Customer Reviews

All Monsters Attack

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

You are probably not going to find a lot of fans who would choose "All Monsters Attack" as their favorite Godzilla flick. The complaints against it are many: Over-use of stock footage, a bizarre plotline involving Godzilla and the other monsters only existing in some sort of dream realm, an overly kid-friendly approach, problems of scale involving the humans and the monsters, etc.

And all of that is true. This isn't your standard Godzilla. This is your "after school special" Godzilla, complete with a helpful message for the youth of Japan about how to stand up to bullies and a kid-sized Minira who can speak English and be your monster pal. Director Honda Ishiro, a name that should be familiar to any G-fan, was interested in using his creations for more than just entertainment, and wanted to help kids who were being bullied, a serious social problem that still affects Japan today. "All Monsters Attack" is a unique offering in the Godzilla series, and that alone makes it worth seeing. And yes, it is cheesy, but its still fun.

The story begins with Ichiro, a poor latchkey kid who suffers from bullying at school. His only escape is in his imagination, where he finds himself on Monster Island, bonding with Godzilla's son Minira, who is being bullied by the monster Gabara. Minira tries to stand up to the bully, and helpful papa monster takes a tough love approach, refusing to step in and save the little guy but insisting that he stand up for himself. Ichiro learns that it is important to defend himself against bullies, so when he finds himself kidnapped by gangsters he has the confidence he needs to take action, then dish a little out to the kids that bully him as well.

Classic Media has put together a top-notch package for this underappreciated flick, with both the original Japanese version as well as the dubbed US release. Aside from the language, there isn't much difference between the two versions so you can take your pick. Additional extras are a biography of creator and director Honda Ishiro, which is fascinating. I had no idea Honda was an Assistant Director on so many Kurosawa Akira flicks like Stray Dog and Kagemusha.

Anyone with little kids couldn't go wrong with bringing home "All Monsters Attack". It's a great introduction to the Godzilla series and just might make some future G-fans. As for me, I guess I still have some kid inside, because watching this was just like a time warp back to Sunday mornings and Monster Theater. Good times indeed.

i remember waiting for the godzilla marathons and recording them all on vhs. when this one came out i was dissapointed but thought it was so campy and funny.
i just watched the japanese version for the first time and i may prefer the funny voice of the american version.
i had the classic media version but this new one looks better.

p.s did japanese kids really wear those shorts? damn thats like underwear haha.

Among Godzilla film fans, this one is probably the worst example of the whole series. The kid hero in this film adds an air of depression as he portrays a latchkey school-kid in a run down and weary looking city.
Godzilla started to look more like the Cookie Monster from Sesame Street. Budget cuts reduced Godzilla and all the monsters to romp around on a jungle island since it was cheaper than building city models. All the city scenes that do appear are for background shots for the protagonist's drama. This may be the only Godzilla film where "No Buildings Were Damaged in the Making of This Film", though your brain cells may suffer.
This film is for completists only. The only real plus in this whole film was that a few years back, they used some scenes for a commercial about father-son relations.

So why buy it? First off, I am a completist. I have the rest of the recently remastered versions that have been released by ClassicMedia. These disks are well packaged with some nice extras. One of the best parts is the audio commentary track. The gentlemen who have been involved in the previous audio commentaries did an outstanding and engaging job in this series. I have every reason to believe that this will continue.
That is why I am giving this film three stars, maybe they can explain what Toho was thinking in making this film.
You would best be served by bundling this film with The Terror Of Mecha-Godzilla so you can save money and get a better value. That film was a swan song to the old Godzilla and it goes out with a bang. Things do blow-up REAL good...
It's odd that these two films are being released when neither are in proper order of continuity. I don't know the reason for this, but I hope they consider Godzilla Versus The Smog Monster for their next choice.

Many fans declare as this the worst Godzilla film made but for me the worst is Godzilla vs. Megalon. The reason is because it uses more stock footage than the other Godzilla films up to that point (which they used very little) and that it was more childish and kiddish than the previous ones as well. But that was the main point! The film wasn't to be taken seriously like the original film but made for children so they can defend themselves from their own bullies and have their own dreams of Godzilla and his monster pals. One thing that is a highlight for this film is that the young actor who portrays Ichiro isn't as obnoxious as some children from the Gamera films (Gamera vs. Zigra comes to mind). To sum it up, it's a rather entertaining film to watch and is good to show your children if they have started an interest in Godzilla or kaiju films in general. It's supposed to be mindless fun and can be enjoyed as long as you remember that it's for children, not for adults. Oh, and the DVD is good too. We get the Classic Media usuals, trailer, biography, audio commentary, and the original Japanese version with optional subtitles.And the quality is near perfect as well. So this is a worthy disc to any fan's collection if they are interested and enjoy this film.

