Still my favorite. Every time I watch this trilogy, I keep getting so excited over each movie that I have to reconsider which is my favorite but then when we finally get to three, nope, still the king, baby. To be fair, it's my favorite partially BECAUSE the other two films precede it and it handles the continuity in some really cool ways. After the huge scope of the last movie, I really love how they refocused this one on a much more personal story, despite the apocalyptic things that still surround it. I think it's fantastic when these kinds of plots are at the forefront of kaiju films. The original Godzilla and Gamera the Brave both do it to great effect as well and it's something I'm looking to do for an upcoming film of my own that I'm developing (which the Toho Kingdom crowd will probably hate
). I also still have zero issues with this film's ambiguities. I think they make for fascinating puzzles, not unlike the many unanswered questions posed by Prometheus. I like that we're given a bunch of world building that we're left to our own devices to figure out. Sue me. XD
As for the effects, I don't think I need to say much more than: