I firmly believe that Godzilla is criminally misunderstood in America. Much of this comes from the horrendous dubbings that we are often exposed to. The Americanized version even features Raymond Burr and a giant Dr. Pepper product placement. This makes it tough to take the film seriously on any level. I encourage you to search out the original version. You might be lucky enough to find it on ebay as a region 0 DVD. You won't find it in Blockbuster or most video stores.
Admittedly, it takes a special kind of person to search out the original, then look past the `special' effects and see the metaphysical implications of a giant monster destroying mankind. This may or not be worth your time, but if you decide to watch this film, watch it, not as `Godzilla 1985,' but as `Gojira 1984.' Otherwise you might as well stick with the Devlin/Emmerich remake that's just as funny as the dubbed versions, but for all the wrong reasons.
Also, an excellent score is turned in by Reijiro Koroku, it takes inspiration from the classic Godzilla theme but adds some real depth.
