Reptilicus!

Once upon a time in the late 50's and early 60's, giant monsters were all the rage. Denmark feeling that it too wanted to contribute its unique flavor to the monster surge of the time initiated by Japan's Godzilla, unleashed the prehistoric might of Reptilicus on the the city of Copenhagen and film-going public has never been the same since. I've certainly never been, since I lensed the movie as part of an all-night Halloween film fest when I was youngster. The first few scenes scared me pretty well, though even as a kid I found the big monster's romp somewhat regrettable.


Sidney Pink produced this flick and thought the way to go for special effects was puppets. Puppetry was a classic approach, and one only has to look back to the very first giant monsters created by the master special effects kahunah Willis "Obie" O'Brien, to see the stop-motion mastery of that form. That's not the way they went with Reptilcus. They went with a marionettes and hand puppets. Take a look.



On another front Ib Melchior had worked on early versions of Gigantis, the Fire Monster, the Americanized Godzilla sequel and took some of the discarded concepts from that project and used them on this movie. Reptilicus does have one advantage over Godzilla and Kong, he can fly. But for some reason those scenes get cut from the American version and so his little wings seem attached to the big lizard for no good reason. Here's a look at him on the fly.


Needless to say Sidney Pink was interested in maximizing his profits from this creation, so he licensed the creature to comics, in particular Charlton Comics. They had a history with these kinds of things, having done Konga and Gorgo. But Charlton also was associated with the paperback imprint Monarch and they too adapted Reptilicus using the writer David Owens. Pink took issue with some of the scenes created for the novel version which are reputed to have a somewhat lascivious quality. I've never read it, so I cannot speak firsthand about it. But apparently it upset Pink who pulled the license from Charlton. But Charlton must've seen some good numbers from their monster book, so they just kept on publishing it under the new name "Reptisaurus". It ran for six more issues through 1962, and a 1963 summer special edition to boot. Some years ago, an independent science fiction movie was made using the "Reptisaurus" name. I've not been able to see most of this movie, but I have seen the trailer and for this kind of Indy stuff it looks typical. I'd love to see it full length.

So we are faced with the odyssey of this monster character who begins life in the cinema and then tumbles into comics only to return under his new name to the screen again. There is an irony here somewhere. For more details on this offbeat tale of monsters and comics, see this link at Stephen Bissette's rather scholarly blog.

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Gorgo!

If you don't know the general story of Gorgo either as a film or as the comics story adapted by Joe Gill and Steve Ditko for Charlton Comics way back in 1961, it's a classic tale of giant monster terror. Two likeable but tough-minded salvage divers find themselves stranded off Nara Island and after some bother about treasure and such find that a monster called "Ogra" by the little boy who attaches himself to them might make a pretty good penny for them back in civilization. They capture the critter, bigger than several elephants and haul him back to London where he's put on display for all to see. 

There's some angst about what's right and all that, but before anything really can happen, Gorgo's mother who is ten times his size shows up looking for her baby and crushes Nara Island before heading off the London to get back her boy. The British military has no chance, and she demolishes lots of landmarks like the Tower Bridge, Big Ben, and more. People die like crazy in this one as debris falls on crowd after crowd. Eventually she gets to her baby, frees him and they walk off into the sea and the movie is over just like that. It's a spectacle!

Gorgo was promoted with great vigor by the King Brothers. After securing the services of Eugene Lourie who was working on his third giant monster movie in a row after The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms and The Giant Behemoth, the producers wrought more than a few changes to the story. But everyone knew a new monster was on the block with scuds of money going into the advertising, not the least of which was getting Gorgo a cover on Famous Monsters of Filmland, rendered by the great Basil Gogos. 

And then there's Waiting for Gorgo. This 2010 short film is a hoot. Imagine how the British military might have responded to the threat of giant monsters long ago. They might set up a Department of Monsters and Over-Sized Animals or DMOA for short. They might staff it well at first but over the decades, things might fall off. To learn more, check out the link below. 

Waiting for Gorgo | Award-Winning Monster Short Film

More Gorgo to come. 

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Space Monster Wangmagwi!

Space Monster Wangmagwi is a hoot! This 1967 Korean Kaiju flick was believed to be lost for many years, and then a copy turned up. It was screened a few times, but the rights owner never allowed for any type of distribution anywhere until just last year. This is the first Kaiju movie made in Korea and is glorious black and white. But if you think you can predict what's going to happen in this movie, I doubt it. 

