This is an OK first sequel for Godzilla, which involves two pilots that discovered a new species of Godzilla battling a dinosaur named Anguirus on an island. Actor Takashi Shimura re-prises his role as Dr. Yamane from the previous Godzilla film. During a conference scene, he showed a film that depicts scenes of the first Godzilla's attack on Tokyo, as his listeners express concern on the new crisis involving the second Godzilla. The monsters then later venture their way to the city of Osaka, where all the monster action take place.
This film features Godzilla's first foe, Anguirus. The battle sequences between the two monsters are solid - pretty neat, fast-paced effect. I wished the monsters' first appearance in the movie was given a more intriguing entrance; they just simply appeared on cue.
Composer Masaru Sato did a good job on scoring this movie and I think his Main Title Theme for this film is one of the best non-Akira Ifukube music I've heard in Toho films. The scenes of the city of Osaka's blackout to prevent Godzilla from attacking is good comprehension and suspense.
The subplot of Koehi Yamaji's (Yukio Kasama) fishery and the relationship between Shoichi Tsukioka (Hiroshi Koizumi) and Hidemi Yamaji (Setsuko Wakayama) provided a good piece of drama and realism (especially during them figuring out how to pick up the pieces after the monster destruction), but they did drag the movie on after the much of the monster action as the latter part of the film was too concentrated on the human subplot, making the film on the dull side and taking the spotlight away from the more exciting monster theme.
Overall, it's an average film, which lacks a little of the sci-fi suspense due to the dragging human sub-plot. But, the monster scenes were great.
Grade C
