Welcome back to the A-List Retrospective on the Godzilla franchise! In case you missed it, Part 1 can be found here. Today we've got the Heisei series, which ran from 1984 with The Return of Godzilla and ended in 1995 with Godzilla vs. Destoroyah. It is the second and as-yet final continuous Godzilla series. From when the franchise returned to Toho control after the hiatus of Ț͉͓̮̱̤̏̊ͅh̸e̟̹̤͈͉̹̯̾̓ͯ ͚̟͙̗͎T̶̥̜͇̙̱̱ŕ͕̯͖ͫ̄̈́̀̉ī̡̜͙̹̼̥̅̏̋S̛̪͔t̼̯̖̬̿̒̀ͤ̎ͫ̄͜a̰̬͂̽̄r̢̓͐́̄̓͒ͨ ̒̔̾ͮ͡F̻̲̩̏ͥͅí̗͈̜͍̈́̾ͫͯļ̫͍͈̺̘̤̄̎̀̎ͅm̠̬̞͕̌̈̿̀̔, each film formed its own unique continuity. There were shoutouts to other movies, of course, and Final Wars seemed to incorporate all canon, with a special focus on the Showa series. The Heisei series for that reason alone is just as much of a romp as the Showa series, in ways both good and bad. It is a fun story to follow. Despite some weak segments, it has a nostalgic quality to it that makes me look forward to the pair of proposed continuous-canon series supposedly on the horizon via Toho and Legendary. But because its entries are fewer in number, it can end up being a hard thing to love. Yet, what can one expect out of Godzilla...? Let's answer that question--and learn it's not all so bleak!
Warning: As is the case for most of the posts on this site, there will be spoilers ahead.
Repeat: As is the case for most of the posts on this site, there will be spoilers ahead.
The Return of Godzilla (1984)
The title says it all: no more of that kiddie bullshit. Godzilla is a monster, goddamnit, and he's going to fucking ruin all of your shit. So no more Jet Jaguar, no more flying, and certainly no more Minilla. The Return of Godzilla is a direct sequel to the 1954 film...and nothing else. They do make it a direct sequel by having Raymond Burr come back as Steve Martin in the American version, and they do specify that Godzilla has not been seen in thirty years. Goodbye, Kamacuras, Hedorah, Anguirus. I guess I've always viewed reboots as a bit of a cheap trick, but I do understand why it has to be done sometimes--continuity is a hassle, and sometimes you lack confidence in your power to sell a tonal shift. Hey, it does restart the tradition of having the 1954 theme play. Which is promptly ruined by the fact that all of this film's sequels also use it, while also making like the Showa series and not borrowing the corresponding tone of their prime predecessor. Speaking of tone, the tone of this film is probably its strongest detail.
When the characters in this movie fret over Godzilla coming back, it's because Godzilla is a legitimate Bad Thing. He is insanely powerful and almost impossible to destroy--probably totally impossible now, given that Serizawa's Oxygen Destroyer has been lost to the world forever. Indeed, that's basically all that this movie is about. A second Godzilla appears thirty years after the first, and the world suffers for it. In the end, Godzilla falls into an erupting volcano with the aid of Steve Martin and a mech of some kind called Super-X. It sounds like a cheap death, but it's a slow one, and the film deliberately evokes pity for the King of Monsters. The characters are conflicted--have they done what is right in protecting themselves, or have they destroyed a force of nature? And, for that matter, can said force even be destroyed?
As you can tell, it's all very dramatic. Tailored to be so. Note that there are no other monsters in this one--Super-X kind of counts, but it's more like a fancy jet than a true monster. Plus, it has nothing on Jet Jaguar. (And yes, I count Jet Jaguar as a monster. But he is perhaps a more spiritual monster than all the others. After all, not even Godzilla has the true soul of a heartless killer of men.) This is a movie that tries to scream, "I'm professional!", for all that means. It can be somewhat of a drag at times. Fortunately, the next few entries would lighten up, even if they also ended up settled on unsteady ground.
As you can tell, it's all very dramatic. Tailored to be so. Note that there are no other monsters in this one--Super-X kind of counts, but it's more like a fancy jet than a true monster. Plus, it has nothing on Jet Jaguar. (And yes, I count Jet Jaguar as a monster. But he is perhaps a more spiritual monster than all the others. After all, not even Godzilla has the true soul of a heartless killer of men.) This is a movie that tries to scream, "I'm professional!", for all that means. It can be somewhat of a drag at times. Fortunately, the next few entries would lighten up, even if they also ended up settled on unsteady ground.
