Of all places to find Godzilla Vs. Biollante on DVD, I found a copy at Tractor Supply Company for $5. I figured it would be a bare bones release, (I hadn't checked out the press releases for the DVD) but man was I astounded when I checked it out. Its been a while and I probably should revisit it today (Something to do while I wait for the Saints to take on the Seahawks
). I was very impressed and believe I got my $5 worth.
On a whim I decided to see if I could find a copy of the Super Deluxe edition of Godzilla vs. Megalon, and within minutes, I had it on its way.
First thing I watched was the promos, trailers and TV Spots. I was astounded and just how much publicity that Cinema Shares had put into this movie. There were tons of American Trailers and Tv Spots (all of which referring to Jet Jaguar as Robot Man)
Then I took a look at the image gallery. Again I was impressed with the publicity materials that Cinema Shares put out. They really had faith in this movie.
Next I watched the interview with Voice dubbing actor Ted Thomas. While I found what he had to say interesting, I was shocked that he dropped so many F-Bombs in this interview.
Next came the feature itself. Of course I've seen the English and Japanese feature many times in the past, so I wanted to hear the commentary First thing the guys come out and say is that everyone knows the movie is not a masterpiece, and that it's commonly thought of as the worst Godzilla movie ever, but in lieu of that they were going to approach the commentary by giving the story as to how the movie came to be rather than bashing it. I was impressed with this and I do believe that they hit the nail on the head with that one too. There was a lot of information they presented that I had never known. They interviewed the mastermind behind the Cinema Shares marketing campaign and he not only talked about his marketing for this, but Godzilla on Monster Island as well as Godzilla vs. the Cosmic Monster (even talks about the threat of a lawsuit from Universal over the whole Bionic Monster name). I was surprised to hear that Megalon was the most successful out of the three, but then again it was marketed to children, and I believe this is the ultimate Godzilla movie for children.
One thing that disappointed me was that no where in the commentary did they even mention how the movie appeared on Mystery Science Theater 3000.
Another disappointment is that the original English credits actually appear separately to the English version of the film and that the English Version has the Original Japanese credits. A small flaw, but still noticeable.
A few observations about the movie itself.
This has long been considered to be one of the worst Godzilla films of all time. It get a lot of flack from its cheapness, rushed production, and stock footage. After considering all of this, I have a few thoughts.
Cheapness: While this may be one of the cheapest Godzilla films, you have to admire it for it's look. First of all they created 4 new costumes (according to the commentary the Gigan costume from the previous film was in too bad of shape to be used again. I have long suspected this because Gigan's head looks a lot less menacing in this film than in the previous film.)
I've always believed that the scene where Megalon destroys the damn looks superb. That is an impressive model for a rushed Godzilla movie with little budget.
Megalon is actually a pretty cool looking monster, despite the obvious head helmet on the suit. I've always said I would have liked to see him make another updated appearance in a modern Godzilla movie. He is obviously aimed at kids, and I think they got it right with his design. He is just a fun monster to play with.
When you compare this movie with the Best Gamera film (or any other Kaiju film that any other studio released) for this time period, this movie is still leaps and bounds ahead of them. The movie is still aesthetically pleasing for the most part.
Stock Footage: Yes, this movie uses stock footage, it's very easy to see. The thing is, most of the stock footage still looks good. It doesn't fit quite right and yes that is a downside. Once again though, if you compare it to the Gamera films that used stock footage, I believe they did a decent job of editing it together and rearranging it so that you still believed you are watching Godzilla vs. Megalon and not Ghidrah, the Three Headed Monster, or any other movie the footage comes from. I say this because if you watch Gamera vs. Viras or Super Monster Gamera, when the stock footage plays it's in the same order as it appeared in the movies that it came from. If feels as if you are just watching the movies that the footage came from.
As a side note, I know I am comparing two different monsters and two different studios. My comparisons are simply to point out the difference in skill and technique used in order to show just how superior the stock footage integration was in this movie to other similar movies of the genre.
If you are a fan of monster fights, this movie has one hell of a monster melee at the end. As the commentary track points out, this is one of the few Godzilla movies that the human characters have nothing to do during the fight but watch the fun.
Over all, if you are like me and can see the goofy charm in movies, then this movie is a blast. Admitly it is a pretty bad film when compared to normal Godzilla standards, but even for it's badness it is still not degraded down to the level that the Gamera films reached in the later years. (for the record, I really like the Gamera films, but I really have to be in the mood to watch them)
I think a lot of the flack this movie gets is due to the bad print that has been circulated and re-circulated for years. The print that MB uses finally does this movie justice, and you can see, even with the flaws, just how good this movie can look to the eye.