Gojira tai Mekagojira (1974)

Director:

Jun Fukuda

Writers:

Jun Fukuda (writer)
Masami Fukushima (story)

Release Date:

March 1977 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Fantasy | Sci-Fi

Tagline:

Put the Monster to the Metal!

Plot:

Apelike aliens build a robotic Godzilla to destroy Japan, and the true Godzilla may not be powerful enough to destroy it.

Plot Keywords:

Gojira | Giant Monster | Godzilla | Monster | Sequel

Cast

Masaaki Daimon	...	Keisuke Shimizu
Kazuya Aoyama	...	Masahiko Shimizu
Akihiko Hirata	...	Professor Hideto Miyajima
Hiroshi Koizumi	...	Professor Wagura
Reiko Tajima	...	Saeko Kaneshiro
Hiromi Matsushita	...	Eiko Miyajima
Masao Imafuku	...	Tengan Kunito, the Azumi Royal Family High Priest
Beru-Bera Lin	...	Nami Kunito, the Azumi Royal Family Princess
Shin Kishida	...	Interpol Agent Nanbara
Goro Mutsumi	...	Alien Supreme Leader Kuronuma
Takayasu Torii	...	Interpol Agent Tamura
Daigo Kusano	...	Yanagawa, Alien Agent #1
Kenji Sahara	...	Ship's Captain
Yasuzo Ogawa	...	Construction Foreman
Isao Zushi	...	Gojira

Also Known As:

Godzilla vs. Bionic Monster (USA)
Godzilla vs. Cosmic Monster (USA) (reissue title)
Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla (USA)

Runtime:

84 min

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Color:

Color (Fujicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Australia:M | Norway:12 (video rating) | Finland:K-16 | UK:15 | USA:G | West Germany:12 (nf)

Company:

Toho Company

Trivia:

While filming, the Godzilla suit accidentally caught on fire. The footage was used in the final version of the movie.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: When Mechagodzilla is fighting Anguiris, the strings to pick Anguiris can be seen clearly.

Quotes:

Alien Supreme Leader Kuronuma: Damn Godzilla... You're mistaken if you think your powers are a match for Mechagodzilla.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in South Park: Bigger Longer & Uncut (1999)

Soundtrack:

Mekagojira Yattekitan

One of the best of the series

***SPOILERS JUST IN CASE***

Definitely the best made between the original movie and Godzilla 1984 (both of which are superior to this one).

Of course, it leaves a few things unexplained. For instance, if you're going to make a giant robot fighting machine, why shape it like Godzilla, in the first place? Not to put the Big Guy down, but he doesn't exactly have the most streamlined or efficient body design. The aliens' reason (disguise it as Godzilla to confuse people) seems a little thin, to me. What's the advantage to them in letting people think Godzilla's on the rampage, instead of just going all-out and attacking without a disguise?

Secondly, this was one of the series that used the regrettable 'install Godzilla in a piece of scenery' schtick, instead of just having him come roaring up out of the sea. I was willing to forgive this in King Kong vs. Godzilla, since discovering Godzilla in an iceberg was proper continuity from the end of Godzilla Raids Again. Finding Godzilla buried and sleeping under a mountain was a pretty far-fetched premise in Godzilla vs Ebirah. But even that was more believable than having Godzilla emerge from a warehouse!

That having been said, the good parts outnumber the bad. The soundtrack, with it's rocking, Stan-Kentonesque big-band theme for MechaGodzilla, is a great updating from the Ifukube scores which were just being re-used, time after time in most Godzilla movies. The song Ms. Moonface sings to awaken King Caesar is forgettable, but not so awful that it's hard to endure. It's preferable to the Minitwits' Mothra line-dance song that we heard so many times.

King Caesar, in his only performance (he was even cut from the flashback scenes in the sequel to this film) proves a worthy ally for Godzilla. He may not be an all-powerful titan, but there's no quit in him. Basing a monster design on a temple guardian dog was a far better idea, in my opinion, than making a monster out of a roach. Mechagodzilla's design is equally good, though I question the necessity of putting a Superman-like 'M' on his chest plate, and you can easily see the grating in his neck where the suit actor's eyes are.

The movie contains the requisite accidental goofiness, like the 'prophecy' which is repeated about a dozen different ways, and the Professor's solid-metal pipe, which must weigh about five pounds. This is a Godzilla flick, though. It's entertainment, not art.