Godzilla vs. Megalon
Starring: Katsuhiko Sasaki, Hiroyuki Kawase, Yutaka Hayashi, Robert Dunham
Directed by: Jun Fukuda
Rating: Not rated
Genre: Action, Adventure, Science Fiction
1973

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: An underground world, Seatopia, sends the monster Megalon to destroy the surface dwellers. Godzilla and a robot are all that stands in its way.

Review:

Tim: Godzilla vs. Megalon could have been a decent entry into the franchise, but some odd behind-the-scenes drama sinks the film pretty fast. This film was originally conceived as a film about Jet Jaguar (terrible name). Toho ran a competition for school kids to design a robot. The idea was to feature the robot in a new movie (and reap money from toys, merchandise, etc.). At some point in the production, someone realized this was a terrible idea and quickly added Godzilla into the mix. This translates to a Godzilla movie where Godzilla is really in a supporting role. That is not good.

Without knowing any of the background, it would seem very strange how prominent the character of Jet Jaguar is to this film. This is the 13th Godzilla movie and while many characters have come and gone, none have completely overshadowed the King of Monsters before. It's very odd. What is even more odd is how laughably stupid Jet Jaguar is. He looks like he was designed by a child (because he was) and is clearly a ripoff of very popular robot heroes that were prevalent at the time. The whole inclusion and prominence of Jet Jaguar reeks of desperation. His character is handled abysmally, at one point gaining sentience through some method- it made absolutely no sense to me. Even worse, at one point, he grows immense, as large as the giant monsters wrecking havoc in Japan. One of the human characters, his inventor, explains his growth as being accomplished through "determination". What? I'm pretty sure that the idea of a robot growing because he's determined to is one of the dumbest ideas I've ever heard. I laughed out loud at the sheer lunacy of this idea. To sum it up, Jet Jaguar sucks and ruins this movie.

Another big complaint I have is the anthropomorphization of Godzilla. He's a giant monster, not a human. And yet, in this film, he communicates quite frequently through hand gestures and nods. I can't begin to describe how much I hate these scenes. Godzilla and Jet Jaguar communicate in idiotic ways and it just comes across as so incredibly stupid. Every time Godzilla waves Jet Jaguar back, I wanted to break my TV. The scene where Jet Jaguar somehow convinces Godzilla to follow him (how he communicates the exact location is beyond me) is one of the absolute worst of the film. Another complaint I have is that I'm not sure if Godzilla has ever looked cheaper on the big screen. The costume is absolute garbage.

Now, there is a ton I hated about this movie. However, it does do some things well. The scene where Megalon breaks through the dam is a highlight. A lot of the miniature work was fairly well done and it was fun to watch (as long as you can totally suspend your disbelief). The monster fight at the end wasn't terrible. It was fun seeing Godzilla partnered up with someone new, even if it was the lame Jet Jaguar. I also liked making the fight 2-on-2 by having Gigan come down to aid Megalon. That surprised me and it was actually fun seeing Gigan show up for the second time in a row. The idea that Seatopia (which in itself is terrible) could communicate with the outer space base to request Gigan is another in a long line of brutally incompetent ideas. Still, Godzilla and Jet Jaguar vs. Megalon and Gigan was pretty fun to see. The evil monsters are defeated a little too easily at the end, but there was some fun destruction in that climactic battle.

While there were some fun moments, Jet Jaguar relegating Godzilla to second fiddle is enough to sink this film to the lowest depths of the franchise. I actually had fun watching this movie in places, so it's disappointing that the flaws detract so much from the film. All I can say is, thank God for the pathetic Godzilla's Revenge, which prevents this movie from being the worst of the franchise.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 5



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: Gojira, Godzilla Raids Again, King Kong vs. Godzilla, Mothra vs. Godzilla, Ghidorah: The Three Headed Monster, Invasion of Astro-Monster, Godzilla vs. The Sea Monster, San of Godzilla, Destroy All Monsters, Godzilla's Revenge, Godzilla vs. Hedorah, Godzilla vs. Gigan