Cheap Godzilla (DVD) (Matthew Broderick, Jean Reno) (Roland Emmerich) Price

Related Products

Customer Reviews of Godzilla

The problems mainly lie with the fact that Godzilla himself is very unremarkable. He's just a giant lizard. Hardly threatening. And like Matthew Broderick's character says, he's not evil-he just wants food. It's hard to consider him a baddie when all he does is accidentally trash New York. Plus he moves and looks too much like the Jurassic Park T-Rex to be particularly impressive.

None of the characters are interesting either. Which makes the 'character building' scenes completely useless. That time could have been put to much better use in this 140 minute long film. Only Jean Reno comes away with his dignity intact (can you believe he turned down playing Agent Smith to be in this?). Though it is cool to see Harry Shearer and Hank Azaria (Principal Skinner/Kent Brockman and Moe/Apu) in a movie together but they don't get much screen time.

In comparison to ID4, Emmerich's direction kind of falls flat. Remember the public reactions as huge spaceships descended upon New York and LA and how everyone kind of watched in hypnotical awe as panic arose around them. The same could have been used in Godzilla but far too much of the movie has New Yorkers acting completely indifferently to a 1000 foot reptile hopping through the city. And I know those Apache helicopter scenes featuring the 'miniature' buildings are supposed to be an homage to the Japanese Godzilla flicks but here they look completely stupid and seem like they belong in a different movie. They just don't fit in with the rest of the film and it's very distracting. That could have been handled a lot better.

The ending sets up story for two sequels which never happened because of massive audience disappointment. A shame kind of since Emmerich could have learned from his mistakes in this movie and made a sequel that is much better.

I own the Superbit DVD of Godzilla (only available in Region 2 at the moment) and the DTS 5.1 sound is awesome. With every pounding footstep of the big lizard the living room booms and shakes. Plus the 2.40:1 anamorphic picture is flawless.

A disgrace to sci-fi monster movies and Toho's creation
Whether or not you perceive him as a hero or villain, there's no doubt that Godzilla has become a global name. The old Godzilla movies have always been known for their outlandish storylines, cheesy special effects, fake costumes and sets, and overall lack of realism. But in the end, they were still surprisingly entertaining. Dean Devlin and Roland Emmerich try to achieve that same notion with their own version of the monster. The 'campy but fun' formula worked well with the old Godzilla, but it fails miserably with this one. The old Godzilla movies may have been cheesy, but at least they aspired to be good, fun and charming. They weren't shallow and soulless and all were made with a technique that worked. You can tell the filmmakers tried. Too bad it's not the same case here.

It's difficult to watch this movie and not compare it to the original Toho creation. The Toho Godzilla movies featured gibberish plots and obviously fake laughable production, but at least they didn't insult your intelligence. This Godzilla film showcases absolutely no hint of logic, especially regarding the size of the creature. We can see Godzilla towering over New York's tallest skyscrapers yet it can fit in the subway tunnels and evenly distribute eggs inside Madison Square Garden. As usual, the military is always determined to destroy a monster in a monster movie, but here they are made to look like a bunch of bumbling idiots, always being outwitted and losing track of a creature that size in Manhattan. Godzilla has the ability to breathe fire, yet he doesn't even use it. The characters serve no purpose here except to witness Godzilla get assaulted and killed. It's one ridiculous action scene after another. To top it all off, the soundtrack of the movie has Puff Daddy butchering the riff of Led Zeppelin's 'Kashmir'.

It's not common for many movies to deserve one star. Godzilla is one of those movies. There's nothing wrong with creating a Godzilla movie or any cheesy monster flick, it just has to be executed correctly. The Japanese makers of Godzilla make Devlin and Emmerich look like amateurs. There is no heart to this film whatsoever, a ploy to cash in on an already infamous hero to many. A lizard arrives in a city, is angered and attacked by humans and dies. Dean Devlin and Roland Emmerich prove once again that they are two of the worst filmmakers in history. They take cult classic genres and turn them into mainstream abominations enhanced with action-oriented special effects. Independence Day was a disgrace to sci-fi alien invasion movies and now this. The original 1954 Godzilla and Godzilla 1985 were no masterpieces, but they were still far more entertaining than this one. Look past the dull action scenes and special effects, and the rest of the movie's attributes wear thin quickly (like most of Devlin and Emmerich's work). This is a bad movie, but most of all, it's empty and downright forgettable.

Not bad for people who aren't into original Godzilla movies
I'm a fanatic of the original Kaiju flicks, inclunding the first period of Godzilla era(1954-1975). So as the header implies, i didn't like this movie. Just to make it clear, i'm judging beyond the special f/x, the soundrack and all kind of technical details. What i'm geting into is the essens of this movie by Devlin & Emerich which, in my opinion was totaly wrong and innapropriate.
To tell you the truth, i enjoyed all the other effords of these sci-fi creators but i hated this one.O.K., in order to make myself clear i'll write 2 paragraphs just to explain why people who aren't font of the original Godzilla films enjoy this one and people who love the original rubbersuit bigfella, just despise it.
First of all the movie is well made. It has an ok script, its well directed, with talented actors and plenty of action. The visual effects get an A+ and hold up till now. The sound effects are also top of the natch and will make any home cinema out there rock. You know, all the above are more than satisfactive for most of the sci-fi action-adventure followers. But my guess is that everyone else who'll watch it just for the fun will be fully repaid. Despite some cheesy plot turnovers and some out-of-time comical enstandes the film is watchable for the majority of people.

And that's where Classic Japanese Kaiju belivers come along. I haven't really got into population percentage for this kind of audience, but my guess is that it does not excide 1% of the active cinefuns worldwide. Maybe i'm more than optimist even for the number above. The problem with us is that we excist and we have an opinion which, i do agree, sometimed tends to be a bit annoying or peculiar for everyone else. But hey, thats us. And to tell you the truth i think it sould be us that mr. Devlin & Emmerich sould firstly consider in order to shape this movie. Instead he blow off everything that had to do with the original monster keeping only what was critically nessesary for the plot outline. But let me ask some retorical questions.
Why the hell he deform Godzilla into this? Wasnt the originall form good enough for him?
Where is the good old city wrecking and rampaging?Hasn't he watched wat the big G did everytime he entered poor Tokyo?
Where is G's atomic mouth ray?
Whats with the little jurassic park rip off Godzilla baby figres?as i recall Godzilla has a son and its name is "Minya".
The only reason G was born was to travel in the showres and gave birth to younglings?
Are three airborn missiles enough to stop the big guy?(And if they are does it worth the efford to make a movie out of him?)
Where is the President of the u.s. isnt Godzilla a good reason for him to make an apearrance?who wants to see a mayor a cernel and a seargent throughout the whole movie?
At last, wouldnt it be better for the film to come out with the different name like "Rodzilla" or "Tortilla"?

I could continue till tomorrow but i hope everyone got the point with all the above. Thanx mr.Devlin & mr.Emmerich.......Thanx for ruining every discent's Godzilla-fun day. It really took a lot for you to achieve this.