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28 of 28 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
DVD Finally Does This Movie Justice, March 3, 2005
This review is from: Godzilla vs. the Sea Monster (DVD)
What a weird movie! Bowing to the spy craze of the 1960's, director Jun Fukuda has Godzilla fighting the SPECTRE-like Red Bamboo and a giant crab named Ebirah. Inoshiro Honda's previous films in the series delivered their message about the dangers of nuclear weapons well, but Fukuda turns the series 180 degrees and goes for sheer entertainment instead. Eschewing the city smashing of the previous films, in Godzilla vs. The Sea Monster we get beautiful island girls, tropical locations, a bank robber turned hero, mysterious hideouts and, best of all, a hilarious victory dance by Godzilla. Add in Mothra and the Peanuts (the two little girls who control Mothra) and you have one entertaining and strange hybrid. If you're a Godzilla purist, you'll hate this movie. But if you give it a chance, you'll be surprised at how enjoyable it is.
As with the Son of Godzilla DVD, this edition presents a cyrstal-clear widescreen image that restores the film to what it originally was. The VHS version is blurred with terrible sound and pan-and-scan, but the DVD version contains none of those flaws. In addition, the DVD edition puts back many elements that were edited out of the VHS version, including the opening credits. The film makes a lot more sense in this format and presentation and, unlike the VHS version, doesn't make you feel you're missing something. There are no extras to speak of, but the movie itself gets an A+ for image and sound quality. Most importantly, however, the DVD offers the original dialogue track in Japanese (with subtitles option) that eliminates the horrible dubbing of the previous versions. It's amazing how much better the film is when you realize it's the actual actors' voices and not those of some poor quality American voice-over actor trying to sound Japanese.
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9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Island hopping fun, February 12, 2005
This review is from: Godzilla vs. the Sea Monster (DVD)
Saturday, February 12, 2005 / 4 of 5 / Island hopping fun.
One of the wackier Godzilla films, this one doesn't see the big G until quite far in. In the meantime we're treated to a yellow cardigan wearing criminal/thief tagging along with some teens looking for a third guys brother who was lost at sea. Eventually the boat meets up with Ebirah, the giant lobster and title antagonist. They're crashed onto an island where the amusing baddies are manufacturing nuclear material for nefarious purposes. The beautiful Kumi Mizuno is tanned nicely as a displaced native of Mothra's Infant Island. When Godzilla is finally awakened, he dispatches Ebirah with the kind of crunching we're all used to at seafood restaurants, but not before playing some kick *ss volleyball with boulders. I saw Godzilla's Revenge long before this and now the stock footage used in that film makes more sense seeing it here and Son of Godzilla. Overall a good DVD, I really like Columbia's decision to include the original Japanese soundtrack. Although the suit was getting a bit `ragged' it's still a fun Godzilla outing. Recommended.
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Great Presentation of an OK Godzilla Movie, December 1, 2005
This review is from: Godzilla vs. the Sea Monster (DVD)
Yes, this movie has never looked better. Like other reviewers, I had the VHS and it was sad. If you're into Godzilla and have been waiting for a great print of this to become available, now is he time to snatch this up.
This was originally written as a follow up to King Kong Escapes and was to feature King Kong, but when the owners of Kong backed out, Toho inserted Godzilla. Some footage from previous movies here, but they are hard to notice and overall the film is well done. The Sea Monster is kind of lack luster and isn't much of a challenge for Godzila. Basically, your average Godzilla movie.
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