SpuffyWeb Sadly Over-hyped

AnhartLinkin This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

Plustown A lot of perfectly good film show their cards early, establish a unique premise and let the audience explore a topic at a leisurely pace, without much in terms of surprise. this film is not one of those films.

Rexanne It’s sentimental, ridiculously long and only occasionally funny

JLRVancouver The seventh entry in the Godzilla franchise continues the trend toward 'secret agent' plots, diminished budgets, and light-hearted adventure, and because the story originally starred King Kong, the movie departs from the standard Godzilla story in a number of ways. Through a series of unlikely events, four men end up on an island housing a secret base run by a nefarious organisation known as "Red Bamboo" at which clandestine nuclear warheads are being produced and that is protected by the immense shrimp-like monster "Ebirah". By amazing coincidence, Godzilla is asleep in a cave on the very same island and one of Red Bamboo's captives is a young women from Infant Island, home of Mothra (now back in her winged form). Much of the movie is a monster-free adventure as the five try to evade capture and find a missing brother but eventually Godzilla awakens, with predictable results. Directed by Jun Fukuda, the movie has the look and sound of a '60s science fiction TV show, including tilted camera angles like those on the immensely popular "Batman" (1966) series and up-tempo music that has none of the grandeur of Akira Ifukube's scores. The Ebirah suit is quite good and the scenes of his giant claws rising from the ocean are the best in the film but the Godzilla suit is a step down from previous versions, with bigger eyes, a pronounced brow, a frog-like face, and the eyes of the actor within are clearly visible at times. Mothra is not bad but discrepancies between the painted background version and the puppet version are quite noticeable and her twin fairy ambassadors are now played by "Pair Bambi" who are neither as musical nor as charming as "The Peanuts", who previously played the role. In keeping with diminished budgets, Godzilla spends a lot of time in desolate, undetailed regions of the Island, and although there are some reasonably effective underwater shots, no amount of suspension of disbelief will help with the scenes where he attacks the Red Bamboo base: it's just a guy in a rubber suit stepping on toys. Anthropomorphisation of the kaiju continues: battles include a lot of rock throwing (including 'wind-ups' and 'headings'), there are a number of undignified shots of the big guy sitting down (even dozing off at one point), and in one instance he ironically rubs his nose (apparently a reference to a popular Japanese character). By this stage in the history of the franchise, the films are youth-oriented, light-hearted adventures featuring a heroic, at times almost 'friendly', monster, a trend that will continue until the end of the '70s. Strictly for the fans or students of the genre, and the kids.

framptonhollis Yes. I'll admit it . This is a bad movie. A bad movie that I've watched over and over and over and over again! It is weird how much I like this movie. You could say I like it ironically, but not really, because I believe it has a type of charm that I find intentional. The monster fights are fun, and I like the plot. I totally understand people that hate this entry in the series, but I find it to be one of the most fun Godzilla movies out there!On my Top 10 Godzilla Films list, it is actually included. Here's the list: 1.Gojira 2.Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla 3.Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah 4.Godzilla: Final Wars 5.Mothra vs. Godzilla 6.Godzilla vs. Destroyah 7.Godzilla vs. Spacegodzilla 8.Godzilla, Mothra, and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All Out Attack 9.Ghidorah: The Three-Headed Monster 10.(this film.)

AaronCapenBanner Seventh Godzilla picture sees the big guy being re-awakened by young castaways who became stranded on an island whose local population is being used as slave labor by a terrorist organization called Red Bamboo, who are trying to escape the clutches of a giant lobster named Ebirah. Mothra also appears to help out, as the Red Bamboo are in for a really rough time... Change of pace entry is set away from the cities for a change, which was welcome, and the story is most enjoyable, although Ebirah never quite caught on like other Toho studio monsters did (for whatever reason). Last appearance of the "Twin Fairies"( played by new actresses as well.)

Clay Loomis This movie featured the monster tennis match between Godzilla (Giant, mutant lizard with atomic breath capability), and Ebirah (Giant, mutant shrimp with ability to annoy). I was there, reporting this epic match for KOOK TV (channel 5). Here is the play by play as I called it back in 1966.************************************************** Having just been awoken from a sound slumber by some blatantly prearranged lightning strikes, Godzilla came storming out of the side of a mountain, understandably ticked off. The big guy spotted Ebirah just a few thousand yards out at sea, and blamed him, incorrectly, for the whole incident (Note: Ebirah is known for his prank of putting sleeping, giant monsters hands into bowls of warm water. This has not endeared him to the other monsters).Godzilla kicked up a huge boulder for his first serve. A high, hard, straight shot, right at Ebirah's head. Ebirah, looking intent, shot the boulder back with a right backclaw smash. Godzilla caught this and fired it back with a crisp two-handed throw. Ebirah tried another backclaw return, but it went off the edge of his claw and the boulder went wide and out to sea, almost hitting two Japanese spectators inexplicably swimming out at sea during a raging storm. Point Godzilla.Ebirah started taunting his opponent by clapping his claws together, and Godzilla (never one to let a challenge go unmet) picked up another boulder and fired a mighty two-handed serve. Ebirah returned this with another hard backclaw. Goddy returned with a well aimed head butt. Ebirah, another backclaw. Goddy, a head butt. This looked like it was going to be a good volley. Alas, Ebie, caught this with his claw, in blatant disregard for the rules of monster tennis (Rules section 981(c), subsection iii, which states, "no sea monsters can catch boulders with their claws").Ebie wound up and fired a hard one at Goddy, and the now enraged lizard backhanded this one away and into the stands, killing untold numbers of spectators. An angry Godzilla then waded out to sea to register a complaint, but Ebirah splashed him twice with his mighty right claw. This so infuriated Godzilla that he gave Ebirah a taste of his atomic breath as punishment. Or, maybe he just wanted some shrimp tempura. Hard to tell. (Godzilla refused all requests for interviews after the match.)At this point a monster mêlée broke out as the two giants went at it hammer and tongs. Godzilla grabbed another boulder and started pounding Ebirah on the head. Ebirah punked out and swam off to sea. Godzilla threw up his arms and let out a huge roar of triumph, but this match went down in the record books as a double disqualification.NOTE: Ebirah showed up later in the day for a rematch, but since their first match, Godzilla had been attacked by a giant bird, fighter jets with missiles, been electrocuted and shot at with machine guns. He was in a foul humor, and in NO mood for Ebirah. A fight quickly ensued, which ended when Godzilla ripped off both of Ebirah's claws, which pretty much compelled Ebirah to quit the tournament. ********************************************* And that's the way it was, April 23, 1966. And I know because, I WAS THERE!