Aliens drop Wangmagwi onto the planet Earth as part of their scheme to invade and take over the planet. He grows to mammoth proportions and proceeds to plod through Seoul. Given that this movie was in part a King Kong inspired effort it's not much of a surprise when he takes time to stop and literally pick up a chick. This lady was a bride who is bereft that his arrival has stopped the wedding, and he hangs onto her for most of the movie. Later a young boy named "Squirrel" gets onto and later into the Space Monster and begins to use his knife to bother it by cutting its eardrums and poking its nasal passages. It will come as no surprise that the boy and the woman are ultimately saved by a jet pilot (who just happens to be the girl's intended) as the monster is at last dispatched. While the monster is rampaging through the city, we meet other folks such as two fools who insist on gambling over the monster's behavior and a few rich folks who cannot seem to leave their good fortunes behind. A woman gives birth, and another guy literally takes a dump at the same, while the rampage is underway,

I first learned of this movie only a few weeks ago. The article said it was unavailable but then I discovered things had changed and it wasn't that expensive, so I took a tumble. The first time watching it was I was overly impressed by its strangeness, slow pace, and relative cheapness. 

Yongary, Monster from the Deep was made around this same time and is much smoother for all its oddness. But a second viewing an informative commentary helped me to appreciate better what I was seeing. I cannot recommend this one for everyone by any means. King Kong fans might be interested and diehard Kaiju fans for sure. But if you're not one of those, this one might be great to see online but not maybe buy. You can watch Space Monster Wangmagwi here. 

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Godzilla Minus One!

Godzilla Minus One is a remarkable entry in the decades long monster series from Toho Studios. We are awash in Godzilla movies it seems these days, with a new one every few years. I'm a fan, so that's mostly fine with me. The original Godzilla is among my favorite movies, if not my favorite. (It has slowly over the years been edging out The Thing from Another World and the original King Kong for that honor for some years now.) What makes the original so fascinating and so compelling is that we know next to nothing about Godzilla. He's a force which just appears one day and brings death for thousands with him. He'd be like a hurricane if a hurricane was caused by the hand of man. (And with global warming maybe we've entered that arena as well). The movie is about the people who have to deal with the menace of Godzilla. What do you do when death comes for you cand you can't get out of the way. That's the threat of Godzilla, and it's that relentless menace that informs Godzilla Minus One. 

BEWARE! SPOILERS BEGIN. 

This is the exceedingly personal story of one man who is a kamikaze pilot in the final days of the World War II. When it comes time to give up his life for his country, he makes another choice. Later when confronted with the menace of a giant dinosaur he freezes when death stares him in the face. Men died that day, and his family died when Tokyo was bombed. He finds other survivors, a woman and baby, both orphaned by the war and the three form a family of sorts and go about finding life among the ruins. But his guilt never leaves him. And then Godzilla arises from the depths, and he knows that the menace of Odo Island has swelled to Earth-shaking proportions and tens of thousands die. His life seems to be a strand that constantly finds itself in periodic contract with Godzilla or his aftermath. Ultimately, when he's lost even more, he decides to take final action and the Japanese people, abandoned by their government and by the United States government, must unite to defeat the menace. 

RELAX! SPOILERS END. 

Wars take countless victims, both living and dead. This movie is about the living, those who survive devastating events such as war, and tells us the story of their guilt. The world is a ruthless place and good people die younger than they should have done, and when that happens those around them wonder why not them. What did they do to deserve to continue living, to have a life when the one they loved is gone. Most anyone who has lived for any length of time has confronted this dilemma of the soul. How do we justify our existence when better people than us have died. We are survivors, we get to live, and it can be a curse, but the message of Godzilla Minus One is that life is what matters. Live. 

I heartily recommend Godzilla Minus One. I was lucky enough to watch it in a near empty theater and got a seat right down near the screen for maximum effect. It was ideal for such a film. It's a great Godzilla movie, and just a great movie in all respects. 

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Godzilla Reads Again!

Before I get into my thoughts on the book Godzilla and Godzilla Raids Again by Shigeru Kayama, indulge me in a little cinematic history. When they made King Kong in 1933 it was a revolutionary film, a movie that pure cinema with a star that did really exist in the real world save as a tiny model, and despite that handicap thanks to stop-motion magic made many in the audience cry when he tumbled from atop the Empire State Building.

King Kong was such a success that they made a sequel, Son of Kong, in six months-time but while still impressive it lacked the emotional potency of its predecessor. And that was it for giant monster movies for quite some time because the movies were so labor intensive. In fact, it was the 1950's when King Kong was released again that folks saw just how popular it was. 