Growing up, this installment of GODZILLA was my favorite. I do believe this was my first Godzilla movie I ever watched. It came on TBS'S SUPER SCARY SATURDAY ON THE SUPERSTATION hosted by Grandpa from THE MUNSTERS. I loved it when they showed Godzilla movies and this one sort of started it all for me.

When I was a kid, I didn't care about anything but monster action in these films and this one has it, albeit, most of it is STOCK FOOTAGE. I recently watched this movie a few days ago with my daughter and I laughed throughout the whole movie basically. My 1 year loved it though and now she is a bonafide Zilla fan. This proves once again, this is really just a kid friendly Godzilla movie.

Another upside is Minilla(?), aka son of Godzilla, which sort of stars in this movie. He can apparently grow from 4 feet to several dozen feet in a matter of seconds and he can talk(LIKE BARNEY NO LESS). So that was fun to watch. The story is lame though because it's about some kid being bullied around and consulting with Minilla on how to handle this problem. He himself is being bullied and can't deal with his on problems without Godzilla's help.

I know this Godzilla flick is commonly regarded as the worse of all Godzilla movies, but it is important because the series just wouldn't be complete without it. I can't imagine the series with no GODZILLA'S REVENGE because it sold me on the Zilla movies. Get it for your kids, get it for your self....

Don't buy Godzilla versus the Sea monster or Son of Godzilla. Get this instead since it contains all the fight scenes from those movies plus the fights with Gaborah...That makes this watchable...Also watch it in Japanese since you won't have to tolerate Minya's voice since the English dub makes him sound like Yoda on crack..

Welcome to my least favorite Godzilla movie....

Ostensibly made for kids, Godzilla's Revenge is unique in that all the monster action occurs within the context of a young boy's dreams. One could go so far as to say that it's a "real world" movie, with Godzilla and the other monsters appearing only as the fantasy characters they actually are.

The landscape in which the little boy, Ichiro (Tomonori Yazaki), lives is a bleak one; it's set in Tokyo's industrial district, both of his parents work long hours and are never at home, and the older kids bully the poor little sod to the point that his retreat into fantasies of Monster Island is pretty danged sad. In his dreams, Ichiro meets Minya, Godzilla's son, who is similarly tormented by a big rubber beast named Gabara. Over the course of the movie, Godzilla attempts to teach Minya courage, the lessons from which Ichiro brings back to the waking world with him. This comes in handy, because some inept bank robbers, seeking a safe house in Ichiro's neighborhood, end up abducting him. By remembering the lessons Godzilla taught his son, he is able to stand up to them--and finally, he even faces down the rotten bastard kids who have been bullying him since the beginning of the picture.

Despite the fact that the lessons Ichiro learns about defending himself are dubious at best, some well-timed moments of levity manage to temper the film's bleakness, which--particularly for a kid's film--has the potential to be truly depressing. Ironically, some of the humor works better in the English version, just because the silly dubbing ramps up the movie's goofiness quotient. In the Japanese version, Minya's voice (yes, Minya talks) sounds not unlike a squeaky girl, whereas in the English version, he sounds remarkably like Barney the purple dinosaur after a few bourbon and ginger ales.

The other monsters in the film appear primarily by way of stock footage, from Godzilla vs. the Sea Monster, Son of Godzilla, and Destroy All Monsters, among others. The only new monster scenes of any note are those with Gabara--a turquoise, tail-less, warty, dog-like thing that walks upright and sounds like my lawnmower when I try to crank it for the first time after a winter's hibernation--and even these are not much to write home about. Gabara does have an electrifying grip, which he uses to shock poor Minya into submission on an occasion or two, a move that prompts Godzilla to take serious offense and mete out the revenge that one gathers the original English title must reference.

Minya, of course, looks just as he did in Son of Godzilla: just plain bad. The intercutting of stock footage from various films, all of which featured distinctively different Godzilla suits, is oftentimes jarring. The new monster scenes use the suit from Destroy All Monsters, which is still in fairly good repair at this point in time (by its final use, in Godzilla vs. Gigan, the suit had just about fallen apart). One could say, I suppose, that it's only natural for Ichiro to dream about Godzilla in his various incarnations, since, as a fan of the movies, he would have stored images of all those different suits in his subconscious. We'll go with that, okay?

