User reviews

I liked this movie because it had some connection with the original Godzilla movie of '54. I finally learned what happened to Shinkichi and Dr. Kyohei Yamane after the original Godzilla movie. Shinkichi got adopted by Dr. Yamane (!) What a great story line, and Shinkichi's son and daughter carries on the mantle of their father.

I've read some of the comments made by other Godzilla fans for this movie and their complaint is basically what I've been saying about these movies all the time - That Toho has very bad casting. I understand that it's cheaper for them to use their in house actors, but they probably have no aspirations to improve their acting or to be a good actor because they're on salary and don't have to worry about where their pay checks are coming from. More over, they might think that nail that sticks out gets hammered and tries not to stand out. Hence, the movies made have no central focus and plot meanders.

But out of all the '90s Godzilla movies, I thought this one did have better plots and better casting. Special effects was great with Godzilla appearing in places its never been seen like Hong Kong and its body spewing steam due to heat generated from within. It was also good to see Kochi Momoko reprise her role as Emiko Yamane in her last appearance before her demise in 1999 (Now if they had Akira Takarada's character in this movie too it would have been 100% better but...).

This movie is the "last" in the series of Godzilla movies that started with Godzilla 1985.This time around Godzilla has become a living nuclear reactor on the verge of exploding and taking the planet with him.

On the print I watched there were some allusions to an atomic explosion on the island where Godzilla & Little Godzilla hung out.(But it is only mentioned in passing.Was it excised from this print?). Little Godzilla evolved due to the explosion into a teenage Godzilla.The elder Godzilla turned into a nuclear nightmare.In the beginning he lays waste to Hong Kong.

In Tokyo the remnants of the Oxygen Destroyer used to kill the first Godzilla in 1956 takes a life of its own.The Destroyah takes shape in the form of a hundred or so scrabbling insects larger than a car.Naturally the Destroyah turns out to be more than the Police/Army can handle.It also turns into one of the biggest,ugliest monsters you'll ever see.

Needless to say there is a titanic battle between Little Godzilla,the elder dying Godzilla and Destroyah.Tokyo is turned into a nuclear decimated wasteland as Godzilla approaches total meltdown. This isn't your father's Godzilla.He isn't a hero and he sure isn't cute.To say he is an unstoppable force of nature is more than accurate.He's mean,pi$$ed and this series has him at the most vicious.

The 7 movies in this series actually had plots and some money tossed into the special effects.Sure the dubbing bites and we could do without the little psychic girl from G Force.

All in all a fitting "ending" to the series.Now all we have to do is wait for Godzilla 2000.

When I first saw this movie, I hoped this would have more of a brooding, menacing feel to it than it did. I half expected them to return more to the tone of the 1954 GOJIRA, especially since they made so many other references to the original, like bringing back Momoko Kochi as Emiko.

Instead, G. vs. Desutoroia was shot in the usual nervous style of the Heisei series, which so irritated me at first that I found myself counting seconds, to see if ANY SHOT in the whole movie would make it to ten.

On repeated viewings, though, I felt the movie held together better than most of the others in the 'new' Godzilla series. As usual, the human characters seem simply to be along for the ride (the exception is G. vs. Mechagodzilla (II), where I found myself actually caring what went on between the humans). In this case, it's only natural that the Big G. takes center stage.

The final moments are absolutely amazing. Akira Ifukube's classic "the-army-mobilizes-against-Godzilla" theme is heard for probably the last time: not as the usual march, but in a slow choral arrangement that will tear the heart out of any Godzilla fan...

Godzilla may be back in the form of the new, improved Little Godzilla, but PLEASE someone reassure me that we've finally seen the last of that psychic Miki Saegusa. By the time the Heisei series was over, I knew more about Godzilla's inner life than I did about hers. IMHO the whole Psychic thing added nothing to the continuing story... give her a 900 number and an infomercial and keep her out of Godzilla Millennium!

