Monster Zero x SciFi Japan - Archive Only

How much you wanna bet many of us will be updating our lists very soon?


#1: The Return of Godzilla (1984)

My first and favorite Godzilla movie. There's so much I love about this film. Even though it was made decades ago, it still has cultural significance today.

#2: Godzilla vs. Biollante (1989)

As of right now, I believe this to be the definitive Godzilla representation. It's easily my favorite Godzilla design. Biollante, too, is one of the most unique, frightening monsters I've ever seen. Great storyline, memorable characters, and plenty of action to keep us coming back for more.

#3: Invasion of Astro-Monster (1965)

Classic. I remember watching this film so many times as a kid. It plays with so many science fiction elements, it has inspired many of my personal projects.

#4: Godzilla vs. Destoroyah (1995)

Nowadays, beloved characters are getting killed off left and right, to mixed reception. How Godzilla's life, death, and legacy was depicted in this film is perfect. Absolutely stunning in every sense of the word. It'll easily become a classic in later years, if it hasn't become one already.

#5: Godzilla, Mothra & King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All Out Attack (2001)

A nice new take on the Godzilla mythology. It continues to be one of the few Millennium films I can watch all the way through.


Honorable Mentions: Mothra vs. Godzilla (1964), Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster (1964), Ebirah, Horror of the Deep (1966), Godzilla vs. MechaGodzilla II (1993), Son of Godzilla (1967), Godzilla Against MechaGodzilla (2002)

1) Godzilla 2014
2) Godzilla: Final Wars
3) Godzilla vs Space Godzilla
4) Godzilla X Megagiras
5) Godzilla 1998

Just kidding. No one is that stupid....

1) DAM
2) Mothra vs Godzilla
3) Godzilla vs Gigan
4) Ghidrah, the Three-Headed Monster
5) Godzilla vs Hedora

Sequels...in no real order when I think about it, save for numero-uno.

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

...oh, you said Top FIVE...oh well I know they're all jumbled up compared to my other list in the "Rank The ENTIRE Series" thread, but that's kinda' the point.

Godzilla vs. Gigan
Godzilla '54
Ghidrah, the Three-Headed Monster
Terror of Mechagodzilla
Mothra vs. Godzilla

Godizlla vs the Sea Monster used to be in my top five, but it surprisingly fell a couple notches down, to be replaced by Mothra vs. Godzilla (as you can see) and, stupendously, in position number six, Godzilla 2014!

1. Godzilla 54
2. GMK
3. vs Biollante
4. Mothra vs
5. vs MechaGodzilla 93

However, I want to state that GMK is my favorite, but the original is the best of them all if that makes sense to you guys.

My top 5, for now, are:

1. Godzilla vs. Biollante (1989)
2. Mothra vs. Godzilla (1964)
3. Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster (1964)
4. Godzilla (1954)
5. Godzilla (2014)

#1: Mothra vs. Godzilla
This is the perfect, or should I say ideal, monster film for me. It's a grandiose tale of good vs evil, with an engaging cast, magnificently portrayed monsters, and spectacularly rendered battle sequences, put to an exceptional soundtrack with nearly perfect pacing throughout. Toho knocked this film out of the ballpark, and it deserves to be on everyone's favorites list (which I see it pretty much is).

#2: Son of Godzilla
While not as grand in scale as some other films, SoG still has impressive effects work, and more importantly, tells a surprisingly intimate and heartfelt story through both human and monster characters. This was actually the last Godzilla film I hadn't seen, but I loved it at first sight.

#3: Gojira
Of course this movie is on my list; it's still the best giant monster movie of all. The reason it doesn't have first place is because it's not a film I want to watch regularly, due to how heavy it is.

#4: Godzilla vs. Monster Zero
I still have a soft spot for my very first Godzilla movie. Monster Zero is a slower-paced film, but it revels in its sense of scale, more so than any other G film, I think; it indulges in its beautiful set pieces, and I love it for that. It's also one of the few dubs I still enjoy.

#5: Godzilla vs. the Sea Monster
This film and Biollante are probably the films I watched the most as a kid. It's not the most spectacular or deep Godzilla movie, but it's a delightful adventure movie with likeable characters and a great portrayal of Godzilla (the Kong criticisms are exaggerated, IMO). Actually, Godzilla as he is portrayed in this film and in Monster Zero is my ideal image of him: a total neutral character, aggressive but not malevolent towards humanity, completely unpredictable and thus, at his most dangerous. It's the full embodiment of Godzilla's status as a living WMD.

Honorable mention goes to Godzilla vs. Biollante. Old favorites die hard, I suppose.

- EDIT -

redundant post (more redundant than usual!)

Well, I think it's been pretty well-established which Godzilla movies are my absolute favorites at the point. However, in keeping with the spirit of this thread's original purpose (as of RIGHT THIS MOMENT), I can definitely say that lately, I've been diggin' on some other Goji-flicks that don't usually show up in my top-five, ten, etc. In some cases, my opinions have changed completely. In the end, I've stated many times that I love all Japanese-made Godzilla movies, so this seems like a good opportunity to show the rest of them some love.

So, at this particular moment, some of my favorite Godzilla movies are...

1. Ebirah Horror of the Deep Dir. Jun Fukuda
2. Godzilla Raids Again Dir. Motoyoshi Oda
3. Godzilla vs. The Cosmic Monster Dir. Jun Fukuda
4. Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla Dir. Takao Okawara
5. Godzilla vs. Mothra Dir. Takao Okawara
6. Godzilla vs. The Smog Monster Dir. Yoshimitsu Banno
7. Son of Godzilla Dir. Jun Fukuda
8. Godzilla X Mechagodzilla Dir. Masaaki Tezuka
9. Godzilla, Mothra, Mechagodzilla: Tokyo SOS Dir. Masaaki Tezuka
10. Godzilla vs. Megalon Dir. Jun Fukuda

...yeah, let's try and give 'em all their due-diligence!