Domestically, via United Productions of America, Godzilla's Revenge made its rounds of the drive-in circuit in 1971, originally paired with the U.P.A. release, Island of the Burning Damned (a.k.a. Island of the Burning Doomed), and later Toho's own War of the Gargantuas (also released in the U.S. by U.P.A.). The Classic Media DVD release presents both the U.S. and Japanese versions of the movie, which are mostly the same except for the language and the opening titles; in the Japanese version, there's a very silly monster march sung by hellishly obnoxious children, whereas in the English version, the titles are accompanied by a frenetic jazz number.

I never saw Godzilla's Revenge during its original run; in fact, I'm not sure exactly when I saw it for the first time, but I know I felt as if I'd been sucker-punched. This movie strikes me as one that adults think their kids would love; the real little kids are thinking, "This is stupid," but they can't say that out loud because they'll end up getting whooped. I suspect that if this movie had been my juvenile introduction to Godzilla, I might not have ended up the die-hard daikaiju freak I am at age 50-something. Maybe I'm wrong, though; I saw Santa Claus Conquers the Martians when I was about four years old, and I still like Christmas.

As a Godzilla completist, it is necessary for me to own this film; it is not, however, necessary for me to view it frequently. Best I can say is that I applaud Classic Media for giving it as respectable a DVD release as it did with the other movies in their Godzilla series.

All Monsters Attack is a misleading title. It makes you think the film will be what Destroy All Monsters was, with all your favorite Godzilla characters coming together for a royal rumble. This is not so. The American title, Godzilla's Revenge, isn't any better considering Godzilla isn't getting any kind of revenge on anyone.
What we have here is Saturday Morning Cartoon Godzilla. A Japanese boy is bullied by his classmates and his parents are seldom home. To escape, he mentally retreats to Monster Island, where he befriends Godzilla's son and runs through the jungle alot. After his imaginary adventures, he gains the confidence to earn the respect of his tormentors and thwart the plans of two bumbling crooks who are hiding out from the cops. Kind of a Japanese kaiju Home Alone if you will.
Watching this film I began to wonder if a Godzilla script has ever been rejected, and if so, I'd really like to read that script. I'm not sure who thought this was a good idea or why Ishiro Honda directed it. The scenes with Godzilla are all stock footage from the previous two films, Godzilla vs. The Sea Monster and Son of Godzilla. This means that the only monsters you really see are from those films. Don't expect to see Mothra or Ghidorah hanging around Monster Island. Some new monster footage is shot for the film, but it's just not enough to make the film interesting. The human story with the boy is very uninteresting too.
It may seem silly to be nitpicky about a Godzilla film because it's a Godzilla film. But if I can find enjoyment in Godzilla vs. Megalon, I don't think I'm asking too much here. I gave it two stars because there are a few chuckles here and there and it's got a snazzy theme song. Otherwise the only good thing about this movie is that it's just a tad over an hour long.

After finally regaining audience favor with Destroy All Monsters (1968), how disappointing it must have been to see the series slip again so soon. While one has to respect director Ishiro Honda for not simply repeating Destroy All Monsters, the return to the kiddie approach of Son of Godzilla was ill advised when that film had been the biggest flop in the series. Maybe Honda wanted to address school bullying and make a light-hearted film that kids could enjoy and logic be damned. Whatever the case, Godzilla's Revenge, or All Monster's Attack (1969) is a children's film and should be evaluated as such.

With all the monster action taking place inside a child's imagination, Godzila's Revenge (1969) isn't really a Godzilla film at all, but rather a juvenile fantasy romp sprinkled with camp and dipped in cheese. The highlight of the film is the stock footage from Godzilla vs. the Sea Monster (1966). We get to see Godzilla's battle with the Red Bamboo's fighter jets unscored without the inappropriate surf rock music. As a children's fantasy, Godzilla's Revenge succeeds. Avoid this one, unless you have small children and want to introduce them to kaiju films. It certainly has made my 4-year old nephew a fan.

Honda At His most Lackluster, On child terms, it's a good film, I guess (very small kids, not above five. Especially if they've seen any of the films where the stock footage comes from). however, the quality of the DVD is amazing, in re-mastered wide screen and both American dubbed and the original version are presented. And the special features are great!! Has an entertaining commentary by Richard Pusateri of G-fan magazine.