Beast from 20,000 Fathoms arrived, powered by stop-motion and Toho Studios had an idea. But they couldn't do it in stop-motion, but they could put a man in a monster suit. and they did. So was born Godzilla. 

A great many talents worked on Godzilla. Ishiro Honda directed the movie, Ikira Ifukube created a masterful score, but it was Shigeru Kayama who wrote the story treatment. And it's that same Shirgeru Kayama who went on to write novelizations of the story, the first titled Monster Godzilla based on his own radio adaptation, a comic book version known as Monster Picture Story: Godzilla, and most importantly for this review two novels adapting the debut film and its sequel. The sequel story treatment Godzilla Raids Again (released in the United States as Gigantis the Fire Monster) was also written by Kayama. So, he's an expert on all things early Godzilla, though he'd not write another Godzilla movie until 1971's Godzilla vs. Hedorah.  

The novel version of Godzilla has now been translated after all these decades. It is basically the same story, an unknown dinosaur is exposed to radiation thanks to atomic testing and rises from the depths to wreak havoc on ships and eventually on land as well. A scientist named Yamane is torn between dealing with the threat and saving the creature so that mankind might benefit. He has a daughter named Emiko, but she's not engaged to another scientist named Serizawa. There is not romantic angle at all in this story. The hero is Shinkichi Yamada who fans of the movie will know as the young boy who survives the attack by Godzilla on Odo Island and comes to live with Yamane in Tokyo after his brother and mother are killed. In this story he is older and already working in Tokyo when the story starts. Another big change is that Godzilla glows pretty much all the time, evidence of his radioactive nature. Other than that, the story rumbles along pretty much the same. One critical difference in the ending is that Serizawa says point blank that he will kill himself to keep the secret of the Oxygen Destroyer out of evil hands, so few should be surprised by the ending. 

Not at all unlike King Kong, the success of Godzilla prompted a hectically produced sequel titled Godzilla Raids Again. It was with the release of the sequel in 1955 that Kayama adapted both stories to novel form. 

The original Japanese title to the movie Godzilla Raids Again literally translates to "Godzilla Counterattacks". Int he sequel we get two kaiju with the introduction of Anguirus. Notably in the novel Anguirus also has the same atomic breath ability as Godzilla, which is not the case in the movies. This second novel follows along with the movie quite well with only a few changes of any consequence. Godzilla is discovered by an airplane pilot working for a fishing company and soon enough so is his rival the new monster Anguirus. Osaka is the city picked for destruction this time and both monsters end up there soon enough. The sequel lacks the thematic depth of the original, possibly due to the director, but also one can see that the scenario designed by Kayama is much simpler as well. Eventually Godzilla defeats his rival and soon after that the military buries him under a mountain of ice. (It should be noted that this is a second animal named Godzilla, but as fans know this Godzilla will break out of his icy dungeon just in time to battle the might King Kong in the third movie in the series.)

Shigeru Kayama also wrote the scenario for another Toho monster flick titled Half-Human. (You can catch that one at this Internet Archive link. I'll have to do a review sometime.) Kayama was quite a well-respected author when he was tapped to devise the scenarios to these two movies, so it's perhaps not that unusual that he stepped away from the franchise. He was not happy to see Godzilla become so kid friendly, and as we all know that's just what happened when the popularity of the mighty monster overwhelmed his dangerous nature.  When he did come back to the franchise, it was to highlight another world crisis, this time pollution instead of atomic weaponry. These are light novels written for younger audiences, but I found them a fun way to revisit the classic story in a new way. 

Tomorrow is my review of Godzilla Minus One. 

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Godzilla Animated!

It seems that every twenty years or so there's a need for some new Godzilla cartoons. I had the distinct pleasure of recently watching a trilogy of feature-length Godzilla movies from Japan made in 2017 and 2018  which put the story far into the future. It's essentially the story of mankind attempting to reoccupy the Earth after having to abandon it because of the influx of monsters, the most powerful of which was Godzilla. The people of Earth were helped to make the faster-than-light quest by two alien races -- the technological and warlike "Bilasaludo" and the extremely religious "Exif". While it has been twenty years in space for the people aboard their space ship nearly twenty thousand have passed on Earth and it's a much changed environment the humans find on their return. This is a Godzilla movie unlike any I've ever encountered with the titular "King of Monsters" portrayed as something beyond the ken of people both in scale and purpose. Godzilla reminded me most of Mount Fuji in fact, a dominant part of the landscape and central to the understanding of the world itself for the people who live there. There are three movies in this series: Godzilla - Planet of Monsters (which tells of how Godzilla has changed), Godzilla - City on the Edge of Battle (which offers a different take on MechaGodzilla), and finally Godzilla - The Planet Eater (which brings Ghidorah into the epic tale). 