Godzilla vs. Biollante (1989)
Godzilla vs. Biollante is the first Heisei movie to disappoint me, and sadly, there were many echoes of this disappointment throughout the rest of the series. A lot of my acquaintances were big fans of this era of Godzilla--throughout my college career I got recommendations for this one a lot, along with SpaceGodzilla and Destoroyah. All of those looked awesome until I actually started watching them. A shame, too, because Biollante, SpaceGodzilla, and Destoroyah are all really cool-looking, cool-in-principle monsters! But the fact that Biollante spends most of her own movie sitting around doing nothing, and that which does not depict such is scenes showing her unusual but drawn-out origin, makes for a pretty boring movie.
Because Biollante's origin comprises so much of the film, I may as well summarize that. It is somehow both simplistic (for the amount of time dedicated to it) and confusing. Basically, a scientist loses his daughter and so fuses some of her genes into her favorite roses, which he then preserves for years after her death. Already this is somewhat odd, but I am used to odd at this point in regards to both life and this franchise. The scientist then gets involved with an examination of some of Godzilla's cells, which is opposed by some sort of terrorist organization, who apparently want to steal the cells for an American corporation (?). Anyway, the scientist decides to fuse some of Godzilla's cells, which have regenerative properties, with the human/rose cells he made using his daughter and her roses. By way of a psychic named Miki (who is sort of the human protagonist of the Heisei series), he learns that his daughter's cells also contain her soul. Somehow, the mixture of Godzilla's cells with this rose-soul mixture creates Biollante, named for what the scientist explains is a tree in Norse mythology! (Uh, so, this movie should be called Godzilla vs. Yggdrassil, then?) Godzilla emerges from the volcano and the two monsters clash, with Biollante mutating into a Godzilla-like creature. (A lot of the Heisei monsters are doppelgangers of Godzilla in some way.) It all ends with the scientist's daughter's soul flying into space.
As you may be able to tell, this movie may not have been thought through very well. As a writer, I often grow my plots by binding together smaller plots I've come up with that have some points of connection. (You can probably see this in my online fiction piece, Dieselworld.) But sometimes, those connections aren't really there, and I do my best to notice when that lack appears in my stories. Because I recognize that as one of my weaknesses, I can see it in other people's stories as well. Biollante wants to be a couple of different movies--a Godzilla film, a drama about a man trying to hang onto the last traces of his daughter, a terrorist thriller, and a movie entirely about Biollante herself in its own right. To me, it didn't work. I still found it entertaining--the effects, as ever in the Heisei Series, are awesome. And that poster is even awesome-er. But if you skip to the next movie I won't blame ya.
As you may be able to tell, this movie may not have been thought through very well. As a writer, I often grow my plots by binding together smaller plots I've come up with that have some points of connection. (You can probably see this in my online fiction piece, Dieselworld.) But sometimes, those connections aren't really there, and I do my best to notice when that lack appears in my stories. Because I recognize that as one of my weaknesses, I can see it in other people's stories as well. Biollante wants to be a couple of different movies--a Godzilla film, a drama about a man trying to hang onto the last traces of his daughter, a terrorist thriller, and a movie entirely about Biollante herself in its own right. To me, it didn't work. I still found it entertaining--the effects, as ever in the Heisei Series, are awesome. And that poster is even awesome-er. But if you skip to the next movie I won't blame ya.
Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah (1991)
Oh, yeah! This is one of my all-time favorites, which I wasn't expecting. Not only does this movie succeed in giving King Ghidorah actual menace, but it takes the ol' alien invasion plot and puts some fun twists in it. It is a time travel story. I should say that much. Basically, a group of time-travelers called "Futurians"--for these are aliens of time, rather than space--try to help their 20th Century ancestors defeat Godzilla. They learn of a soldier who fought in World War II, whose platoon was saved from the Americans by Godzilla on an island. This was before Godzilla mutated during a nuclear test, when he was a remarkably dumb-looking dinosaur called Godzillasaurus. The Futurians believe that removing Godzillasaurus from the island before it is nuked will erase Godzilla from time. When in the past, they leave behind these weird genetically-created dragon things called Dorats, which are genetically engineered to be the supposed "ULTIMATE PETS." (If anyone ever talks about genetic engineering and uses the word "ultimate" it can't be good.) As their name foreshadows, the nuclear blast mutates the three Dorats into King Ghidorah. Fortunately, the displacement of Godzillasaurus was already part of the timeline, and Godzilla has truly not been erased. Now it's just a matter of the King of Monsters striking down his greatest foe...if he can!
