Sony's "Godzilla 2000" DVD Release...

[Gfan54]

[walshbeme]

[lhb412]

[Gfan54]

[SparkieGojira]

yep... Mike S. was the John Lassiter of Sony's Godzilla efforts... too bad Sony didn't turn to him to handle a theaterical release of GFW.... I am sure he could have vastly improved that film!!

[Gfan54]

[akuash]

[Gfan54]

[akuash]

For Sure! The intentions were good and you can tell from the commentary on the DVD that they are real fans. I believe they post here from time to time. The dubbing was as good as your going to get but those few lines really ruined it for me. Some of the cuts and re-edited I didn't like either. It wasn't until I saw the Japanese version of G2000 when I started to appreciate the movie. That's just me though.

[miyasaka]

[Gfan54]

[Benjamin Haines]

Godzilla 2000 is my favorite Godzilla movie. I've seen both the Japanese and American versions, and I must say, I can't decide which version is better. The Japanese version has a very serious tone to it, even somewhat eerie/dark. It works very well, and it reminds me of The Return of Godzilla in that sense. The acting and dialogue of the characters were done just as well. Serious and convincing, not unnecessarily cheesy at all. However, the Japanese version suffers from often off-kilter music and sound effects. I don't think that Takayuki Hattori's score is bad at all. I think it's good, and certainly miles ahead of his work on Godzilla vs. Spacegodzilla. But for some reason, a lot of his music just didn't seem to work in the scenes it was used in for G2K, mainly for major action scenes. There's also a lack of subtle sound effects, and Godzilla's roar and snarl sound effects don't always seem appropriately matched with what he's actually doing on-screen. Those complaints may sound minor, but you'd be surprised what a difference they really make.

On the other side of the coin, we have the American version of G2K that was edited by Mike and the gang. The most obvious and significant change would be the English-dubbed dialogue. Overall, I think that this dub job deserves true praise, as it's really the best dubbing work done for a Godzilla movie since Titra's now-treasured classic dubs from the '60s. Really, applying appropriate voices for the characters, matching up lip-synching, it's all fantastic. However, within the dubbing lies a fatal flaw, in that the dubbed dialogue often takes on a completely gratuitous cheesy theme. Cheesy movies can be fun, and in the case of the American G2K, it does work well. However, in contrast the serious and dark atmosphere of the Japanese version, this cheesy-fun tone just falls short IMHO. So really, we get an excellent dubbing job, at the cost of altering the film's entire tone and feel. But then, let's get into the editing. I won't list and review every little individual edit done to this film in the American version. But I will say that, 90% of the time, it was for the best. Whether it be for tightening up the pacing, trimming excess fluff, or for rearranging the flow of scenes, most of it worked very well. The best change of all to the film, in my opinion, was in the music and sound effects department. J. Peter Robinson produced some truly pumped-up music for many of the major action scenes of the movie, and it works MUCH better than Hattori's original score for those scenes. Also, all of the subtle sound effects are given their due where necessary, which brings us to the issue of Godzilla's roars. For the most part, the changed roars and snarls given to Godzilla in the American version worked very well, and sounded much more appropriate than in the Japanese version. However, Godzilla also seemed to have been given the elephantine moans and cries of Zilla, the pretender to the throne from Sony's GINO'98 movie, which just didn't sound right coming from the actual Godzilla. But overall, in regards to the music and sound effects of the movie, the American version goes above and beyond the Japanese version.

Watching both versions of this movie, one can say that they are virtual opposites. They're opposites in terms of their respective finished products, and in terms of their individual strengths and weaknesses. The Japanese version fails in some areas that the American version excels in. All-in-all, I view them as opposite equals. I don't think either version is better or worse than the other, despite being so different from each other. And both versions are tied as my personal favorite Godzilla movie.

If we were to get the American version of Godzilla 2000, but with the original Japanese dialogue for the characters and without Godzilla having Zilla's elephant cries, I'd call it the absolute definitive version of the movie. Maybe an idea for someone to do as a fan project...

[redkiryuranger]

[sachiel]