Monster Zero x SciFi Japan - Archive Only

My lady didn't think much of Mothra vs. Godzilla simply because of Mothra being in it, that being said, it's nowhere near the bottom of her list.

Mothra rocks and both Mothra and Mothra vs. Godzilla are two of the finest kaiju movies ever done.

I'm not updating the "everyone rankings" thing any time soon because my hard drive casploded and I don't have the file anymore.

^ slacker.

A-grade: I adore these movies, and always will.
Mothra vs. Godzilla
Son of Godzilla
Gojira
Godzilla vs. Monster Zero
Godzilla vs. the Sea Monster

B-grade: no concrete order of preference here; I greatly enjoy all of these.
Godzilla vs. Biollante
King Kong vs. Godzilla
Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla
Godzilla vs. Hedorah
Godzilla (2014)
Destroy All Monsters
Godzilla, Mothra, King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack
Terror of Mechagodzilla
Godzilla: King of the Monsters!

C-grade: again, no concrete order. I like these on a more casual level.
Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah
Godzilla 2000
Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster
Godzilla vs. Megalon
Godzilla vs. Gigan
Godzilla 1985
Godzilla vs. Megaguirus
Godzilla vs Mechagodzilla (1993)

D-grade: these ones I'm not so fond of.
Godzilla Raids Again
Godzilla's Revenge
Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla
Godzilla: Tokyo SOS
Godzilla vs. Destroyah

F-grade: no comment.
Godzilla: Final Wars
Godzilla vs. Spacegodzilla
GODZILLA (1998)
Godzilla vs. Mothra: Battle for Earth

Ten years ago, my top 5 would have included FW, SOS, and a few 90's films. My tastes changed rather quickly once I reviewed the whole franchise again.

...And for fun, here are my results from the Preference Revealer, which I think gave largely accurate results:

And here is my ranking of all the Godzilla movies. I have categorized them into **** (4 stars), *** (3 stars), ** (2 stars), * (1 star)

I am excluding GINO because I don't consider it a Godzilla movie, so I don't think it belongs on my list.

The 4 star movies are the ones that I adore the most, the movies that I just can't stop watching over and over again. The 3 star movies I also love, and watch every now and then. The 2 star movies I hardly watch that much, maybe once every couple of years. And the 1 star movies I don't even watch at all. I've seen Tokyo SOS probably once from beginning to end since I first saw it back 2004.

****
Godzilla Vs Monster Zero
Ghidrah, the Three Headed Monster
Godzilla Vs MechaGodzilla (1974)
Godzilla (1984) / Godzilla 1985
Godzilla Vs King Ghidorah
Godzilla 2000
Terror of MechaGodzilla
Godzilla Final Wars
Godzilla Vs MechaGodzilla (1993)

***
Godzilla Vs. Gigan
Godzilla Vs. the Smog Monster
Godzilla Vs. the Sea Monster
Godzilla Vs Destroyer
Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla
Godzilla Vs Biollante
Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack
Godzilla (2014)
King Kong vs. Godzilla
Godzilla X Megaguiras
Son of Godzilla
Godzilla (1954) / Godzilla, King of the Monsters
Mothra Vs. Godzilla

**
Godzilla Vs. SpaceGodzilla
Godzilla Vs. Megalon
Godzilla's Revenge
Godzilla Raids Again
Destroy All Monsters
Godzilla and Mothra: The Battle for Earth

*
Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S.

I honestly think you should give Tokyo SOS another shot, especially back to back with Against Mechagodzilla. It feels a lot less a cash grab in it's adolescent age and more like a movie with a lot of homages. Tezuka is an underrated director and a good fan of the franchise. It would have been a more liked film if there wasn't saturation with the opponents.

That was still one bad ass looking Mothra, even better than the original and totally shames GvM'92.

Lists like these always feel fluid to me. Depending on mood and such, I could probably swap any movie on this list up or down a few spots. I left Godzilla 1954 off the list because it's such a different movie from the rest and I really don't know how to compare it because of the emotional weight it carries. The only surprise to some might be how far down on my list Godzilla 2000 is....the characters don't do enough for me to really love the film. Godzilla looks derpy during much of the movie. It rips off GINO (car chase). It has horrible matte shots. Orga sucks. The fight with UFO was actually pretty good, but the fight with Orga was a snoozefest. Godzilla was given an orange death ray, when a blue beam using the same animation style would have been wickedly awesome. Bleh.

My List:

Terror of Mechagodzilla (1975)

Godzilla vs. Biollante (1989)

Monster Zero (1965)

Ghidrah the Three-Headed Monster (1964)

Mothra vs. Godzilla (1964)

Godzilla Tokyo SOS (2003)

Return of Godzilla (1984)

Godzilla Mothra King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack (2001)

Godzilla vs. Gigan (1972)

Godzilla (2014)

Son of Godzilla (1967)

Godzilla vs. Destoroyah (1995)

Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah (1991)

Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla (1974)

Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla (1993)

Destroy All Monsters (1968)

Godzilla vs. The Sea Monster (1966)

Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla (2002)

King Kong vs. Godzilla (1962)

Godzilla 2000 (1999)

Godzilla's Revenge (1969)

Godzilla Final Wars (2004)

Godzilla Raids Again (1955)

Godzilla vs. Hedorah (1971)

Godzilla vs. Megaguirus (2000)

Godzilla vs. Megalon (1973)

Godzilla vs. Spacegodzilla (1994)

Godzilla vs. Mothra (1992)

***************

GINO (98)

I've really been appreciating the Heisei series lately,so with that, a new ranking for the entire series...

My top 5 are pretty interchangeable at this point, depends on the mood I'm in and what type of Godzilla, and what type of Godzilla movie, I want to see.