So this is the end? No, meanwhile they found a way to revive Godzilla. But 1995, it was supposed to be. In order to close the circle, "Godzilla vs Destoroyah' referred directly to the first Godzilla movie from 1954. The monster Destroyah is a result of the `oxygen destroyer' used back then to fight Godzilla. Toho Studios really managed to tie up the loose strings here, giving us a rather dark action adventure, picking up the environmentally hazardous theme from `Godzilla vs Hedora', but at the same time have Godzilla junior return without becoming as childish as in `Son of Godzilla' 1967. If you see Godzilla glowing red with radioactivity (i.e. throughout the entire movie!), you almost feel the pain. Great flick, shouldn't miss in anyone's monster movie collection.

The most moving and thrilling of all Godzilla films, with a solid plot, smooth acting, moving music and emotional drama. I enjoyed this movie; the final one in the Godzilla "Heisei" series, in which Godzilla's heart, basically like a nuclear reactor, is on a verge of a meltdown. This will result in the disintegration of the entire city. As a result, this movie is a thrilling race against time to stop Godzilla before he melts down.

This G-film's story is particularly captivating and unique, exciting from start to finish. The film also includes a combination of elements that is iconic to a Godzilla film: scientists, reporters, military, Tokyo, fleeing citizens, city destruction, monster battles and Akira Ifukube's brilliant music score. And, it includes a host of actors that appeared in past Godzilla films, most notably Momoko Kochi reprising her 1954 role as Emiko Yamane. All this is a great homage to have in the final Godzilla film of the Heisei series.

There is one thrilling scene in which I especially liked - the part when Yukari gets trapped in the police car with Destoroyah pursuing her. And, the part when Miki breaks down and cry when Godzilla Junior laid lifeless on the ground almost reduced me to tears - reminding you that this film is Godzilla's final bow. I really despise Destoroyah, after all the damaged he has done. Godzilla should have melted that ugly arachnid. And, I would have made the Ken and Meru characters a little less annoying.

But overall, a terrific, heart-pounding film to close out the second Godzilla series. A must see for all.

Grade A-

GODZILLA VS. DESTOROYAH is the final in the 1990s series of GODZILLA films that started with GODZILLA VS. BIOLLANTE back in 1989. This is rather a sombre effort with a heartbreaking climax that will upset many Godzilla fans; it's an effective piece but not really one of the best in the series. It's a watchable and entertaining film all right, but just one of those films that seems to be going through the motions rather than offering much new.

Godzilla himself is in trouble this time around: he's suffering a nuclear meltdown from the inside, which is causing him to go completely crazy. Godzilla Junior is still hanging around, and boy has he grown up; this means that Megumi Odaka is back in the film as the woman with a psychic connection to the not-so-little-anymore critter. And the villain of the piece is Destoroyah, a kind of prehistoric sea bug which grows to super-scale to fight our scaly heroes.

For much of the running time, DESTOROYAH seems to have been inspired by other movies, not least the preceding Godzilla outings. There are plenty of moments which reference JURASSIC PARK, which must have been a big hit in Japan; the car attack is the most obvious. Other moments are reminiscent of ALIENS with motion detectors and the like. The special effects look cheap and cheerful here, and the climax is appropriately large scale and dramatic with plenty of destructive mayhem. It's just a shame that this is a rather maudlin movie as I would have preferred an all-out party atmosphere to celebrate the big guy's (temporary) demise.

22nd installment and still kicking. This is the climax to the Heisei series. It's quite a beautiful climax, and rather poetic in its relation to the rest of the series. It's the first film with strong connections to the original. It brings back talk of the Oxygen Destroyah, which inadvertently created a new breed of monster. Meanwhile, Godzilla goes on a dramatic journey of character for such a big monster. First of all, he is getting close to meltdown, having absorbed too much nuclear radiation, he may be about to explode. This leaves him with a rather interesting glowing look, Also, he may be about to become a responsible father, as he tracks down his presumably dead son. Toho put a lot of faith into a big rubbery character, but he pulls it off. This is the most emotional since the original, and it still has time for awesome action sequences. Part of me wishes I had watched these years ago, as the city destruction scenes must have seemed even more impressive. Still, it's engaging stuff, and the perfect end to this series.