Twenty years before in 1998-1999 following on after the American Godzilla movie which is so much decried in these modern times, came Godzilla- The Series. This was a joint venture from both American and Japanese producers and featured the more nimble Godzilla seen in that movie starring Matthew Broderick. One change though is that this Godzilla has imprinted on the lead character and can also spew flames unlike the original film which so many people disregard. This band of researchers called H.E.A.T.(Humanitarian Environmental Analysis Team) travel the globe aboard the high-tech ship "Heat Seeker" which is provided by the French government. These are sturdy adventures with some real range on the kinds of threats that the team with the help of Godzilla face. The monster designs are really creative and evoke memories of the classic Toho beasts just barely here and there. We have spins on giant bugs (beetles, bees, mosquitos, scorpions, etc.) , the Loch Ness Monster, the Mexican Firebird, an ancient sphinx, an enormous armadillo, and giant fish, others I cannot figure out how to describe, and even a cyborg "Godzilla". One funny ongoing gag is the destruction of NIGEL, a robot used for analysis and such who gets destroyed in just about every episode.  For many Godzilla fans this era of the King of Monsters is one they would  like to forget. Me, I rather enjoy it. And watching after seeing the most recent Japanese films, I get the sense I am seeing the mutation monster plague begin which drove humans away from Earth finally as reflected in the movies discussed above.  

 

Twenty years before the original Godzilla -The Animated Series I know of dropped onto television screens. This was a joint venture between the Hanna-Barbara studio and Henry G. Saperstein and featured character designs by Doug Wildey of Jonny Quest fame among other things. This is a story in which Godzilla works in league with a team of humans who live aboard the Calico, a hydrofoil research ship. Also on board is "Godzooky", a humorous small-time version of Godzilla. The team travels the globe and manages usually to scare up a giant monster here and there for Godzilla to rise from the depths of the ocean to confront. But the show was mired in a TV environment where any sort of violence was virtually forbidden so Godzilla couldn't even step on a building. Not much for a giant monster to do after that edict has dropped. Sadly only the first season has been presented in DVD and those are hard to find. 

And before I sign off a final time for this month filled with Godzilla let me remember the first Godzilla cartoon of them all from 1969, the totally awesome Bambi Meets Godzilla!  

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Terror Of MechaGodzilla - The Criterion Collection!

Terror of MechaGodzilla from 1975 is remarkable for several things, not least of which it marks the return of director Ishiro Honda to the  Godzilla franchise as well as becoming his final Godzilla movie. It was also the last Godzilla movie of the Showa era and seemed for a time to be the last Godzilla movie of all time. The movie is an attempt to try and capture the classic Godzilla magic one more time, using the classic elements. And in many respects it's a success. The story is yet another alien invasion flick, in fact it seems to be part two of the same invasion flick with MechaGodzilla returning after a very successful debut and run by supposedly the same aliens as last time, though oddly they look different. There's actually a very heartwarming story of a young woman who has been forced to be a weapon for the aliens in an attempt to take over the planet. To that end she and the ancient dinosaur Titanosaurus have been manipulated to become weapons alongside the titular MechaGodzilla.

Godzilla himself is alone this time, taking on the enemy by his atomic-breathing own. And he shows up splendidly in this farewell outing. He's been redesigned slightly to look a bit more menacing and less cuddly and his fighting seems more ferocious and less fanciful, though those lighter elements are not altogether absent. When the sacrifices have been made and the battles fought and won, Godzilla is showcased in the "Big Tank" one more time in the blazing red light of a setting sun heading out to sea for his final curtain call. It's not a bad send off given how wonky the series had become from year to year. 

Watching Showa Godzilla movies requires a flexible notion of what makes a good monster movie. If you get yourself locked into one notion then you will find some of them just awful, but if you discover as I do when I watch these fifteen movies that what a monster is can changed over time and from story to story, and further that the changes are key making the whole concept and the genre it begat rich and endlessly diverting. The fifteen Showa Godzilla movies are sumptuous feast, filled with different flavors and distinct tones that rarely if ever bore. Some of terrifying, some are hilarious, and a few are stupifying, but all of them are fascinating in their own way. After a break of ten years it was deemed time for Godzilla to return at long last. 