This one is great because it's just full of stuff. Good stuff. Godzillasaurus and the Dorats are fun, and it's nice to see an in-depth personal look at the origins of both King Ghidorah and Godzilla. The fact that this involves time travel is beautiful in itself. Then, Mecha-King Ghidorah appears! That's kind of an unwieldy concept (Ghidorah's remains reanimated in the future via replacing one of his heads with a robotic one?) but it shows that the people behind this movie are willing to bust out basically anything as long as it's entertaining and keeps the movie going. Which, let's be honest, that's better than most of the films in this franchise. When Godzilla tries to be great, it can easily succeed. Even when it fails in this attempt, it's a marvelous spectacle. Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah easily makes my top ten for the series, and indeed, not much beyond that top ten is particularly good.
This one is good. Have I said that? Watch it already.
This one is great because it's just full of stuff. Good stuff. Godzillasaurus and the Dorats are fun, and it's nice to see an in-depth personal look at the origins of both King Ghidorah and Godzilla. The fact that this involves time travel is beautiful in itself. Then, Mecha-King Ghidorah appears! That's kind of an unwieldy concept (Ghidorah's remains reanimated in the future via replacing one of his heads with a robotic one?) but it shows that the people behind this movie are willing to bust out basically anything as long as it's entertaining and keeps the movie going. Which, let's be honest, that's better than most of the films in this franchise. When Godzilla tries to be great, it can easily succeed. Even when it fails in this attempt, it's a marvelous spectacle. Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah easily makes my top ten for the series, and indeed, not much beyond that top ten is particularly good.
This one is good. Have I said that? Watch it already.
Godzilla vs. Mothra (1992)
Okay...I do kinda like one Mothra movie. And it's this one. Well, guess what? Mothra isn't too big of a deal in this one. I mean, she has the central focus, true, and does indeed get more of the spotlight than Godzilla, but Battra is also in it. Ignore all the nature-spirit stuff (if you want) and watch two giant moth beasts slug it out. There are some impressive scenes with Battra, who, by the way, is like Mothra, except evil. Except not really evil, because he helps stop Godzilla's rampage at the end.
Also the Shobijin are called the Cosmos. The Cosmos.
Alright, maybe this movie does suck. This is backed up by the fact that it's still one of the ones I'm having trouble remembering. This is the one with the Indiana Jones parody at the beginning, right? That was weird, but somewhat charming. Indeed, that's how this movie starts. An idol is stolen, which, if I remember correctly, awakens Battra, a nature elemental of some kind from ancient times who believes that humans are evil because of the damage they do to nature. Mothra tries to stop Battra, as she is the guardian of humanity, and, as I said, Godzilla comes into the mix. Battra sacrifices himself to stop the King of Monsters, while Mothra flies into space to stop a meteor that's heading at the Earth, leaving her only Heisei appearance as Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla. Though she did get her own series of movies in the meantime, which is another story for another day...
See, I guess the whole issue I've had about mysticism in the Godzilla movies--which Mothra consistently embodies--is that it always feels tacked on. I understand the initial desire to reveal that Mothra and Godzilla exist in the same universe. Having the two fight, as they did in 1964, does make a lot of sense in the context of a nascent franchise. But as time went on and Mothra became a Godzilla main character, the idea of a world of magic coexisting in a world primarily dominated by aliens and radioactive mutants just never worked for me. Plus I've always thought that Mothra's world also feels incredibly lazy, basically boiling down to some sort of cheap and shallow message about "the power of love" or "respecting nature." Trust me, love is powerful and respecting nature is important, but this is bad even by Saturday morning anime standards. Perhaps the non-English versions are deeper, but I doubt it. Giving a backstory for Mothra (which admittedly has escaped my memory) and putting her in the dualism she shares with Battra is interesting, and indeed, Battra is really cool, but I guess I'll always have to stick with mutants and extraterrestrials.
Also the Shobijin are called the Cosmos. The Cosmos.
