Director Ishiro Honda, fresh off the success of the monster mash-up melee, Destroy All Monsters, returned the next year to helm this entry, All Monster's Attack (known as Godzilla's Revenge in America). Unfortunately, and quite surprisingly, it would be considered the series' nadir by a majority of fans. The film's biggest issue is that it is unquestionably a children's film, aimed squarely at kids, starring a kid. That isn't a death sentence in and of itself, but the loss of special effect supervisor Eiji Tsuburaya left director Ishiro Honda scrambling to get the effects work finished... himself! Since he was no expert in that field, the work done for this film was minimal, resulting in most of the Godzilla footage shown having been recycled from his previous three efforts. There's a positive message within the film that kids should hear - stand up to bullies, don't back down - but once you've past a certain age any appeal this entry may have had in your halcyon days is likely expired.
Ichiro is a young latchkey kid who spends most of his time alone, daydreaming about a better life. His current life is full of emptiness and bullies, but the bullies hurt the most because they terrorize him and make him feel humiliated. Ichiro's best friend is Shinpei, a toy maker and inventor on the outskirts of town who lets him spend time in his shop. When he gets to be alone, Ichiro fantasizes about being on monster Island, where Godzilla's son, Minilla, is the size of a small child and has somehow gained the ability to speak Japanese. And, uh, he can also change his size according to will. Don't ask. Anyway, Minilla has his own bully - a large cat-faced reptile monster named Gabara (also the name of Ichiro's bully). Try as he might to stand up to Gabara, Minilla always gets his little ass whooped. Luckily, he has Godzilla around to teach him the important monster things, like breathing fire. Ichiro is interrupted from his dreams by a couple of thieves who have stolen 50 million yen, holding him hostage until they can form a plan. Ichiro wills himself back to monster Island to get a final word of advice from Minilla, watching him defeat Gabara (with the help of Big Daddy G) and giving him the confidence to stand up to his own bullies. Ichiro breaks free and alerts the police, who arrest the robbers. The next day, we see Ichiro finally stand up to his schoolyard bullies and take them down, earning the respect of his peers now that he resorts to violence, too. Wait, what was the message again?
The film's biggest detriment is the lack of new Godzilla footage. It's even more frustrating because the fight between Godzilla, Minilla, and Gabara is actually pretty good. Haruo Nakajima, still inside the suit since the original film, had become so adept at maneuvering inside of it that the fight choreography looks impressive. The movements look as fluid as ever, giving Godzilla is bit of grace he had been lacking before. The suit used here appears to be from Destroy All Monsters, which makes sense given how little it was needed for this film. That's another major downside of using stock footage from the three previous films: each suit had a different look. It is glaringly obvious when they switch from '66 to '67 to '69 and then back again. Hell, in some scenes the suit literally changes from shot to shot. No level of editing can change mismatched suits.
The storyline with Ichiro isn't all terrible. Following a kid around isn't an ideal plot for any of these films, especially one where it isn't exactly established whether or not Godzilla exists at all in the real world. But Tomonori Yazaki is a precocious little shit, curious about enough to investigate but he's never really annoying in his actions. He seems fairly reasonable, making his troubles with a school bully weightier because we don't like to see him abused. His lack of friends and a family life is what led to his overactive imagination, giving Minilla the chance to imbue him with some confidence. According to one of the adults at the end, Minilla is a god for children, and he gives them strength just as the gods adults pray to do for them. It's certainly a unique perspective to view these characters from. Thankfully they only went this route for one film.
All the footage we see of Ebirah, Kumonga, and Kamacuras has been recycled from their respective films. The only new footage is also populated by a new monster - Gabara. He's ugly. Oddly enough, other than his weird cat face he sort of looks and sounds like Titanosaurus, an antagonist that won't be seen until 1975's Terror of Mechagodzilla. I can only assume maybe this suit was reused for his design? Either way, I'm grateful Gabara never showed up in another film because he's terrible. Even his special abilities - electrocuting things that he touches - is bizarre. But it does make for a funny scene when he zaps Minilla.
Scoring duties this time around were handled by Kunio Miyauchi. Akira Ifukube would return again later, and to be perfectly honest his talents would have been wasted here. Miyauchi reprises some of Masaru Satoh's themes (or they're literally reusing them here) from previous entries, and whatever work he himself contributed has a brassy sound to it. Not typical for a Godzilla film, but it works well for this installment. It's adventurous, whimsical, even a bit playful. Again, more of the James Bond type of sound that was popular during those days.
The score also gave us "Monster March", an annoying and mildly catchy Godzilla tune as howled by some Japanese youngster.
This would be the final film where Eiji Tsuburaya, one of Godzilla's "fathers" who designed all of the special effects up to this point, would be credited. His involvement here was non-existent, really, with Sadamasa Arikawa handling the set duties since Tsuburaya was too sick to perform. He died the next year, which may be part of the explanation for why Godzilla took that year off from films. Tsuburaya left behind an enduring legacy that will be remembered for generations, gifting us with some of the most memorable monsters to ever grace screens.
Following his most kid-friendly adventure yet, Godzilla would go on to become a savior for all sizes of people when he saved the planet from a flying bob of sludge in the eco-conscious entry Godzilla vs. The Smog Monster.
No comments:
Post a Comment