The way it tries to connect it to the very first Godzilla and the other ones in the Heisei era, not only just as narrative connections but thematically about how humans are the cause of it all through each detail was cool. But, the way so many of these movies have already talked a lot about these, it didn't really feel meaningful enough, only more convenient to be used like that. There's a lot of emphasis given to the human characters and it just didn't work well for me. When using sci-fi elements that don't have anything to do with actual science, it should either be established as an entirely new thing only existing in this world or used as a plot device and don't talk about it too much through the supposed scientific way. A lot of stuff in the beginning just felt stupid because they wanted to make it sound like real science when it isn't even close to being real. The one-dimensional characters having so much time discussing this is such a bad idea. There's so much this film could've done better but chose not to. The last act was entertaining and did feel like a meaningful end to Godzilla of this era. The nuclear meltdown, the ultimate enemy Destroyah, the Junior, all of it was great. Really can't help but like the movie after that ending. Still, I can't completely understand why this is beloved by many. It may not have been as silly as the previous movie but it didn't feel that much better than it either.

Godzilla Vs Destroyer (1995) is a movie that I recently rented off Vudu for $2.99. The storyline follows Destroyer mutating to create little creatures and eventually Destroyah. The mutation destroys the home of Godzilla and Godzilla's son and threatens the entire planet. Meanwhile, Godzilla has developed a strange glow that humans believe is nuclear energy that may cause him to explode. The humans are trying to capture and freeze Godzilla before the nuclear meltdown happens inside him. Can Godzilla and his son fend off both Destroyah and the humans?

This movie is directed by Takao Okawara (Godzilla 2000) and stars Akira Nakao (Godzilla vs MechaGodzilla), Masahiro Takashima (Kingdom II), Momoko Kôchi (Godzilla, 1954) and Akihiko Hirata (Godzilla, 1954).

While I still enjoyed this Godzilla picture it may be among the worst ones ever created. They did stay true to the classic Godzilla sound effects and background music. Destroyah and his minions looked like amusement park attractions. Godzilla looked mechanical and like a robot. The spacecrafts and model towns and bridges were great. The lightening breath and Godzilla's glow was cool. The storyline was just okay but the last 35 minutes was very good. The final 2-3 battles are excellent.

Overall this is a very average addition to the Godzilla movies. I would score this a 5/10 but still recommend seeing it once.

The epic finale of the second Godzilla series concludes with Big G himself facing his toughest challenge yet! This is my personal favorite of the entire Godzilla series after the original 1954 film, and in many ways, this film does it's best to tie back to that film as much as possible, even explicitly tying the origins of Godzilla's new foe to the fate of the original King of the Monsters. Godzilla is at his largest, most powerful, and by far the most furious that he's ever been in the entire franchise, but he will be matched up against the nightmarish Destoroyah, one of the strongest and most terrifying monsters to ever appear in any film!

What follows is a fitting and powerful conclusion for the King Of The Monsters, the last dance so to speak. For Godzilla's days are numbered, as the same radioactive meltdown that is triggering his increased strength and fury is also draining him and will eventually kill him. With some of the best visual effects and creature designs of the entire franchise, and an appropriately epic score to match, G vs. D represents the best the series has to offer. If you must watch only one Godzilla movie, watch the original 1954 Japanese version. But if you watch two, then I urge you to consider Godzilla vs. Destoroyah with the original.

With this film, the Heisei series decisively came to an end, and Godzilla would enjoy a well earned and fitting retirement ... that is, until an American impostor pretending to be the original King Of The Monsters would rear its ugly head in a certain 1998 Columbia/Tristar film that shall remain nameless ...

