Toho Kingdom

I liked the movie overall. At least they didn't make Kiryu as visually heavy as Heisei MG, who didn't seem very agile or fist-fight capable (more of a beam spammer like a number of other Heiseis).

Don't know why they called it Kiryu though. I also felt like it didn't seem as powerful as Heisei MG, likely due to Heisei MG's synthetic diamond outer coating.

A fun movie. It's weakened by a few off special effects, but no less enjoyable. Kiryu is pretty cool too, however fragile he may be.

Bananaoil won me back over to the Godzilla films with this movie after I had given up on the franchise. It's easily my favorite Godzilla film post-G85, and it tops any of the films that it emulates. The characters are so engaging (and genuinely haunted by tragic events in their lives--imagine that!) that I wish that the film had spent even more time with them.

I have mixed feelings when it comes to this film. On one hand, I love this universe that Tezuka has crafted. The inclusion of numerous "small scale" monsters in with the A-listers like Godzilla and Mothra and showing the progression of the JSDF as a result. The JSXDF is easily my favorite incarnation of the standard "Godzilla Response Team" that has become a trope of the franchise since the nineties.

Tezuka is pretty good about portraying the consequences of these monster actions. In GxMegaguirus, the capital of Japan is moved after the devastation and non-nuclear energy sources are worked on. When Japan announces Kiryu, the Prime Minister urges other nations to allow the use of Mechagodzilla to defend their nation. These are natural and believable responses responses in this monster filled environment.

This is easily my favorite of the "Alternate Reality" universes of the Millennium films. No questions.

The music by Michiru Oshima is stellar, and to be able to make a distinct and memorable Godzilla score without resorting to just pulling out the tired and true Godzilla theme is a testament to her skills as a composer.

The special effects are solid. No glaring moments of bad computer work (like in GxMegaguirus) and the city looks like a city and not a prop.

However, the film is paced like a live action anime. Lots of quiet, sitting around talking about our feelings, then suddenly something happens and it just jumps into the action. It's jarring to watch and the human element doesn't really propel the story forward, it just moves forward on its own accord. The human characters would be more enjoyable if these talk-about-our-feelings moments were played a bit naturally and the human characters were more grounded into the story.

As for the monsters, eh. I'm not fond of this particular Godzilla. Mostly the stiff, cobra-neck and the head looks strange from certain angles. I don't mind his docile nature, it's a new personality we haven't seen before (and a little bit of a throwback to a friendlier, more Showa-y Godzilla) so I give it credit for that.

Kiryu I'm also not a big fan of. He looks fantastic and he's got a great and really fresh origin for Mechagodzilla, but the DNA computer doesn't come into play at all after they fix it (They pretty much fixed the main conflict of the story. Damn you technicians!). How much better would the final battle be if they had to use Kiryu at the risk of it going berserk again, unleashing two Godzilla's onto their city? What a great way to set up a tense final battle that just falls flat.

I don't like the pilot talking to Kiryu. That's lame. Way to Anime-y.

Overall, I think Tezuka is a great director who is a master World Builder, but kinda' drops the ball on his human action and its relevance to the plot. I think he's a Director with something to say, but was muted by invasive Studio tampering. I'd love to see him come back and do another Godzilla film. And considering he came back from friggin' Godzilla X Megagurius is even more of a testament to him as a director.

I liked the movie, Kiryu , and his Design. What I didn't like was when Godzilla first shows up and when the attack him he doesn't attack back he just backs up.....and someone says " Godzilla's retreating ". When I seen that I was like wtf!! Godzilla wouldn't retreat. But overall I enjoyed the movie. Kiryu to me is obviously the most realistic Mech thats why I like him allot more than the Heisei Mecha Godzilla. Kiryu can actually grapple with Godzilla and is fast rather than beam spam the entire movie

is it weird that when Godzilla heads back into the water after the first fight scene, i heard a sound that sounds (ha sound that sounds...) like it is from Ebirah, horror of the deep. Okay maybe its my DVD player...who knows...

