Part of my series of reviews of the Heisei era Godzilla movies. Spoilers within, but we’re talking 90’s Godzilla movies here.

Spoiler alert: Godzilla fights a giant robot shaped like him. Again.

Now THIS is what I’m talking about. Just a simple sci-fi action flick that also ends up having a lot of heart. I love pretty much everything about this one. Even Rodan! That bastard actually ends up being a bro in this one!

What’s not to like? Mechagodzilla is legit cool looking and intimidating. Baby Godzilla is cute and expressive. The humans are pretty interesting, if not the most well-developed the series has seen. And so much Godzilla screen time! Apparently, this is the most he’s been on screen in the whole series, and it shows.

The monsters really steal the show here, and actually have pretty developed and interesting motivations. Is Rodan stealing eggs or protecting his “step brother”? I was actually invested in figuring this out, and I usually hate that guy. Godzilla has a pretty clear motivation and once his through-line has concluded, he just walks away in the end. The humans don’t win, but things actually resolve.

The movie is paced well and doesn’t waste any time getting into cool looking sci-fi monster mayhem. Baby Godzilla, which shouldn’t work at all, totally steals the show and never gets too cutesie or annoying. And Miki the psychic actually has things to do!

This is a good one and it will be hard to beat as my favorite of the Heisei era. Can CrystalShoulderPadsZilla do it? We’ll see!

Rating: 4+/5
Watched: 28 February 2024