This is the film in which Toho intended to kill off Godzilla, but they naturally left themselves an out just in case! And as it turns out, with the imminent arrival of Millenium Godzilla they needed it. At any rate this is a pretty sombre movie. Destroyah is a rather demonic opponent who is of secondary concern to Godzy fans.

Version: Japanese audio, English subtitles (by SBS) 'Godzilla vs Destroyer' seems to get mixed reviews from Godzilla fans. It's either awesome or terrible. Having only seen 'Godzilla' (1985) and 'Godzilla vs SpaceGodzilla' years ago, I caught 'Godzilla vs Destroyer' when it appeared in SBS's cult-movie time slot. 'Awesome!' was my reaction when the film finished. Sure, Godzilla has a quite a few better movies around, but 'Godzilla vs Destroyer' got me watching Godzilla movies, and for that I guess it will last as one of my favourites.

After Birth Island mysteriously blows up, a very radioactive Godzilla turns up in Hong Kong and trashes the place. Little Godzilla has gone missing, and Godzilla has been supercharged, leaving his heart about to go into nuclear meltdown, according to the mystics of G-Force. Back in Japan. Dr. Ijuin (Takuro Tatsumi) has discovered organisms - created from the DNA of the original Godzilla and the effects of Dr Serizawa's oxygen destroyer from the original 'Godzilla - living in Tokyo Bay. Growing at an alarming rate, the new oxygen destroyers pose a threat greater than Godzilla.

The story strikes me as being a weird mesh of the silliness of some of the later Showa Godzilla films, combined with the scientific merit of any average episode of Power Rangers. 'Godzilla vs Destroyer' tries to be taken seriously, but when given the smallest amount of thought, all the absurdity and rampant gaps in logic really build up. I love it all the same, but I feel that if the story had involved the viewer more instead of shoving insane amounts of drama and science-fiction in our faces, 'Godzilla vs Destroyer' could have easily been one of the best Godzilla films around. No one likes having insane amounts of drama and science-fiction shoved their face.

However, all the absurdity, gaps in logic, and questionable science, make for some cool action scenes, if nothing else. The Destroyer creatures have more than a slight resemblance to the creatures from 'Aliens', and the movie is rife with low budget special effects. Sometimes it is hard to make out what is happening on screen, but the chances are it is just another explosion or monsters duking it out. I enjoy watching monsters duke it out and take entire cities with them, and I'll bet the rest of you do too. Don't lie now.

'Godzilla vs Destroyer' may just be another average Godzilla movie, but I love it for the fact that it was the film that got me interested in Godzilla movies - 7/10

A Goji movie that gives the titular monster a formidable opponent in Destroyah. The plot even manages to be a bit emotional while paying tribute to other films in the series and James Cameron's Aliens. Excellent effects, an interesting story and a cool Goji. Recommended for all Kaiju fans.

