Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack (2001)
[ゴジラ・モスラ・キングギドラ 大怪獣総攻撃]
Director: Shusuke Kaneko
Starring: Chiharu Niiyama, Ryudo Uzaki, Masahiro Kobayashi
Synopsis:
Amid reports of kaijuu appearing elsewhere in the world, a Japanese admiral prepares for the potential return of Godzilla.
Impressions:
I really didn't have a good time with Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah, so imagine my surprise when this ended up being as good as it was. The movie puches a little above its weight with some of the thematic elements it plays with, but there are some neat concepts such as Godzilla being driven by the vengeful dead of the Pacific War and the three Guardian Monsters being protectors of the land itself and not necessarily of humanity. Also there's the whole alt-history thing, which isn't all that prominent but it explains Japan's more robust military and why they're still using the wartime ranking system. (Apparently the English version calls the military the JSDF, but it's not the "自衛隊" but rather the "防衛軍", a big difference if you know anything about Japanese politics.)
Besides Godzilla being perhaps his most evil in this incarnation, the writing seems to go out of its way to be cruel to the civilians (while also showing a decent bit of petty villainy so it doesn't all feel unearned). I'm not a fan of King Ghidorah being cast in a heroic role, but Ghidorah and Mothra join Baragon as the Three Guardian Monsters for the sake of marketability, and given the state of the franchise and Toho's fortunes at the time, I can't blame them. There's a decent bit of scaling of the threat, and its a nice touch with the initial confusion of Baragon for Godzilla. From what I've seen of the franchise so far, this probably has the best human plotline after the original and Minus One, and given how the human side is often the weakest link, that's notable praise. Also, I like how they use an original theme for this movie yet still give the original its due for the end credits.
In the final tally, this may not quite be a must-have but it's definitely worth watching as one of the more solid entries in the franchise. Give it a watch at the very least.
Rating:Watch It