Monster Zero x SciFi Japan - Archive Only

GMK is great. Sure, it's not as good as any of Kaneko's Gamera movies, but it's still a solid, well done Godzilla movie that injected some much-needed life back into the series and also paid welcome homage to G'54. It does suffer from studio restrictions and ends up not quite living up to all of its potential, but sadly, all of the Millennium series movies had more potential than was realized.

My biggest personal gripe with it is that we got Mothra and King Ghidorah instead of Varan and Anguirus, but it doesn't stop me from enjoying the proceedings when I'm actually watching the movie. I look at that change in much the same way as Godzilla replacing King Kong in Godzilla vs. the Sea Monster. It's obvious to a knowledgeable fan of the genre that the characters were last-minute replacements, but in the context of the film's plot, it's no more or less ridiculous to have a three-headed dragon as one of the Guardian Monsters than a giant ankylosaur, and it certainly doesn't ruin the movie. I definitely would preferred that they had Baragon, Varan and Anguirus, though, with them being similar in appearance and making for a more uniform trio, and it would have been cool to see Godzilla take on three other reptilian monsters in one movie.

The thing I hate the most about Toho's decision to shoehorn Mothra and King Ghidorah into the film is that it really wasn't necessary. They thought those monsters had the kind of star power needed to draw in larger crowds, but it made less than $2 million in its opening weekend. It ended up picking up business in the following weeks and ultimately grossed $20 million thanks to good word-of-mouth from people who saw it, but it's not like that was thanks to Mothra and King Ghidorah being in it. Everyone who was aware of the movie being in theaters would have known that those top-billed monsters were in it because of the title and the advertising, so it's not like people went and saw it and told their friends "Hey, it turns out this movie is really good, because it's got Mothra and King Ghidorah in it, go check it out!" The film had legs at the box office and became the highest-grossing entry of the Millennium series because it was a good, captivating movie that really resonated with Japanese viewers. There wasn't any need for Toho to force Mothra and King Ghidorah into it in the first place.

I enjoyed GMK quite a bit, though I don't think Kaneko handled it as well as his Gamera movies. All in all, I'm glad it remained the only one as it's more of an alternate Godzilla universe. I do love the Godzilla design, especially those creepy looking eyes.

Kaneko was trumpeted quite a bit after the first two Gamera films, but I noticed a trend of Kaneko bashing after the third Gamera movie. G-Fan seemed to develop a personal vendetta against the man in a lot of their editorials and reviews. Feh, the fickleness of fandom.

I liked GMK a lot the first time I saw it, especially after the previous two films had come out. When I watch it now though I don't like it as much. :/ Kaneko's original ideas for the movie would have been a lot better than what we got.