Customer Reviews

King Kong Vs. Godzilla [VHS]

5 star:		(33)
4 star:		(23)
3 star:		(27)
2 star:		(11)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

WWWWOOOOHHHHOOOO!!!!!! After viewing all of the Godzilla movies except Godzilla vs The Smog Monster & Godzilla vs MechaGodzilla 2, I'd have to say KING KONG vs GODZILLA is the positivly absoluty, incredibly, truly most Godzillariffic and Kingkongastic Godzilla movie ever made.I especially like the part when Godzilla Karate kicks King Kong (really in movie).Anyway you would like this 1962-1963 movie.

This would have to be considered one of the all time greatest
Japanese monster movies. King Kong is captured and brought to the civilized world. Godzilla comes onto the scene with his radioactive fire breath. It is a battle waiting to happen. The
Japanese homeland is torn asunder when the two behemoths do finally meet.The land is burned and smashed in every conceivable
fashion. At times if you really looked hard you could tell that
Godzilla and King Kong were men in suits and hand puppets. That
alone did not detract from the film.You would still have to classify it as a classic. Buy and watch this movie. You will never forget it.

Godzilla Vs King Kong (1963)(Goodtimes 1998-2001) 2/5
This disc contains a 4:3 picture (I don't know if this is the original ratio so I won't comment)and has scratches throughout. The colours are not very good and look washed out and the whole picture looks flat. It has a mono soundtrack which is passable. The extras are, Subtitles in English, Spanish and French(although only english as an audio option), producion note, which is actually one page of text which gives you a very very small insight into the film. It has chapters too and when you put the disc in it goes straight to the menu no copyright notices or anything. The version on the disc is the american edited version and only that.
Good Points: It's watchable if you don't have any other copy.
Bad Points:It doesn't have an option for the japanese version, the film hasn't been restored at all and not even a trailer as an extra??
The rating is for the DVD, I rated it 2 stars because it is watchable as a bog standard version of the movie but more dedicated fans should save their money for a future release.

This is an enjoyable Godzilla movie and is the third in the series. Godzilla breaks free from the ice that trapped him in the previous movie, Godzilla Raids Again (aka Gigantis, The Fire Monster). Here Godzilla is the bad guy. I think you can probably guess the basic plot.

It gets silly at some points. Don't get caught up in production mistakes. Just enjoy the ride. Here electricity is supposed to harm (or at least slow down) Godzilla, but later in the series, Godzilla gains his strength from lightning. (The lightning comes up in Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla - aka Godzilla vs. The Cosmic Monster.) Plus, electrical lines didn't affect him in the original movie either.

This film had the potential of getting into legal trouble. The basic idea for this movie originally came from Willis O'Brien. He had the idea of having King Kong fight a large Frankenstein. Unfortunately, he shared his idea with the wrong person who would later take the idea to Toho without O'Brien's knowledge. O'Brien learned about it just before he died.

I find the packaging for this DVD (and the VHS edition) interesting if you consider some stunts that Toho pulled when promoting this movie. Back in 1963, Toho used images of the 1933 Kong on the posters. The ape costume looks nothing like O'Brien's version of Kong. The packaging for this video edition uses images from other versions of the monsters too. Kong does not look that real. The version of Godzilla shown here (in the lower portion with the red background) looks like the version used from 1973-1975 (Japanese release dates) which included Megalon and the original Mechagodzilla movies. I can't place which movie the close-up is from.

This is pure Toho Studios madness, best enjoyed by either hardcore old school Godzilla fans who grew up watching campy stuff like this, or 4-11 year olds may enjoy it also. The dubbing is hilariously bad, and watch for the special dinosaur expert interviewed by the U.N. news guy. This guy's expressions and answers about dinosaurs are worth the low price of the DVD alone! The actors portraying the television company suits that "owns" Kong are poor at best, and were not taking the film seriously at all. Yes, the Ape costume is really atrocious, you could rent a better one at your local costume shop. But the Godzilla costume is one of the best of all the 60's-70's films and the fight scenes are straight out of the WWF. At one point, Kong literally bodyslams Godzilla! All in all, one of the most fun of the Godzilla films to watch, and the ending is open to endless speculation to who won. Zilla buffs say Kong was running away a la Oscar de la Hoya, whereas Kong-a-maniacs say the lizard was overpowered and left to die in the Pacific. I would really like to see this Toho classic re-made today using Jurassic Park-like special effects, and some decent actors. I think it would be a hit. Buy the DVD, and get in on the argument today!

