Okay here we go... time for some absurd noise. Not that you can say many releases in this series or the Toho line-up as a whole are particularly sombre. But your mileage may vary here depending on your thoughts about the classic Godzilla franchise and if you think making light of the title character is a big deal or not. For all those fans who want to debate whether the big guy is a father, a mother or just an adoptive parent, there will be others who see this purely as a lurid monster comedy. Some get pretty defensive about it as if they need to defend Godzilla's stoicism, but personally I'm of the mind that this is complete nonsense and should be treated as such.
On a remote island several strange radio signals are reported, first by a plane and then by a UN science team. The base they've created is some kind of weather system control centre which sends up balloons to change the climate. The plot for what it's worth involves the scientists attempting to see if deserts and other inhospitable regions can be made fertile. I don't think that's quite how the seasons or the Earth's water supply works, but there's not much point taking it seriously. The problem however is that the hot or cold inducing weather equipment is being interfered with by the strange signals on the island. Well that, the local wildlife, and the arrival of a nosy reporter called Goro (Akira Kubo).
Of course the equipment malfunctions are being caused by local monsters, first a kind of giant preying mantis and then the arrival of Godzilla. He's also interested in the radio signal which for some reason is a distress call from a giant egg... from which his son soon hatches. Did another member of his species bury it or did he leave it there? Is he asexual and life found a way, or is this the child of another creature entirely? The answer is... who cares. From the moment the egg hatches it's clear that this isn't to be taken seriously, with the mantis monsters harassing the new born before Godzilla carelessly hits it in the face with his tale.
The creature designs are not great either which drains any sense that this is a gritty creature feature, with the big G looking like a terrible Cookie Monster mutant (not for the first time) and his son looking like a weird bug eyed monstrosity of a turtle. He's ugly when he hatches and he's ugly when he starts to grow. But this kind of adds to the levity, particularly when the parenting scenes take place. Godzilla is pretty bad at the whole thing and is often sleeping instead of teaching life lessons. When they do interact the film is at its best with the poor kid getting dragged about by the tail and berated for failing to fight or exhale the proper atomic breath.
Elsewhere the film is a fairly typical science fiction story as the team tries to cool the tropical island but instead cause a radioactive heatwave, resulting in even bigger preying mantis monsters. It's obviously a cheaper production without any standard Tokyo destruction, but the outpost sets are charming in a primary coloured B-movie sort of way. There's a flimsy romance between Goro and the only human native Saeko (Beverly Maeda) a marooned girl who was left to fend for herself when her father died some time earlier. At least things get a bit more interesting when cabin fever sets in and fighting between the team breaks out, as does a fever in the later stages of the film.
The monster mayhem is fairly restricted and there are more small scale fights and rock throwing contests like the previous film Ebirah. But this is the better film and things pick up when the giant spider Kumonga arrives to try and eat the science team, the last remaining mantis and of course Godzilla's son. It's not exactly a hair raising tale of suspense, particularly when the survivors are trapped in the third act but can easily swim out of a cave that becomes covered with spider webs. Even stranger is the way Professor Kusumi (Tadao Takashima) insists on one last experiment that will bring snow to impeded the monsters, when at the end they don't pose any threat.
But logic be damned this is a movie about vague notions of parenting for monsters, and a vaguer still plan to change the weather and feed the world with nuclear balloons and chemical dispersal machines ripe for abuse in the wrong hands. Neither one of these elements can be considered deep or meaningful themes unless you really want to over analyse all of this. Which I'm sure someone has. Ultimately this gets a bad rap for being overtly childish and silly in appearance, but it's by no means the worst entry in the series. It's loud, dumb and ugly like the central creatures but there's something likeable about it all.
3/5
BONUS REVIEW
KING KONG VS GODZILLA (1962)
Another poorly designed creature feature, this time spoiling both the original Godzilla design and the features of King Kong. The former would at least get a decent face lift in Mothra vs Godzilla while Kong... well he looks different but just as bad in King Kong Escapes. Still, what a title. They get a lot of the basics right, with time spent on the typical Godzilla destruction and military battles, while a lot of scenes are given to the whole Kong as an island god idea. Why are they fighting, and how? The scale differences should be notable. But like the whole parenthood thing it's best not to worry about it. It's all pretty shoddy and ramshackle but that's part of the fun.
Especially when it's obvious that once again this was a production where the monsters changed but the script didn't, and so Frankenstein's monster was dropped... but the lighting related powers were left in. To relay every instance of this and how each film is connected would take some time. The actual storyline involves a bizarre parody of television marketing, as pharmaceutical company head Mr. Tako (IchirÅ Arishima) decides he needs a monster as the 'sponsor' for his company. Like a mascot? One that goes on citywide rampages? It's odd but it's entertaining and the US version is to be avoided for cuts to this storyline amongst other changes.
As for the big attraction itself, both title creatures get enough to do with Kong battling an octopus and having to be subdued by some kind of local wine. Maybe that's why he looks so hung over in the Toho's second King Kong movie. Godzilla fights through the same old Saber jets and electricity death traps as you'd expect. If only his design and his body language weren't so off putting. The finale is what you'd expect but Godzilla's weird clapping hands and excited movements are just weird. Still this is early days, only the second monster brawl in the series and the first in colour. The next two instalments would nail this formula.
3/5