King Kong vs. Godzilla (1962)

Godzilla vs. Biollante (1989)

Godzilla (1954)

Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah (1991)

Return of Godzilla (1984)

Godzilla Raids Again (1955)

Ghidrah the Three-Headed Monster (1964)

Son of Godzilla (1967)

Godzilla vs. The Sea Monster (1966)

Godzilla vs. Gigan (1972)

Mothra vs. Godzilla (1964)

Godzilla Mothra King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack (2001)

Godzilla vs. Mothra (1992)

Godzilla vs. Destoroyah (1995)

Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla (1993)

Godzilla's Revenge (1969)

Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla (1974)

Terror of Mechagodzilla (1975)

Godzilla vs. Hedorah (1971)

Monster Zero (1965)

Godzilla Tokyo SOS (2003)

Godzilla 2000 (1999)

Destroy All Monsters (1968)

Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla (2002)

Godzilla (2014)

Godzilla vs. Megalon (1973)

Godzilla vs. Megaguirus (2000)

Godzilla vs. Spacegodzilla (1994)

Godzilla Final Wars (2004)

Favorite Godzilla Sequels (G'54 Stands Alone)

Ghidrah The Three-Headed Monster
Godzilla vs. The Thing
Godzilla On Monster Island
Terror of Mechagodzilla
Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah
Godzilla 1985
Monster Zero
King Kong vs. Godzilla
Destroy All Monsters
Godzilla vs. The Cosmic Monster

The Best Godzilla Films

Godzilla ('54)
Mothra vs. Godzilla
Ebirah Horror of the Deep
Monster Zero
King Kong vs. Godzilla (Japanese version)
Godzilla, Mothra, King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack
Godzilla vs. Biollante
Ghidorah The Three Headed Monster
Destroy All Monsters
Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah

I have discovered that it is much easier to list the movies I am particularly fond of, rather than trying to rank the entire series, one film against another. The truth is, I am biased for all of the twenty-something Japanese-made Godzilla movies, and am very appreciative of Gareth Edwards' hundred-million-dollar reboot. So, in the final analysis...yeah, I like all of 'em lol! Except, of course, Dean Devlin and Roland Emmerich's collosal sh*t-fest.

My ranking list is basically everything Showa on top, everything Heisei in the middle and everything Millennium at the bottom.

I edited my list above slightly. Having finally seen Destroy All Monsters again, it sits solidly in the B-grade rank.

A few random observations, if you don't mind...

The Japanese version of King Kong vs. Godzilla really is a gem. I hope that one day, fate intervenes, and a proper state-side release of this wonderful film happens. I don't think it ever really dawned on people that this is the film where Toho first parodied the Godzilla series before they had a chance to make each preceeding movie a parody of itself. It's all played for laughs, right down to the brilliant casting of Ichiro Arishima as the slimy, but loveable Mr. Tako. Come to think of it, the entire cast is one of the best of any Godzilla movie! You have the comic duo of Tadao Takashima and Yu Fujiki stealing the scenes that Arishima doesn't, there's both Mie Hama and Akiko Wakabayashi providing some nice eye-candy and then you have series veterans such as Akihiko Hirata, Kenji Sahara and Jun Tazaki lending strong support. Honda and Tsuburaya make ample use of the large budget alotted them for this film, because everything about KKvs.G feels like a "Toho Super-Production". And what's more exciting than the "Battle of the Century" as Kong and Godzilla slug it out, "clackity-clack" at each other, chuck boulders back and forth, judo-flip, tail-swipe, tail-swing, bump and tumble their way all up and down Mt. Fuji, through Atami Castle, and into the Pacific Ocean!?! And it's all topped off with a big, pounding, epic Akira Ifukube score that was criminally excised from the U.S version. The Godzilla series definitely hit its creative peak with Mothra vs. Godzilla one year later, but this film, I think, rivals the likes of Ghidrah The Three-Headed Monster as being the most enjoyable/entertaining/fun-to-watch of all the Godzilla movies in the series. On that basis alone, King Kong vs. Godzilla is one of the best, period.

Next time, I'll talk about how I've done almost a complete one-eighty regarding my opinion of Gojira no Gyakushu (Godzilla Raids Again).

Coming back to the Preference Revealer a year later. Guess I'll post how far some of these have risen or fallen since then.

1. Godzilla (1954)
2. Godzilla (2014) : was 3
3. Godzilla vs. Biollante (1989) : was 7
4. Monster Zero (1965) : was 5
5. Godzilla 2000 (1999) : was 2
6. Mothra vs. Godzilla (1964)
7. GMK: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack (2001) : was 9
8. Godzilla x Mechagodzilla (2002) : was 12
9. Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla (1974) : was 8
10. Godzilla vs. the Sea Monster (1966)
11. Son of Godzilla (1967) : was 14
12. Terror of Mechagodzilla (1975) : was 4
13. King Kong vs. Godzilla (1962) : was 11
14. Ghidorah the Three-Headed Monster (1964) : was 13
15. Godzilla: Final Wars (2004)
16. Godzilla Raids Again (1955)
17. The Return of Godzilla (1984) : was 18
18. Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II (1993) : was 17
19. Godzilla vs. Destroyer (1995)
20. Godzilla's Revenge (1969)
21. Destroy All Monsters (1968) : was 22
22. Godzilla vs. Gigan (1972) : was 24
23. Godzilla vs. Hedorah (1971) : was 21
24. Godzilla vs. Megalon (1973) : was 26
25. Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah (1991)
26. Godzilla: Tokyo SOS (2003) : was 23
27. Godzilla vs. Megaguirus (2000) : was 28
28. Godzilla vs. Mothra (1992) : was 27
29. Godzilla vs. Spacegodzilla (1994)