Check in tomorrow for one more Godzilla post. 

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Godzilla Vs. MechaGodzilla - The Criterion Collection!

 I do believe I saw the American version of this movie called Godzilla vs. Cosmic Monster in the theater, but I'm not at all certain. But no doubt it was one of the earliest movies starring Godzilla I ever owned thanks to a relatively cheap VHS copy, though I was happy to at long last get a better version in the Japanese original. Godzilla vs. MechaGodzilla is a much better movie in my opinion than it gets credit for generally. There's a prophecy that a given certain signs such as a dark mountain in the sky and a red sun rising in the West monsters will rise both to attack and to defend the Earth. As the movie progresses we see these prophecies fulfilled in prosaic ways but nonetheless we eventually end up with MechaGodzilla in battle with Godzilla and a new monster named King Caesar, an ancient entity who looks like a Shisa dogs which are legendary guardians. I actually own a pair, given to me long ago by a close friend. I cherish them because of the source, but also because when I look at them I think of this movie. 

Godzilla in this movie is presented in a few ways. When MechaGodzilla first appears it is disguised as his inspiration. The aliens who operate him seek to undermine the confidence of the humans who have come to see Godzilla as a defender and by unleashing their creation they make him appear savage once again. And it's a focused attack, though if you listen you realize that's not Godzilla's roar and eventually when Anguirus fights him we begin to feel something is not right. A tears later when a second Godzilla emerges and we see the shiny metal. Soon it's a battle between the robot and the real thing and it's a doozy which Godzilla appears to lose. All the while this going on of course aliens and humans are battling it out, but always the focus is on what will the monsters ultimately do. This is a movie in which the tie between the humans and the monsters is  quite close. Eventually a priestess sings for her god King Caesar to join the battle and he does to good effect. 

I really enjoy this one, despite what some say are defects in the plot and a lack of motivation of the characters. I guess I'm just not as discerning as others. MechaGodzilla does return of course. 

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Godzilla Vs. Megalon - The Criterion Collection!

 Godzilla vs. Megalon is the only Showa Godzilla movie I actually saw in the theaters. It hit American cinemas in 1976 buoyed by the hooplah over the King Kong remake of that same decade. The poster shows the influence for certain and now that the Twin Towers are no more, a relic of a bygone time indeed. 

This might arguably be the silliest of the Godzilla movies, and Godzilla himself behave more like a human being this time than in any other of the movies. He puts up his mitts as he squares off against his opponents who are a returning Gigan and a new monster named "Megalon". Megalon was actually originally supposed to be part of the previous film and his cockroach-like appearance suggests to me that he'd have made a better option than did the buzz-bellied Gigan. Both of these monsters this time are operating on behalf of the long sunken city-state of "Seatopia" who have agents on Earth looking for options after some atomic tests take too great a toll on the denizens of this forgotten society. Joinging Godzilla in his match against Megalon and Gigan is "Jet Jaguar", robot created by one of our heroes. He's an Ultraman lookalike who responds to the voice commands of his creator but later seems to develop his own intellect and conscience as well as the uncanny ability to enlarge him self so that he might battle the invading monsters. 

When I saw this kid-friendly Godzilla I realized that I might well have been the only adult in the audience of the small town theatre. This is a patchwork movie with old footage and some nifty new stuff as well. It's a lot of fun as long as you don't study it too hard. 

Next time Godzilla goes metal. 

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Godzilla Vs. Gigan - The Criterion Collection!

As the Godzilla series entered the 1970's the dynamic in the movie industry had changed considerably. Television had taken a huge chunk out of the audiences and that meant that expensive flicks were much less likely to get a green light. Either that or once expensive movies had to figure out a way to get finished more cheaply. The Toho Studio solved this equation in 1972's  Godzilla vs. Gigan (also released as Godzilla on Monster Island)by recycling the special effects scenes and hiring less impressive casts. The former we see plainly but the latter was actually a refreshment for some of the classic sequences which had gotten a tad hoary over the years. This movie is intended to be a return to the classic model, but that was tough given the limits. But it's not a bad film to watch I think.