Alright, maybe this movie does suck. This is backed up by the fact that it's still one of the ones I'm having trouble remembering. This is the one with the Indiana Jones parody at the beginning, right? That was weird, but somewhat charming. Indeed, that's how this movie starts. An idol is stolen, which, if I remember correctly, awakens Battra, a nature elemental of some kind from ancient times who believes that humans are evil because of the damage they do to nature. Mothra tries to stop Battra, as she is the guardian of humanity, and, as I said, Godzilla comes into the mix. Battra sacrifices himself to stop the King of Monsters, while Mothra flies into space to stop a meteor that's heading at the Earth, leaving her only Heisei appearance as Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla. Though she did get her own series of movies in the meantime, which is another story for another day...
See, I guess the whole issue I've had about mysticism in the Godzilla movies--which Mothra consistently embodies--is that it always feels tacked on. I understand the initial desire to reveal that Mothra and Godzilla exist in the same universe. Having the two fight, as they did in 1964, does make a lot of sense in the context of a nascent franchise. But as time went on and Mothra became a Godzilla main character, the idea of a world of magic coexisting in a world primarily dominated by aliens and radioactive mutants just never worked for me. Plus I've always thought that Mothra's world also feels incredibly lazy, basically boiling down to some sort of cheap and shallow message about "the power of love" or "respecting nature." Trust me, love is powerful and respecting nature is important, but this is bad even by Saturday morning anime standards. Perhaps the non-English versions are deeper, but I doubt it. Giving a backstory for Mothra (which admittedly has escaped my memory) and putting her in the dualism she shares with Battra is interesting, and indeed, Battra is really cool, but I guess I'll always have to stick with mutants and extraterrestrials.
Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II (1993)
Don't let that title fool you--they don't bring back the continuity from Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla I for this. I wish they did, because this movie launches the tradition of every Mechagodzilla movie being fucking atrocious. God, I couldn't stand this movie, and it for the same reasons I hate the Millennium Mechagodzilla films: Mechagodzilla is passed off as the protagonist in this one. While it's not as bad as it gets the next time the giant lizard's doppelganger shows up, it's still a long crawl through Mechagodzilla's construction, which, as you may imagine, is entirely unnecessary. Everything about this movie is unnecessary.
Of course, they do go for the tried-and-true trick of adding other monsters in. "Little Godzilla" (or Baby Godzilla or Godzilla Junior or Heisei Minilla) shows up and is actually really cute. Rodan also appears and mutates into something called Fire Rodan. Unfortunately, it's not a good sign when your movie rests on the back of an infant monster, and Rodan sure as hell isn't going to carry anything. Rodan doesn't frustrate me as Mothra does, but he does bore me. Which isn't fair, I know--if I lived in the '60s and I saw movies about a pteradon who destroyed buildings by flying really fast over them, I would be blown away. For now, though, he's too simple to entertain me. Rodan and Little Godzilla are discovered in an ancient nest while the Japanese government salvaged Mecha-Ghidorah from the sea, where he was struck down two years ago. They begin to reverse-engineer the future technology to create an anti-Godzilla weapon--from studying Little Godzilla, they learn that Godzilla's lower body is controlled by a second brain. If Mechagodzilla can destroy this second brain, Godzilla will be paralyzed from the waist down...and while the Lizard King took down Rodan once before, Rodan becomes Fire Rodan, who is many times greater than his former self...
I think the previous movie spoiled it for me--having the movie rely on a non-titular monster has been done before. But whereas that movie had Battra, an original monster, as its support, this one just brings in Rodan, who we've seen many times before (and who basically isn't improved as a character, even with the attempt at "Fire Rodan"), and Little Godzilla who, joking aside, really is just a significantly more likeable Minilla. Mechagodzilla is not a particular relatable protagonist (a mechanical copy of the antagonist), and while I have a bias towards the villainous Showa Mechagodzilla because it strikes that nostalgic note for me, I can't help but see Mechagodzilla as a malevolent party. He is more interesting that way. It takes a good story to get away with a formerly villainous character turn hero, but the complications in continuity makes that story unattainable. So it goes.
Yet, while all the Heisei movies are a true series, this one forms a trilogy with the next two movies, which I and probably others called the Little Godzilla Trilogy. Indeed, this film ends with Godzilla and his adopted son walking into the ocean, bound to return again. Since I like Little Godzilla, I'm glad he does come back, because I must sadly now ask the question...