1. Godzilla vs Gigan
-This movie while silly and loaded with stock footage has endless replay value. The cast are awesome, Gigan is a far out design and Anguirus is in this!
2. Ghidrah the Three Headed Monster
-Ghidrah's first and best appearance. Rodan is a beast in this and I just really dig the atmosphere of this film with the martian subplot.
3. Godzilla vs Mechagodzilla (74)
-Has unlimited replayabilty like Gigan. King Caesar and Showa MG are awesome and Anguirus has a great cameo.
4. Godzilla 2000
-Love the G2K design, loved the cast, and love the 50's scifi atmosphere. Wish Orga had more screentime.
5. Godzilla vs King Ghidorah.
-The craziest of the Heisei films. Weird time travel plot is like something from the 60's showa films. KG looks great, MechaKG looks really great. Android M-11 is a goofy fun character.

-Godzilla 1985, The tone is where I would ultimately prefer all my goji movies to be
-Goji vs Biollante Good continuation of previous film
-Goji vs Mothra '64 A good vs film with goji as a villain.
-Monster Zero Has Rodan in it, has sci fi imagination to spare... If any movie deserves to be remade/reimagined its this one.
-Goji 2014 A great gateway film to spark new fans, a good big boy treatment of the character.

Gojira of course is king of the hill, but as always to me it exists outside the franchise itself so it need not be ranked.
always ready to crack the top 5: Terror of Mecha G, Goji x Destroyah, GMK, Goji 2000

We're doing descriptions now? Okay!

- Godzilla (1954) is obvious: social relevant, a fascinating cultural document of the time it was made, gorgeous black and white photography. Just a powerful film in every way. There's no other film that feels like this one. Striking.
- Mothra vs. Godzilla is the creative team at their individual and collaborative peaks. Best effects work, strong story, Mothra and the Shobijin are great characters (sadly, often not used as well as they are in this early film), one of the best interpretations of Godzilla. The perfect monster vs. monster film!
- Invasion of Astro Monster is a wonderful, retro space opera where the kaiju only play a supporting role. The warm, likeable characters and the amiable film they inhabit mean you don't mind the monsters playing second fiddle. Wonderful sense of design in this film: spaceships, costumes, sets. I dig it!
- Ghidorah, The Three-Headed Monsters is the Avengers of it's day, bringing together Toho's three established monster stars against a new baddie. The film successfully weds strong comedy and genre influences (specifically detective and spy movies). It's a very clever film, great script, and the only thing keeping it from being near the very top of this list is the fact that it's far more rushed then the films around it, leading to some awkwardness in special effects and a little choppiness that holds it back from being the best of the best.
- Maybe the most underrated film in the series, Son of Godzilla is a highly enjoyable adventure film that does the 'monster island' concept way better than any other kaiju film!

I've been holding off on doing this until I get through my entire review series, but I don't really think my top 5 are going to change, and if they do, it will probably just be their ordering.

Godzilla 54
GMK
Mothra vs Godzilla
Godzilla vs Biollante
Godzilla Against MechaGodzilla

Godzilla vs Biollante
Mothra vs Godzilla
Monster Zero
The Return of Godzilla
Godzilla vs Mechagodzilla (1974)

My top five favorites (Not a "best" list, just my personal preferences)

Ghidrah The Three Headed Monster
Godzilla vs Monster Zero
Mothra vs Godzilla
Godzilla vs Gigan
Destroy All Monsters


Honorable Mention: Terror of MechaGodzilla, Son of Godzilla

As of the moment, my top five favorite Godzilla movies are as follows...

Ghidrah The Three-Headed Monster
Godzilla On Monster Island
Terror of Mechagodzilla
Godzilla vs. The Thing
Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah

...next five are as follows...

Destroy All Monsters
King Kong vs. Godzilla
Godzilla vs. The Cosmic Monster
Monster Zero
Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla

...and so on...

Godzilla 1985
Ebirah Horror of the Deep
Son of Godzilla
Godzilla Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack
[i]Godzilla vs. Biollante

...and so on...

Godzilla Raids Again
Godzilla vs. The Smog Monster
Godzilla vs. Megalon
Godzilla's Revenge
Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla

Tokyo SOS
Godzilla vs. Mothra
Godzilla 2000
Godzilla X Megaguirus
Godzilla vs. Destroyah

Godzilla Final Wars
Godzilla vs. Spacegodzilla

Well, those are the "fives" at the moment lol!!

Oh yeah, looks like I liked, my top 5 did change.

1. Godzilla 54
2. Mothra vs Godzilla
3. GxMG
4. GTTHM
5. GMK

However, 1 and 2 are interchangeable because MvsG is my favorite of them all but 54 is the best of them all.

These are all Japanese versions, excluding Godzilla 2000.

My personal favorites:

1) Godzilla (1954)
2) The Return of Godzilla
3) Godzilla 2000
4) Mothra vs. Godzilla
5) Ebirah, Horror of the Deep

..and what I consider to be the best:

1) Godzilla (1954)
2) Mothra vs. Godzilla
3) Ghidorah, The Three-Headed Monster
4) Son of Godzilla
5) Invasion of Astro-Monster

Gojira (1954)
Godzilla vs Hedorah
Godzilla King of the Monsters (2019)
Terror of Mechagodzilla
Godzilla vs Destroyah