I'm at a quandary grading this movie, the deaths of the 2 protagonist do elicite true emotion from all watching, but those scenes are almost200 completely negated by just horrible movie making. Godzilla and his son apparently die and those scenes are truly emotional, but are only 2% good compared to 98% crap. People either love or hate this movie, and people generally think this is the best of the series, but others, including myself think it's the worst. First of all, this "Destroyah" looks like pure crap in ALL it's incarnations, especially when it was smaller. You can see this thing actually FLOATING on on it's tracks. Horrible. It just looks bad. It's not a good Monster at all, it just lacks any emotional attatchment what so ever. I KNOW it's a monster movie, but this thing is at the lower end of the genre. And the fact that Godzilla fans accept this crap speaks VOLUMES, I am a fan but was insulted at this failed attempt at movie-making. And don't even get me started with all the Oxygen-Science mumbo jumbo. Then there is the X3 Military 'Freezer' plane. It's not a sleek or cool design at all, looks like it weighs a ton and it's exhaust is horrible. The ONLY redeeming factor of this movie was Godzilla and his sons seeming demise. (I'm not happy they died, but it WAS emotional) With a name like "Destroyah" you would expect some sort of impervious brute with the raw strength to go toe-to-toe with Godzilla, but the monster is nothing but a mutated crab. All the special effects money must have been spent soley on the Godzilla "glowing" costume. As good as he looked, the crab-monster looked like it cost a grand total of 7.89+tax. (American, not yen) As popular as Godzilla is, why do studios continue to refrain from spending a decent amount of money on the series? Even the most advanced Godzilla effects pale in comparison to his cousin, Gamera. (Well, I guess they are cousins, one a turtle and the other a lizard, both reptiles?) Pick ANY Godzilla effect (even the inane Godzilla 1998) and put it up against the scene from Gamera vs Isis when Gamera lifts off at FULL AFTERBURNER (looking just like the space shuttle) and see what I mean. In all honesty, the Gamera movies just seem rawer and better, and I LIKE Godzilla so it pains me to say that but it's true. I think Godzilla can make a comeback if they do 2 things, give the director some money to work with, and don't let American studios touch the franchise ever again!

Many fans will quote this movie as the best of the best when it comes to Godzilla movies. While I do agree that this indeed a great Godzilla movie, I can't name it as one of the best. I don't see this one succeeding in winning over new fans, as the plotpoint, ending, and even Destoroyah himself are callbacks to the original movie, and therefore fanservice. And that isn't a bad thing, but it keeps this from being the best of best. As far as quality goes, that is greatly lacking. The majority of the film drags at the same slow pace as the other 90s films, and consists mostly of scientists and military characters as protagonists. The reporter character is honestly the most interesting character here, but she isn't given a lot to do past the midway point. But, I've dwelled on the negative long enough. This is in fact a solid movie despite those issues. Epic score by Ifukube. The callbacks to the first movie are done with obvious love and handled perfectly. Godzilla's burning form is absolutely badass, and one must commend them for making his actions far more unpredictable, really selling the idea of the major pain he's suffering from his condition. Destoroyah is a great Kaiju, in appearance, concept, and portrayal. Truly a fearsome and evil creature. The final battle and the emotional ending are also among the most memorable parts of Godzilla's history. Like I said, I really enjoy this movie. I just can't lie and say it's the masterpiece other fans say it is, which that's their opinion so it's fine, and I totally get where they're coming from. But, to me anyway, there are better Godzilla movies out there.

I do highly recommend it to all Godzilla fans. If you're an average fan, or new to the series, maybe explore around the previous films some more before you try this one. You really do want the full effect of the ending, and not having it would lessen the experience for you. At least watch the original and the other Heisei films(1984-1994), if not a chunk of the original series of films too

-- Wes Wall.

This should have been a much better movie than it was. The drama of Godzilla meeting his end after years of mayhem and endless battles with other monsters should have been handled much better. What hurt the story the most was the murky plot and the battle scene at the end that went on far too long.

Godzilla is ready for a nuclear meltdown after all these years. Somehow, we're supposed to believe that Godzilla operates like a nuclear power plant. Forget the atomic mutation theory, Godzilla is a walking Chernobyl in this film. He glows an orangish red and steam comes off of him.

Mixed into the plot is the destruction of the island where little Godzilla lived in peace all these years. It's melted into the sea as a result of some energy displacement and little Godzilla is no longer little or cute. He's a young adult now, and he's headed for Japan.

The monster in this film is one that's been produced by the oxygen destroyer used way back in the very first Godzilla film. The soil has been contaminated with it, and there arises a creature that has crablike legs and a mouth like the monster in "Alien" had.

Godzilla trashes Hong Kong in the opening scenes, then heads north to Japan, apparently on the trail of his son. Little Godzilla is heading to his ancestral home in the Bering Strait (underwater?), but when Destroyer starts rampaging through Tokyo, the authorities use the telepathic skills of Miki to entice little Godzilla to detour to Tokyo so that his papa might follow and fight the monster. Which is what happens.