Of course, they do go for the tried-and-true trick of adding other monsters in. "Little Godzilla" (or Baby Godzilla or Godzilla Junior or Heisei Minilla) shows up and is actually really cute. Rodan also appears and mutates into something called Fire Rodan. Unfortunately, it's not a good sign when your movie rests on the back of an infant monster, and Rodan sure as hell isn't going to carry anything. Rodan doesn't frustrate me as Mothra does, but he does bore me. Which isn't fair, I know--if I lived in the '60s and I saw movies about a pteradon who destroyed buildings by flying really fast over them, I would be blown away. For now, though, he's too simple to entertain me. Rodan and Little Godzilla are discovered in an ancient nest while the Japanese government salvaged Mecha-Ghidorah from the sea, where he was struck down two years ago. They begin to reverse-engineer the future technology to create an anti-Godzilla weapon--from studying Little Godzilla, they learn that Godzilla's lower body is controlled by a second brain. If Mechagodzilla can destroy this second brain, Godzilla will be paralyzed from the waist down...and while the Lizard King took down Rodan once before, Rodan becomes Fire Rodan, who is many times greater than his former self...
I think the previous movie spoiled it for me--having the movie rely on a non-titular monster has been done before. But whereas that movie had Battra, an original monster, as its support, this one just brings in Rodan, who we've seen many times before (and who basically isn't improved as a character, even with the attempt at "Fire Rodan"), and Little Godzilla who, joking aside, really is just a significantly more likeable Minilla. Mechagodzilla is not a particular relatable protagonist (a mechanical copy of the antagonist), and while I have a bias towards the villainous Showa Mechagodzilla because it strikes that nostalgic note for me, I can't help but see Mechagodzilla as a malevolent party. He is more interesting that way. It takes a good story to get away with a formerly villainous character turn hero, but the complications in continuity makes that story unattainable. So it goes.
Yet, while all the Heisei movies are a true series, this one forms a trilogy with the next two movies, which I and probably others called the Little Godzilla Trilogy. Indeed, this film ends with Godzilla and his adopted son walking into the ocean, bound to return again. Since I like Little Godzilla, I'm glad he does come back, because I must sadly now ask the question...
Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla (1994)
How does a concept like SpaceGodzilla not be interesting?!
He is literally Godzilla not merely in space, but from space as well! He is also partially crystalline, and partially crystalline creatures are generally pretty fucking awesome! Plus, his motives for wanting to destroy humanity are--he wants to, by himself. Because he is genuinely evil, far more evil than the Heisei Godzilla. Indeed, Hero!Godzilla starts to return here--if he wasn't back already.
SpaceGodzilla, a product of mutated Godzilla cells deposited in space by Biollante and Mothra, begins heading towards Earth at around the same time that the Japanese government is rebuilding Mechagodzilla as M.O.G.U.E.R.A, not to be confused with Moguera from Toho's '50s movie The Mysterians. (They're the same giant drill robot, except M.O.G.U.--ahem, Heisei!Moguera--isn't built/controlled by evil aliens.) That is the principle setup; Heisei!Moguera fights SpaceGodzilla and loses. Then, Godzilla fights SpaceGodzilla and loses. Eventually, Godzilla wins! Whoda thunk it?
I can't recommend passing up either this one or the one that follows. Yes, they are perhaps a little generic. But I am also sometimes a harsh critic, and I unfortunately do set up comparative models in my head. I was probably comparing this to better films in the series while watching--though admittedly, my idea of "better films" included Godzilla vs. Megalon. I suppose I must seem difficult to please: I don't like the ones that are too complicated, but I don't like the simple ones either. I think part of the problem is the time-gamble the directors tended to run in the Heisei series. They are usually around 100 minutes long. Now, if the movie is great, like King Ghidorah, that is a tremendous advantage. If it is bad, like Mechagodzilla II, that sets in it the hole. For SpaceGodzilla, it's confusing. I wanted to like this movie so bad, based on what I knew of it and based on the merits it does possess. But, as with its predecessor and successor, it represents a bit of a lame end to the series, which has had such good high notes before.
He is literally Godzilla not merely in space, but from space as well! He is also partially crystalline, and partially crystalline creatures are generally pretty fucking awesome! Plus, his motives for wanting to destroy humanity are--he wants to, by himself. Because he is genuinely evil, far more evil than the Heisei Godzilla. Indeed, Hero!Godzilla starts to return here--if he wasn't back already.
