Platicsco Good story, Not enough for a whole film

InformationRap This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

Ariella Broughton It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

Josephina Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.

JLRVancouver In this militaristic revision of Japan's troubled history with kaiju, Godzilla attacked once before, in 1954, and was defeated by Serizawa's oxygen destroyer. Other monsters have since attacked (Mothra and Gaira ("War of the Gargantuas", 1966)) and Japan's response to each attack is to develop newer, more powerful weapons. Now Godzilla has returned and a new weapon is needed, so tissue from the original Godzilla's skeleton is incorporated into a giant mecha to create a cybernetic "Mechagodzilla" (that this is the third incarnation of a "Mechagodzilla" is not part of this film's alternative history). Similar to the previous films in the millennium-series, Godzilla is a simply rampaging monster that needs to be destroyed (the concept that he's just a misunderstood dad, or that he is our guardian, or that he is our friend was (fortunately) put aside for this series). "Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla" (number 27 in the canon) is a pretty typical Godzilla outing. There is some backstory about the cyborg expert Tokumitsu Yuhara (Shin Takuma ) who is brought in to help design Mechagodzilla and his daughter Sara (Kana Onodera, she's OK - kids in Godzilla movies just keep getting less annoying) as well as Akane Yashiro (Yumiko Shaku), a Mechagodzilla operator with a personal vendetta against the big guy, all of which exists simply as a scaffold to support the kaiju scenes. Both Godzilla and his cyborg doppelganger look pretty good, especially when trashing cities, as do the "White Heron" transport/command and control aircraft. I always thought the mechagodzillas looked silly when flying, so was pleased to see this one being towed into battle (later it turns out that it can fly, and, once again, looks silly doing so). The battle scenes are a mixed bag - despite having the ultimate Godzilla weapon installed in the mecha's chest, the crew seem obligated to fire numerous useless cannon, missiles, ray guns, etc. before activating the 'absolute zero' canon. The battling colossi look OK when grappling or blasting each other with death-rays, but the scenes where Mechagodzilla jumps over Godzilla or spins him around by his tail look 'fake' in comparison and detract from the overall quality of the brawls. The film's score is also a mixed bag, with some good (and familiar) themes mixed in with the grating 'fanfare' music that accompanies shots of Mechagodzilla. Acting (including English subtitling in my version) is on par with other film's in the series (although I got tired of Yumiko Shaku 's po-faced Akane and her heroic pose at the film's close was pretty trite). While neither as imaginative or well-executed as 2000's "G. vs Megaguirus") or as off-beat as 2001's "Giant Monsters All-Out Attack", this latest version of Godzilla fighting his robotic-self is an entertaining enough entry into the long running daikaiju franchise.

OllieSuave-007 This is the third Godzilla film of the Millennium Series. It is made as a direct sequel to the original 1954 Godzilla film, and, in my opinion, is the best film to do so in the Millennium Series. Godzilla's first appearance in this movie has him rising out of the ocean, scaring a couple of soldiers, and beginning his rampage in Japan. As a result, government officials talk about Godzilla's first attack in 1954 and how it was destroyed by the Oxygen Destroyer, alarmed that this monster has mysteriously returned. They even referenced the monsters Gaira from "War of the Gargantuas" (1966) and Mothra from "Mothra" (1961) as having invaded Tokyo in the years after Godzilla's first attack. In this film, we have, again, a female soldier seeking revenge against Godzilla for killing colleagues of hers. After monsters having appeared in the past, the Japanese government salvaged the skeletal remains of the original Godzilla to make a robotic version of the monster called Mechagodzilla. Filled with missiles and state-of-the-art weaponry, Mechagodzilla is Japan's number one defense against Godzilla. Mechagodzilla was proved to be a tough opponent for Godzilla and, in a plot twist, it appeared that the original Godzilla's spirit lives in the robot. This added suspense to the story.We get to see a movie with a brilliant score by Michiru Ôshima and great special effects by Yûichi Kikuchi. Masaaki Tezuka did OK in the directing; however, he focused too much on the human characters, leaving us limited monster action (Godzilla was also portrayed as a little weak). But, some of the heroism and sacrifice made by the human characters, especially by the antagonist of the film who ended up putting his own life on the line to rescue the female lead, were pretty entertaining. I also enjoyed the touching friendship between the little girl and the female soldier, adding a nice touch of heartfelt drama. As an added treat, Toho brought back veteran actress Kumi Mizuno, who played "Miss Namikawa" in "Godzilla vs. Monster Zero" (1965) and "Daiyo" in "Godzilla vs. the Sea Monster" (1966), and actor Akira Nakao, who played "Commander Takaki Aso" in the Godzilla "Heisei" films, to appear in this movie.Overall, this is a well-paced story with some nice monster action, but mostly towards the end. Grade B-

