced couple and their kid is something that a director like Honda could have handled beautifully, but here, it just feels disconnected from everything else and not important enough to pay attention too.
Some other minor nitpicks, this is the movie where they switched Godzilla's roar back to the higher pitch one from the Showa series rather than the deeper growl that was used in the original film and the first three entries of the Heisei series. Why they made this change, I don't know, but I don't like it for this Godzilla. The Godzilla of the 90s was a hulking mass and that higher pitched roar coming out of it felt wrong. It worked in the 60s & 70s, especially when they went into the process of softening Godzilla's character. They also changed the sound effect of Godzilla's nuclear blast, switching from the gushing water sound to the generic laser beam sound. Thankfully this change did not last as I prefer the gushing water sound. It sounds like something powerful is being forced out from within with that sound effect. The generic laser beam sound I could assign to anything.
But like I said, I love the monster action in this one. Godzilla's battle with the Mothra & Battra larvae was a nice action scene at sea. And the final battle was actually the closest we've ever had a three way battle in the Godzilla series. The Ferris wheel was a nice way to make the scene stand out among other Godzilla battles too. And like I said, Battra looks awesome, probably more so in larva form than in adult. It just looks so much cooler than Mothra, whose return is well done as well. She looks as cutesy as always and maintains the majestic quality of the original.
It isn't that I hate environmental messages, but this one felt really forced. Godzilla originally was a metaphor for the dangers of nuclear radiation. It was a very real potential danger that was showcased through a fantasy creature. I could say the same thing about Hedorah as well. Sure they pounded the message home in that movie too, but at least they used Hedorah to showcase the real potential dangers of pollution. This one, I am not sure of the connection between cutting down trees and a giant death moth coming after me. Is the message don't cut down trees or the Earth will get pissed off and kill you? If so, that isn't very realistic. Truthfully, they just wanted to drive their message home whether it made sense or not.
Getting into the human characters, I could have done without the blatant Indiana Jones ripoff scenes. The whole story with the divorced couple and their kid is something that a director like Honda could have handled beautifully, but here, it just feels disconnected from everything else and not important enough to pay attention too.
Some other minor nitpicks, this is the movie where they switched Godzilla's roar back to the higher pitch one from the Showa series rather than the deeper growl that was used in the original film and the first three entries of the Heisei series. Why they made this change, I don't know, but I don't like it for this Godzilla. The Godzilla of the 90s was a hulking mass and that higher pitched roar coming out of it felt wrong. It worked in the 60s & 70s, especially when they went into the process of softening Godzilla's character. They also changed the sound effect of Godzilla's nuclear blast, switching from the gushing water sound to the generic laser beam sound. Thankfully this change did not last as I prefer the gushing water sound. It sounds like something powerful is being forced out from within with that sound effect. The generic laser beam sound I could assign to anything.
But like I said, I love the monster action in this one. Godzilla's battle with the Mothra & Battra larvae was a nice action scene at sea. And the final battle was actually the closest we've ever had a three way battle in the Godzilla series. The Ferris wheel was a nice way to make the scene stand out among other Godzilla battles too. And like I said, Battra looks awesome, probably more so in larva form than in adult. It just looks so much cooler than Mothra, whose return is well done as well. She looks as cutesy as always and maintains the majestic quality of the original.