Toho Kingdom

I prefer how the octopus looks in this film, but at the same time, I feel bad for the octopuses that were eaten so I end up thinking that the way FvB did it was better.

To this day, Mr. Tako is one of the best characters to watch in the entire franchise.

ShinGojira14 wrote: ↑Sun Nov 20, 2022 12:00 pm To this day, Mr. Tako is one of the best characters to watch in the entire franchise.

Easily. And he is played with so much charisma.

I always chuckle when he accidentally depresses the plunger and opens the one eye to see if he's blown up his prize ape.

edgaguirus wrote: ↑Sun Nov 20, 2022 11:06 pm I always chuckle when he accidentally depresses the plunger and opens the one eye to see if he's blown up his prize ape.

Same.

I especially get a kick out of when he and his crew get caught by security as they're about to watch Godzilla and Kong's first fight, and he tells them he has permission to be there because "he's King Kong's sponsor."

ShinGojira14 wrote: ↑Sun Nov 20, 2022 12:00 pm To this day, Mr. Tako is one of the best characters to watch in the entire franchise.

Big agree from me. Mr. Tako is so much fun, he's meta but it doesn't detract from him feeling so real. It adds to his character! He honestly feels like a manager for a wrestler at times mixed with that bombastic personality of a tv host (which makes sense).

I'd say Mr. Tako is one of the most well realized stand ins for Shinichi Sekizawa's self-aware themes of commercialization.

This Godzilla is making me sick! *tearing hair*

The whole movie is somehow epic in it´s own way.

It's a fun and colorful movie.

I love a light hearted film, I should probably give this one a rewatch.

I watched it a few weeks ago for 60th anniversary. It was the approximately 30th time I watched this movie.

For a early Showa film from the golden era, this movie has a surprisingly mixed reception among the fandom. The most common criticism is Kong's design. Also, I think a ton of the satire from the Japanese version got lost in translation.

this movie's main theme is like in the top 3 of the showa era best themes.


like man its bitchin'

No one can convince me this movie doesn't have Godzilla's best entrance. The whole scene with rhe submarine and iceberg, just fantastic.

LegendZilla wrote: ↑Thu Nov 24, 2022 9:20 pm For a early Showa film from the golden era, this movie has a surprisingly mixed reception among the fandom. The most common criticism is Kong's design.

It looks better than the KKE suit.

LegendZilla wrote: ↑Thu Nov 24, 2022 9:20 pm For a early Showa film from the golden era, this movie has a surprisingly mixed reception among the fandom... I think a ton of the satire from the Japanese version got lost in translation.

You hit the nail right on the head. Three or so years ago, I would've ranked this movie toward the bottom of the pack based purely on the U.S. version. After watching the original version, it's become one of my absolute favorites. This film's satirical nature is one of the main things that makes it so great.

Doesn't help that the American cut also removed a lot of establishing scenes with the human cast, butchered the score with stock music and inserted those awful scenes with the newscaster. Forget "Gigantis the Fire-Monster," this is the Godzilla movie with the worst "Americanized" cut.

LegendZilla wrote: ↑Thu Nov 24, 2022 9:20 pm For a early Showa film from the golden era, this movie has a surprisingly mixed reception among the fandom. The most common criticism is Kong's design. Also, I think a ton of the satire from the Japanese version got lost in translation.

The awful Americanization certainly didn't help matters there.

Edit: I was beaten to it by the post above me. Yeah, my experiences with this movie were exactly the same as yours, Bestgirl. I'd agree with your statement about it being worse than Gigantis. At least with Gigantis, the original movie wasn't so hot to begin with, so it only manages to bring down what is otherwise an okay movie at best. And Raids Again's Japanese original is widely available.

But the Americanized KKvG not only destroys a Japanese classic and any semblance of wit and sociological satire it had, it also kept the Japanese version from being nearly impossible to find through legal means until the Criterion Collection miraculously picked it up... and even then it's hidden away in a bonus feature disk, giving the terrible Americanized cut the spotlight on the main disk. It's hard not to resent that movie.

^The elusiveness of the original Japanese cut only adds to the appeal.

I felt like Megatron finally getting the allspark or golden disk when I got the Japanese cut through the Criterion collection.

Can anyone point me in the right direction to find out more about the production on Toho's side, like when the film did actually start production?

I'm surprised that both times Toho did Kong in the Showa era, they didn't use the suit actors' real eyes in portraying the character.