While the American version of this movie is somewhat entertaining, I realized how much it was butchered and altered when I acquired the Japanese subtitled version, which is wide screen, and hi-fi stereo. Ishiro Honda's original Japanese music score, especially the important "Godzilla" theme music was replaced in the American version with stock music from Universal, mostly from "The Creature From The Black Lagoon". There's no annoying U.N reports, which leads to another inaccuracy. When the helicopter pilot sees Godzilla breaking out of the iceberg, he shouts, "GODZILLA"! The scene then switches to U.N. reporter Eric Carter stating.."The world is stunned to discover that prehistoric creatures exist in the 20th century"...If that's the case, how did the helicopter pilot even know who Godzilla was? How did anyone know who Godzilla was? In the Japanese version, which, by the way, in the iceberg scene, the pilot gasps..Ahhhh...it's GOJIRA!" The "Godzilla" theme music stars, and the scene switches quickly to the scene where Godzilla is crossing the Bearing Sea, and attacks the military base. Godzilla's previous entrapment in the iceberg is also referenced to by one of the scientists, something to the effect of "We knew he would not remain frozen in the iceberg forever, even if it took 200 years, we knew he would return to us eventually". OK, it's not an epic flick like the original "King Kong", but it's a fun movie, and the Japanese version moves along a lot better than the American version, and makes more sense, if a movie like this can make any kind of sense! It runs about 10 minutes longer, and there's a little more detail to certain cast members concerning the "plot". It just makes more sense than the American version, as much sense as a low budget cult classic can make, I guess. Oh..yeah, and the ending is the SAME as the American version, except that you hear Godzilla's roar right before Kong's roar.

The third Godzilla film.

Godzilla tries to conquer King Kong this time. We all know King Kong from his 1933 film or 1976 film. he also appeared in The Son Of Kong (1933) and King Kong Lives (1976). A new version of King Kong will be directed by Peter Jackson, "King Kong" to be released in December 2005.

For the japenese, they made their own version of King Kong twice, beginning with King Kong vs. Godzilla (1962).

On an island offshore Japan, the red berries have grown to an enormous size. They have heard that there is a giant monster on this island. Godzilla has been trapped in an iceberg and has now escaped. The fossils found in japan resemble Godzilla and thus instinctivly, Godzilla comes back to Japan. The natives (Japanese actors in black make-up) are holding King Kong away from their piece of land by a giant gate. Now with King Kong captured, he is taken to japan. Well, you can figure out the rest. Godzilla and King Kong are bound to meet and fight it out. Who do you think will win?

That satellite looks like a roulette whell.

The Japanese also made King Kong Escapes (1967).

The King Kong shown on the index looks like the one from King Kong (1976).

The next film in the Godzilla film series:

Godzilla vs. The Thing (1962)

Also known as Godzilla vs. Mothra (1962).

Update: Godzilla may return in 2012. A Deal has been made with TOHO, Inc. Warner Bros. will be co-producing and co-financing.

I was frustrated by this movie as a kid. I was 8 years old, and even then, I knew that Kong had no real chance against Godzilla. I mean, the big lizard's atomic fire-breath should have made this a very short film! Instead, King Kong (who was killed by mere airplanes in his original feature) slugs it out with a confused, dopey version of our favorite giant reptile. Even as a kid I knew that Godzilla was 400 feet tall and Kong was supposed to be 30 feet at best (I know, I know, I shouldn't aply logic or continuity to this, but it bugs me)! I also had problems with the fact that both creatures died horrible, irreversible deaths in their original movies. AAAAARGG!! Anyway, if you've got kids or can still suspend disbelief, this is a good way to waste an afternoon...