SpaceGodzilla, a product of mutated Godzilla cells deposited in space by Biollante and Mothra, begins heading towards Earth at around the same time that the Japanese government is rebuilding Mechagodzilla as M.O.G.U.E.R.A, not to be confused with Moguera from Toho's '50s movie The Mysterians. (They're the same giant drill robot, except M.O.G.U.--ahem, Heisei!Moguera--isn't built/controlled by evil aliens.) That is the principle setup; Heisei!Moguera fights SpaceGodzilla and loses. Then, Godzilla fights SpaceGodzilla and loses. Eventually, Godzilla wins! Whoda thunk it?
I can't recommend passing up either this one or the one that follows. Yes, they are perhaps a little generic. But I am also sometimes a harsh critic, and I unfortunately do set up comparative models in my head. I was probably comparing this to better films in the series while watching--though admittedly, my idea of "better films" included Godzilla vs. Megalon. I suppose I must seem difficult to please: I don't like the ones that are too complicated, but I don't like the simple ones either. I think part of the problem is the time-gamble the directors tended to run in the Heisei series. They are usually around 100 minutes long. Now, if the movie is great, like King Ghidorah, that is a tremendous advantage. If it is bad, like Mechagodzilla II, that sets in it the hole. For SpaceGodzilla, it's confusing. I wanted to like this movie so bad, based on what I knew of it and based on the merits it does possess. But, as with its predecessor and successor, it represents a bit of a lame end to the series, which has had such good high notes before.
Godzilla vs. Destoroyah (1995)
There are many things that make Godzilla vs. Destoroyah a significant entry, besides the fact that it is the end of an era for Godzilla. In a lot of ways, the titular monster, Destoroyah, is sort of the true Ultimate Evil for Godzilla--alongside Ghidorah and Gigan. Longtime fans know that he's one of the strongest monsters on any kaiju roster (are those things? that, like, people keep?), and he, like SpaceGodzilla, is legitimately malevolent. Plus, spoiler alert, Godzilla dies in this one, and while Destoroyah may not kill him, the damage he inflicts accelerates Godzilla's death. He gets back up again in his own way, obviously, but still...Godzilla has only been destroyed once before, in the first film. For all those reasons, I want to be fairer to Destoroyah than I was to SpaceGodzilla, and I take my desire to rewatch this one beyond all the other ones of Heisei as a sign that success in that goal is possible.
At this point, the conclusion of the original 1954 film has been rehashed for us time and time again. Doctor Serizawa destroyed the first Godzilla with the Oxygen Destroyer. He died with Godzilla so that the Oxygen Destroyer could not be replicated. Thus this movie is kind of a middle finger to Doctor Serizawa--he destroyed knowledge of the Oxygen Destroyer to prevent it from creating another monster, in whatever form that monster would take. So that's exactly the plot of this movie: the Oxygen Destroyer, in tandem with the first Godzilla's radiation, creates a monster that is even more destructive than Godzilla! Some Precambrian crabs are mutated by the Oxygen Destroyer into a gestalt entity, that slowly begins to grow into a demon-like being larger than Godzilla himself. (He also resembles Godzilla, perhaps as a result of being exposed to his corpse's radiation, meaning that Godzilla has a crustacean/chemical-accident clone alongside crystal/robot/plant clones. It has been a criticism of the Heisei era that there are a lot of Godzilla clones.) In another subplot, Godzilla's radioactivity has gone out of control, and he is about have a city-destroying meltdown! When the two stories overlap Destoroyah kills Little Godzilla (!) and nearly kills his father, but at last the King of Monsters triumphs and strikes his opponent down. But Japan doesn't escape peril, as Godzilla's energies cause him to explode. At the last second, Little Godzilla revives and absorbs the explosion--and in doing so, finds a quick path to adulthood, mutating into an adult of his kind. The world has a Godzilla once more.
That sounds really intense, right? I have to confirm that it is. It actually is rather a good flick. It worked within what I can assume were relatively limited parameters, though the budget information I found showed it had the same budget as the last two movies (one billion yen). Perhaps it, along with its immediate forefather, was the subject of creative restraints. Or again, I am a snob. But this, along with SpaceGodzilla, King Ghidorah, and Return, are all slow at worst, and marvelous at best. And there are only seven in this series. I guess Heisei comes out a victor after all, mixed notes aside.
Come back soon for Part 3, when we end the '90s, and begin a new Millennium.
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Image source: Wikipedia, Godzilla Wiki
Well writ and informative. I must disagree with you on Biolante though. That is one of my favorite Godzy flicks.
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