Godzilla in this movie does get a lot more screen time than he had done in some of the latter 60's flicks and in point of fact due to a plot element which called for a tower built by the invading cockroach-like alien which looked just like Godzilla (for an amusement center supposedly) the "King of the Monsters" is on screen a lot, even in the sequences involving he human story. The humans are battling the aforementioned aliens who are using King Ghidorah and the buzz-saw bellied Gigan to take over the planet since their last one was overcome with pollution. (So that theme carries on.) The heroes are youngsters of various kinds (a comic artist, his black belt-wearing sister, a young woman seeking to free her brother, and her friend the obligatory nerd). They are a likeable group just as the villains are suitably easy to dislike. 

Godzilla and his buddy Anguirus leave Monster Island to save mankind and we know this because they talk. In a weird move their "speech" is captured in word balloons. One of my favorite moments is when a line from Anguirus is not translated after Godzilla has told him to hurry several times in a row. I assume Anguirus said something he shouldn't have. These two face off against Ghidorah and Gigan and the fight is perfectly okay with some blood spilled here and there. Eventually Godzilla wins the day and the aliens are sent packing as their scheme and the Godzilla-looking tower come crashing down. 

Believe it or not it's going to get weirder. 

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Godzilla Vs.Hedorah - The Criterion Collection!

Pollution was a hot topic of discussion in the early 70's and remains one of the most significant blights in the civilized world. Because of the brouhaha over pollution in America actual real steps were taken to make the skies and the waters cleaner and they worked, a shining example of what government can do when properly motivated. Many today like to mock environmental efforts as extremist and in some instances they can seem so, but in the ruthless face of industrial pollution such extremism seems warranted. That's the situation we have in Godzilla vs. Hedorah in which an alien is able to use pollution to make a deadly giant of itself and become a serious threat to the very lives of those in Japan. This is a really hideous monster and it kills and kills and kills again. 

This is a wackadoodle movie in many ways with psychedelic sequences and animated sections which to my eyes help to make the movie both visually interesting and in most cases help move the narrative. Godzilla himself appears as among the most traditional things in the movie, looking not unlike he has in previous outings. His struggles again Hedorah are potent and his burned paws reveal that he himself is susceptible to the power of the mighty sludge monster. This is also a Godzilla who seems to have little time for mankind as he watches the forces that be fail and fail again to impede the threat. Without Godzilla, who fights for reasons we don't really know, this is a threat to mankind that would have succeeded and the omnipresent naive hope of youth, the feckless ministrations of authority, or the slight insights offered by science seem enough. 

Now Godzilla flies in this movie, using his atomic breath as some sort of thrust. It looks rather goofy really, but is more than accommodated by the dark threatening setting in which the final battle is waged. This ain't the relentless deadly behemoth of the original, but it's as close as the series ever gets. 

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All Monsters Attack - The Criterion Collection!

1969's All Monsters Attack (or as I've known it Godzilla's Revenge) was once one of my least favorite of the Godzilla run. And it's for all the reasons you might suspect, but now it's one of my favorites. This is not really a Godzilla movie like any before or really after. What we have is a movie about a little boy, a latchkey kid living in an urban Japanese environment. He's assaulted by relentless traffic, air pollution, and the basic fact that his parents have to neglect him in one way to get enough money to see to his needs in another. It's a harsh trade off in the modern world for families struggling to get by and it's well reflected in this story which dashes on at  a delightful pace. 

Godzilla in this movie doesn't really exist. This is the world more like the one in which you and I live in which Godzilla is a media concoction and the source of toys (one is seen in the movie in fact) and we have a boy hero who like many of us is besotted by monsters and stories of fantasy. Toys are a big part of this story in a fashion as the surrogate adult in the boy's life is an older stay-at-home inventor of kid's toys. The kid looks to Godzilla for strength in the face of threats from local bullies and ultimately as the story unfolds adult bank robbers. Ichiro is the kid's name and he's a pistol of a character well acted and not made too sweet. He's got a nifty edge like some modern Tom Sawyer, a boy with a clever wit and just enough mischief in his soul to make it interesting. When he's ultimately nabbed by the robbers, the two foul-ups are really out of their depth dealing with the kid's inventiveness and the movie has moments evoking a later classic Home Alone. 

In flights of fancy which evoke Alice in Wonderland at times, Ichiro visits Monster Island where the Son of Godzilla Minya is his guide, shrinking down to suit the part. And as Minya faces his own challenges including a bully named Gabera (who more than resembles some similar characters in the boy's real life) Ichiro learns by proxy how to approach his own issues. So in this movie Godzilla becomes a father figure, a symbol of strength which a boy can look too for calm assurance. 

More next time when the pollution gets even worse. 

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