Anyway i love this film and i love Kiry- cough cough- i mean Mechagodzilla's design in this film. It hits the more realistic idea of it being slightly frail but it can still put up a good brawl with the King of Monsters.

yea Kiryu put a real good fight

Bumping this thread because I'm watching this movie. My favorite scene is when Kiryu walks through the building then powers down with the sunset behind it.

Great movie.

Pros:
Great pacing, editing and directing
Decent characters with good actors (and that female lead...yum)
Consistent special effects
Successful adaptation of basic plot elements from the mediocre Godzilla vs. Megaguirus
Kiryu's design and fighting style were downright amazing. Too bad its armor sucked and it had to be refueled and transported (pointless).

Cons:
Godzilla's design and (lack of) personality. What were they thinking? Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S. improved in this regard, especially with the animatronic facial expressions.
The score. I like the earworm Godzilla theme and the main action theme, but everything else sounds far too bright, triumphant and "safe" (all in-key, very little chromatics). This is Godzilla, not Superman, dammit.
Unsatisfying character development
Bland atmosphere

Its too bad Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S. turned out to be a retread film, instead of bringing in something new and improving upon its prequel's flaws.

tymon wrote: it had to be refueled and transported (pointless).

It was a touch of realistic possibility. Actually, I liked how they made it like that instead of having unlimited energy or whatever.

Godzilla's design and (lack of) personality.

Did you see how pissed off he looked when Kiryu landed at the harbor? This is probably my third favorite design from the Millennium series (not including Always 2; that's a cheap shot)

The score. I like the earworm Godzilla theme and the main action theme, but everything else sounds far too bright, triumphant and "safe" (all in-key, very little chromatics).

The score itself actually helped to reinforce the massive size of the monsters. The triumphant themes used in a lot of the scenes really delivers a good atmosphere to the whole scene. I do agree it should have been darker in some scenes though.

Its too bad Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S. turned out to be a retread film, instead of bringing in something new and improving upon its prequel's flaws.

Bleh, don't even began that discussion. That movie was terrible, even with Mothra and Kamoebas.

King Caesar wrote:

Its too bad Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S. turned out to be a retread film, instead of bringing in something new and improving upon its prequel's flaws.

Bleh, don't even began that discussion. That movie was terrible, even with Mothra and Kamoebas.

What's wrong with SOS?

SOS has amazing action but is also bland and tired - pretty much the definition of "been there, done that" IMO.

It's okay. Too bad its sequel was below standard.

Gojira-Fan wrote:

King Caesar wrote:

Its too bad Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S. turned out to be a retread film, instead of bringing in something new and improving upon its prequel's flaws.

Bleh, don't even began that discussion. That movie was terrible, even with Mothra and Kamoebas.

What's wrong with SOS?

It had a lot of potential, but a lot of it was killed by too much human drama and a disappointing ending (I wanted to see Kiryu go boom in the ocean...). I don't know. It just isn't in my top favorites of the Mill series. I'd rather watch Godzilla vs Megaguiras honestly.

Poor. Like most of the Millenium films (Save for GMK), its dull and boring and the battles take forever to happen. Kiryu is a let-down of a mech. Sure it has a cool design and an interesting origin, but any awesome looking giant robot that gets severely damaged just by tripping and falling over is a fail in my book. Godzilla no more than a plot device and like Kiryu, is a complete let down not just because he barely does anything, but his design also blows (I hate anything that looks even remotely like the G2K design, it just irks me). The final battle is the only redeeming factor for me. Even if all Godzilla does is stand there and take every hit without fighting back.

I finnally watched it and it is AWSOME!!!

Likely my second favorite Millennium movie.

I like the design of Kiryu, and the concept of the first Godzilla fighting the second, and people always complain that the movie focused too much on kiryu and not enough on godzilla, but if kiryu is the first godzilla resurrected then the movie does focus on a godzilla just not the living one.

The only thing that kept me from rating it a "great" was the poor CGI. Other than that, I love this movie.

How did the Gamera trilogy's CG look so much better with half the budget? That's what I've been trying to figure out..