The Destroyer creatures mutate into one big one and the fight is on. Little Godzilla puts up quite a fight but he's no match for the much bigger Destroyer. Godzilla enters Tokyo Bay and is ready to protect his son, but it's too late.

The scenes were little Godzilla plaintively wails towards his father are really quite touching. And when he dies, I found myself emotionally upset. Godzilla is beside himself with anguish and you really see him for the natural being that he is.

This should have been the central scene of the entire film but the long overdrawn battle between Godzilla and Destroyer overshadows it. Into the mix throw the idiotic Super X something or other, a lumbering plane with freezing ray guns and such, that darts in and out of the action. I would have much rather seen more of the Godzilla family drama than half an hour of monsters tangling amidst the wreckage of Tokyo.

Still, this isn't a bad addition to the series, and as all good Godzilla fans know, he really isn't dead because they've made a few more films with him since. Good characters die hard.

Because of some recent geological events, which also resulted in an island disappearing, Godzilla's (Kenpachiro Satsuma) "radioactive heart" is out of whack, and a nuclear meltdown is threatening--Godzilla could explode, and that would mean that all of life on the Earth would be wiped out, at least according to the computer simulation. Still, the military thinks it's a good idea to attack Godzilla and risk destroying the world, because otherwise Godzilla might ruin a few more blocks of downtown Tokyo. So they employ a number of tactics, including something about micro-oxygen which either infuses things with oxygen or depletes them of oxygen, depending on which page of the script rewrite we're on, some kind of freezing rays, mostly shot from a space-age experimental jet, and a gaggle of alternate monsters that can join together and become a super-monster named Destoroyah, and which shoots out micro-oxygen rays, freezing rays, or, well, something.

My account of the premise on this one should give you a good idea of how confusing the plot is this time around. Out of all of the Toho Godzilla films I've seen so far, and that's nowhere near the majority of them yet, this is the worst. On the other hand, it also has high entertainment value for being so bad. It's guaranteed to keep you laughing as you try to make any sense out of the plot. Thus, Godzilla earns my valuable 5 out of 10 rating, which is solely reserved for films that are "so bad they're good" (which is subtly different from films that are, let's say, very "different" than most standards of film-making and evaluation, but that are good despite their weirdness/ridiculousness, which is a large percentage of the Godzilla films).

Part of the problem is that the plot is very complicated. Most of it hinges on pseudo-scientific gobbledy-gook, and it's not very consistent with itself. Kazuki Omori's script is like an ever-shifting game of Clue. The weapons bounce back and forth between micro-oxygen, freezing rays and Destoroyah (a name that seems to be used both for monsters and a deadly scientific device), the perpetrators bounce back and forth between scientists, various factions of the military and monsters, and the locations bounce back and forth between various Tokyo locales and the ocean. It gets very confusing trying to figure out what's going on--is it the scientists with the freezing rays in the ocean, or the monsters with the micro-oxygen downtown, or the military with the freezing rays at the airport? I suppose I could have kept hitting pause and tried graphing the plot, but that seemed like too much work for watching a Godzilla film. Instead, my attention turned to how ridiculous and funny everything was, and I was extremely entertained.

Like many Godzilla films, the big brawl at the climax of the film mostly consisted of relatively random special effects, which are supposed to be the monsters shooting out rays of stuff from their mouths, eyes, armpits, etc. It's not usually clear what any of the special effects are supposed to do, because there is little consistency in the reactions of the monsters to the different special effects, and they take turns acting like they're hurt and then getting back up as if nothing had happened--something like "professional wrestling".

However, this film is notorious for supposedly being the end of Godzilla, or at least this nth instantiation of Godzilla, and the "nuclear meltdown" scene has some pretty nifty effects.

If you can enjoy it for its absurdity, Godzilla vs. Destoroyah is worth a watch. Everyone else should avoid.