When you talk about this movie, the whole conversation necessarily comes down to two words: who won? When you have two major money-making monsters, you can't very well kill either one of them, of course, so you cannot definitively proclaim a victor in this epic battle. There is a slight difference between the American and Japanese versions of the film; while Kong clearly is seen swimming away, the Japanese version (so I read) features a roar from Godzilla at the end, clearly indicating he is not dead or defeated. Some argue that Kong is supposedly our "American" monster, so Americans are led to believe he won, while Japanese audiences are led to believe that their monster won. This is hogwash to me. There is no way King Kong could defeat Godzilla. The first time they meet, Kong quickly turns and runs, scratching his head. In the finale, Godzilla pretty much beats the (...) out of him for several minutes, and Kong even stupidly conks himself head-first onto a big rock and knocks his own lights out. Kong's only offense is to throw rocks and to get his opponent into some type of bear hug. At the end, both monsters plummet into the water--Godzilla does not resurface (but of course he is aquatic), and Kong leaves. I like to believe that Kong is running away from Godzilla, but each viewer has to decide the true outcome on his own.

This movie gets a little weird. First off, forget earlier movies--no one has seen Godzilla, frozen in ice for millions of years, or King Kong before (even though the folks who discover Godzilla immediately identify him by name). Naturally, Godzilla heads directly for Japan. Some scientist has discovered the sleep-inducing powers of the red berries found only on a small island; a caricature of a man who runs a TV station and pharmaceutical company sends a Japanese Laurel and Hardy to find the monster-god of the island. Music and cigarettes win over the natives, but then a giant octopus shows up and threatens to destroy the berry juice that the natives use to supplicate Kong, only to be thrashed by the big ape, after which Kong slurps down a few barrels of juice and passes out like a drunk. He is dragged back toward Japan on a barge, but then escapes. He heads for Godzilla, runs away like a little girl when he first encounters him, then decides to content himself with stomping around on the Japanese mainland for a while. Inevitably, Kong's weakness for the ladies distracts him; he is drugged and then transported by giant balloons to Mt. Fuji to fight in the main event against Godzilla.

The special effects in this movie are sometimes good and sometimes awful. The King Kong costume is just horrible, I feel. Kong looks like Charles Manson after a long night of drinking. Godzilla walks around like a hockey goalie in full pads late in the film, but overall he looks pretty good. Don't ask why, but Godzilla dislikes electricity in this film; Kong, on the other hand, loves it and draws strength from it (a declaration made early on by scientists despite the total lack of anything resembling proof of the fact). The scenes featuring folks running around right in front of the monsters are amateurish--the people are blue and semi-opaque; scenes featuring the girl held in Kong's grasp feature a doll that looks little better than a corn cob with some black hair stuck on top of it. Some of the models used look exactly like models. When it comes to Godzilla movies, though, these things really don't matter to me; in fact, I would be disappointed if there were no ultra-cheap looking special effects. Oddly enough, the giant octopus that makes a cameo appearance seems pretty realistic. The most annoying feature in the film is the series of clips featuring Eric Carter on the United Nations television network. I'm not sure if these scenes are in the Japanese version, but they serve no good purpose in the film.

A lot of people praise the final battle between the monsters, but I frankly found it disappointing. As I mentioned, Kong doesn't bring a lot of offense to the fight, and you can almost hear Godzilla saying "Get up, you loser," when Kong knocks his own lights out. The bit where Kong stuffs a tree down Godzilla's throat is pretty funny, but he gets few points from me outside of that one move. Basically, what we need here is a rematch. Let's get a new incarnation of Godzilla and King Kong back together and put an end to the controversy over who won the first fight. I'll put my money on Godzilla.

Where do I begin?

The special effects are very cheaply done, even for 1962, when we already had the stop and go motion technology that made the original KING KONG so famous. The ape suit for KONG is so bad, it makes the one in the 1976 version look like CGI. Just watch the scenes where Kong bats his eye lids like some raging queen. The dubbing is expectedly bad and the performances from the Japanese actors are very campy.

So, it's amazing that given all that, this monster movie has become an irresistable cult classic! You can't help but feel a shiver of excitement in your spine when you see these two classic movie monsters (cheap suits) clash on screen.

For me personnally, this movie brings back memories of "Godzilla Day" on Channel 9, WOR TV, when I was a kid; every Friday after Thanksgiving.

Now; just imagine a spectacular remake of this movie with Peter Jackson's KING KONG and Roland Emmerich's GODZILLA! Ooooh, I shiver at the thought!