[Dr Kain]

What is there to say about the idea behind this movie that isn’t brilliant? Back in 1933, the world was amazed with the monstrous gigantic ape known as King Kong with ground breaking effects at that time due to stop motion. It was amazing. Toho repeated a similar situation when they first created Godzilla. As such, what better way to show off these two colossal titans than to have them battle each other? It sounds great in theory, but the execution leaves something to be desired.

That is not to say this movie is bad by any means, as it is pretty good. Unfortunately, the plot behind it is weird to say the least, some of the characters are useless, and the monster designs themselves are less than stellar. First, the plot. Two Japanese men are sent to an island to collect berries when they come across islanders who worship a god named Kong. There, they find a way to knock him out and take him back to Japan to have him fight Godzilla, who has been freed from the ice he buried in in the previous movie. This plot idea just sounds better on paper than it does in action because using the berry juice to knock Kong out and then drag him across the ocean on a giant raft is just so goofy. And then to have Kong powered up by electricity while Godzilla is now weak against is also weird. To be fair, from what I have gathered, this movie was originally supposed to be Frankenstein vs. Godzilla, so the electricity powering Kong makes sense from that perspective, but having a giant gorilla randomly be powered by electricity out of the blue without any previous knowledge of it just comes off as random and be a sudden way to extend the fight beyond just Kong getting his butt whooped. For what it is worth, it does make the battle interesting and adds another layer, so I’ll stop nit picking against it.

My second gripe comes from the monster suits as I just do not care for their designs. Kong’s body looks fine but his face looks like it was beaten with a shovel as he eyes always look messed up and sleepy at every camera angle. As for Godzilla, I really do not care for this look. Yes, his head does look more reptilian than it did in the movie before it, but the costume looks more like a blow up doll than an actual monster. There does not seem to be any lining between the arms and shoulders, so it just appears as if the arms are just sticking out of the sides of the body rather than being actual arms. It also does not help when the costume seems to fold and crease when Godzilla is movie his arms about. Lastly, gone is his fourth toe and ears, which became an unfortunate trend throughout the remainder of the Showa saga. Nevertheless, as I said, these costumes just do not work for me all that well.

Moving on to the characters, some of them are good, some are fun, but some are absolutely useless. Osamu is fine as the main character, but it is like everyone else around him is a moron, especially his sister Fumiko. She is completely helpless. She has to be rescued from Godzilla’s attack only to then have to be rescued from Kong’s clutches fifteen minutes later. On the other hand, Osamu’s boss is a very fun character (see below).

Despite my issues with the costumes and plot, the effects are quite good in the movie. Kong’s face turning blue is really well done when he is struck by lightning, as are the crumbling buildings when he and Godzilla face off. The one that shines for me the most is the way they do the giant octopus monster. It is obvious they super imposed an octopus on a screen to make him look huge (which does take away from the scene, as you can see the shadows of the spears and stuff being thrown at the screen), but the execution of this scene is extremely well done. Lastly, the paint job they did on the islanders is actually pretty well done despite it being obvious that they are Japanese. It does what it is supposed to well enough, so there is no reason to nitpick it.

Overall, King Kong vs Godzilla is a missed bag of a movie in terms of execution, but for what it is, it is highly enjoyable and fun. I wouldn’t say it is anywhere near the best of Godzilla’s movies, but if you want a nice simple movie where you just see two popular behemoths go eat each other’s throats, you can do a lot worse. I give this movie a 6/10.

And here is not only what makes the boss man fun, but I can also see die hard fans making this reaction after they saw my score:

[Guyver Spawn]

I seen both versions and I do like the Japanese version. I like the acting much better and I felt the story was more fresh out then it was in the US version. I do like the US version, but mainly for the nostalgia. It was the first Godzilla movie that I owned.

[Matrixbeast]

I don't have much to add, but I think this movie is the only Godzilla movie I've never seen and have no interest in seeing (Never liked Kong).

You're review didn't help change that, but it did mildly spark my interest...

[Dr Kain]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Matrixbeast

I don't have much to add, but I think this movie is the only Godzilla movie I've never seen and have no interest in seeing (Never liked Kong).

You're review didn't help change that, but it did mildly spark my interest...

Unless you are a Godzilla fan who must see every movie, you aren't missing too much by skipping this one.

There will be many others though that are down right terrible, however.

[ZeoRangerV]

I know there are worse ones quality-wise, but this might just be my least favourite Godzilla film. It's not even "so bad it's good", it's just plain bad.

[Sentai]

I watched it once. Never had the desire to ever watch it again.

[Dr Kain]

DOn't ever post that on ScifiJapan's forums. If you say one bad thing about the Showa series but praise the Heisei ones, they will be all over you as if you just murdered their mothers. Don't get me wrong, they are a fantastic board, but they let the nostalgia of the Showa series blind the opinions of those who do not enjoy every movie in the series.

I do wish Universal would release the Jp version of this movie though as I would like it to see it subtitled for a change instead of raw.

[Dr Kain]

King Kong vs Godzilla - Okay, I'm not sure what the hell Universal has been doing to their print of this movie over the years, but holy **** it looks 100 times better than the one Toho used on their DVD. Granted, this is BD and that is DVD, but still, the Toho print I have looks faded as hell while this, outside of a few specific scenes (like the evacuation one towards the end of the movie that looks extremely bad), this print was fantastic. The most notable for me is during the octopus attack on the island and Godzilla's breath does not look faded out. With that said, I will give the dubbing credit as they did a really nice job of keeping the dialog in synch with the lip flaps for the majority of the time. However, it is kind of sad when the Masters of Exposition actually know how to pronounce Hokkaido when the "Japanese" of the movie do not. That is probably the worst thing about the dub itself, is the way they would say Hokkaido, as it really pulled you out of the movie. The worst part though IS the Masters of Exposition with their breaking the fourth wall to tell the audience redundant information or wrong information (such as acting like Godzilla has never been seen before even though they know his name). Those scenes break the immersion of the movie more than the pronunciation of Hokkaido. Now, I have not seen this version since 1997 as I bought the Toho DVD in 2002, but the music changes did not bother me as much as I thought they would. It sounds weird to have Godzilla blowing up the tanks with no music in the background at all or to constantly hear the music from "Creature from the Black Lagoon" repeating itself during the final battle, but they did a nice job of making it fit. Overall, I am impressed, but I am still going to look for reviews on Toho's BD release of this movie when it comes out in hopes they fixed their video quality issues. I give the dubbed version of this movie a 6/10 (which is the same score I give the Jp version) and the BD itself an 8/10.

[algo448]

That was a fun ride, but the idea is bizarre, a pharmaceutical company wants Kong, Godzilla is awakened by an american sub, and they clash in good ol japan... on theory.

Most of the movie focuses on the Kong side of things, with Godzilla scenes being fairly limited, the main ones being his release, and two clashed with Kong.
So most of the movie esentially is a Toho interpretation of Kong, focusing on the men hired to bring him back, it's entertaining for sure, and it moves way fater than it's predecessors, but it's barely a G film.

And the final clash is quite the dissapointment, besides the crazy idea of an electricity powered Kong, the fight mostly consists of the two monsters rolling in the ground till they fall to the sea.

If the idea of Kong being brought to japan appeals to you, it'll be fun, but the VS aspect and the Godzilla aspect are barely present.