Monster Zero x SciFi Japan - Archive Only

I like this one pretty well. In my book, it's just beneath the previous film in terms of quality and enjoyability. I do happen to have a few nitpicks, though.

I must say that I really didn't find a whole lot of interesting things going on in the human drama, save (to an extent) the Prime Minister's change of heart. It's great to see Hiroshi Koizumi back, even though, as lhb412 said, he's pretty much thrown away. His introduction is a great nod to his initial appearance in Mothra.

The effects work is mostly satisfactory, with a few genuinely impressive moments, such as the destruction of the Diet Building, and the monster action, while quite derivative at times, is sufficiently well-done and exciting.

Oshima's score is pretty good for the most part, though I definitely prefer her work in the previous picture. What pulls it down the most is the flute and bell arrangement of the Mothra theme that plays during the sequences with the fairies, which I find very annoying.

Far and away my favorite element of this film is the climax. The idea of the original Godzilla reasserting himself within Kiryu and finishing the job while illustrating the film's theme appeals to me very much. It brings the story arc introduced in Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla to a very memorable conclusion.

A really entertaining flick, but nothing great at all and nothing that hasn't been done better in the past. Its a pretty mixed bag.

The AWESOME concept behind an MG with the original Goji's skeleton is still wasted/goes nowhere. It basically takes GvsMG 93 and blends it with Godzilla vs. The Thing.

The effects are some of the best in the series and Mothra looks better than she EVER has. I can't see any Mothra in the future topping this one either. Its perfect.

I really like the ties to the Showa movies (Koizumi's character from Mothra returning, Kameba's cameo, the other kaiju names on the vials at the end, etc). BUT it is all a waste of time because any attempts to continue from the Showa series get destroyed since the film borrows from those films left and right without shame. Its a remake posing as a sequel, so any potential there is destroyed. Tezuka's inept and dull direction pushes the story into territory we've seen a hundred times rather than expand upon it and that's the movies biggest sin. So much potential in the continuity of the old series and the concept of Kiryu is wasted. To me, this shows much more wasted potential than GFW because it has LESS to cram in with BETTER ideas, and it STILL fails.

An entertaining movie, but there's really no reason to watch it if you've got Godzilla vs. the Thing in your collection.

I find this to be Tezuka's best film. Yeah, it's pretty much a "rehash" of the previous film with a hint of Mothra Vs. Godzilla thrown in for good measure.

I guess that about sums up what the movie actually is. I really happen to enjoy this one, though, despite all of the similarities to the two films I've mentioned above. It's always nice sometimes to have a contemporary interpretation of previous works. Godzilla is definitely treated better this time around as well.

I love, though, how half the movie is all human drama, then the second half (starting at 45 minutes in) is mostly kaiju action! Superb! One of my favorite Millennium films!

4/5

Hm.

Well.

Let me say this to start: I did enjoy myself while watching this in its entirety for the first time in a couple years. However, TOKYO SOS is frustrating. Why does one of the single most gorgeous Godzilla films ever made also have to be one of the most vanilla?

The monster scenes are perfect. Absolutely perfect. As someone who really doesn't care about absolute realism - quite the opposite, in fact - I think that the miniature effects in this film need no improvements at all. It's sort of a healthy middle ground or a bridge between the perfection of Gamera 3's miniatures (more realistic) and the different but equally great perfection of The Super 8 Ultra Brothers' miniatures (more fantastical). There are a couple of composites that could have been pulled off just a little better and a little CG sheen in places but for the most part everything blends together masterfully.

What does need work is the script. The script needs lots of work. Jesus. It's got plenty of very interesting concepts, doesn't it? If Godzilla is the wrath of nature, Mothra's stepping in as a sort of officer of nature's law, here to tell those idiot humans what's what. That's cool. Placing the focus on Kiryu's team of mechanics instead of the pilots? That's pretty cool too. And maybe cooler then all of that is just the general world-building present in this film through scenes like the discovery of Kameba's carcass or Mothra's visit to Chujo's cabin. In general it comes off far more naturally than the EXPOSITION DUMP! that Kumi Mizuno delivers in GxMG. One might argue that this film had the benefit of being a sequel but I'm sure its predecessor could have done better with a more skilled screenwriter behind it.

This film also desperately needs a better screenwriter though, because now we come to the obvious trouble of how very, very bland the overarching plot is - that is, TOKYO SOS is basically Godzilla X Mechagodzilla infused with Mothra Vs. Godzilla and not even in a very good way. Literally, it feels like the plot is saying, "Okay, let's show this GxMG plot point as a way to segue into this MvsG plot point. Genius!" There's some inventiveness in the battle tactics here and there but it still largely feels as though they're trying to pass off a best-of reel for a wholly new thing. It's not all bad but the end result is that it comes off feeling, as I said, very vanilla.

On top of that are the characters, none of whom are really bad but... I mean, is it just me or does it feel like everyone is just the absolute most basic sketch of whatever character they're portraying? And I know fantasy films of this sort often have broadly-painted characters but why is it that the cast in, say, Ghidrah is so full of life while it feels as though we never spend nearly enough time with the cast of TOKYO SOS to really get a good impression of why we need to care about them, even though they have similar run-times and human-to-monster action ratios? That was, I think, the most frustrating aspect of my viewing experience. I never felt like I had enough time with the core characters to care. Despite that, I will admit that they somehow DID manage to wrench a little emotion from me during the climactic flight towards the Japan trench. It's a pretty well-executed scene.

Also, a side note: The dubtitles suuuuuuck. Knowing some cursory Japanese, it's really frustrating how dumbed-down the translation is. Like the scene with Kameba. The dubtitles read:

"It was attacked by some kind of giant predator, I'd say."
"Like another monster, sir?"
"Yes. It can only be... Godzilla."

Now in Japanese (and my Japanese is very rough, so forgive me if my translation is far from perfect) the difference is fairly subtle but FAR more foreboding, I think.

"It was probably attacked by some sort of giant life form."
"Some kind of giant life form?"
"Yes. For example... Godzilla."

Again, very subtle but I love the implication that there are plenty of other giant creatures out there that could have done this even though everyone both within the film and out know damn well it was Godzilla and we're all shaking in our boots because he's on his way.

So yeah. Overall thoughts? I'm really not sure. Yes, I enjoyed watching it on some levels but I'm still coming away pretty dissatisfied. This film remains a cinematic quandary to me.