winner55 A previous reviewers complained about the childish special effects for this film.Duh, this is a GODZILLA movie, guy; the core audience for this series (and I proudly count myself among them) EXPECT childish special effects; the series the makers of these films know perfectly well that they are making grandiose film versions of childhood day-dreams for people who still cherish that moment of their lives.In one of my earliest memories - I think I was about four years old indeed - I suddenly became aware one day that if I just started to climb a tree wearing nothing but my underpants, I might actually be mistaken for Tarzan. I immediately stripped to my underwear, climbed a tree, and began shouting down to my mom "me Tarzan!" - after which she gave me a pretty good paddling, since this was apparently inappropriate behavior in a public park. But, see, if I were Godzilla, I could mash up my Mecha-mom and blast Tokyo Park to ruins - well, you get the idea.Look, if you don't like Godzilla movies, then stay away from them, they aren't meant for you. But I find them to my liking.This film is one of the best written and composed of the last phase of the Godzilla series - the pace is excellent, the dialog is kept to essentials, the monster mash at the end is among the best of the whole series, and the characters of the humans are generally more agreeable than usual, without getting deeper than a Godzilla audience can tolerate.Above par entry for the Big Green Guy.

AwesomeWolf Version: Japanese with English Subtitles (Madman's R4 DVD)'Godzilla vs Mechagodzilla' opens with a typhoon hitting southern Japan, and then a giant monster turns up to lay waste to a small town - everyone runs away - except for the one guy who thinks he can save his house from being stepped on - and the 'Anti-Megalosaurus Force' is called in, and eventually runs away, but not before their commander, Akane Yashiro (Yumiko Shaku) accidentally causes the deaths of several of her troops. Soon we learn the monster is Godzilla, and according to this movie's time-line, Godzilla attacked Japan only once, when he first appeared in 1954. Other monsters have attacked Japan since, but none have been as destructive as Godzilla.With Godzilla's reappearance, those wacky Japanese scientists come up with their best plan yet - they're going to build a Mechagodzilla, with added firepower, and controlled by a 'DNA Computer' using DNA extracted from the original Godzilla's skeleton. Apparently by doing this, Mechagodzilla can think like Godzilla, and will have a reaction time markedly better than that of a normal computer. Obviously this a bad idea, but these Godzilla movies need bad-ideas for the movie to proceed.On the human side of things, Akane Yashiro is assigned to the Kiryu Squadron (Mechagodzilla Squadron), and is met with hostility from her comrades their. Tokumitsu Yuhara, one of the Mechagodzilla scientists spends most of the movie chatting up Akane, while Akane tries to get Tokumitsu's daughter, Sara, to open up to her. Awww, how sweet.Enough of the love-ins, lets get down to some city crushing! The plot is simple, and like several other Godzilla movies, makes some interesting points that it completely skips in favour of monster action (in this case, Japan's rearmament is mentioned, but only briefly), of which is there is plenty. In their respective adventures, Godzilla and his mechanical cousin destroy a few cities and make a mockery of Japan's defence forces (just another day on the job for Godzilla), and get down to one way-cool giant-monster fight scene at the end. Did I mention the fight-scene at is way-cool?My only problem with the movie is the use of the Godzilla suit: there are times when it is plainly obvious that the Godzilla suit is empty, and not for any complicated reason - he just stands there motionless. Otherwise, there was a fair amount of CGI effects, but they were done well enough for me to say "this movie is awesome".8/10 - This movie is awesome. Godzilla fans should check it out.