(For the record, I watched Sony's uncut, widescreen version on DVD.)
Nothing seemed to be going this movie. It was originally a King Kong movie, rewritten for the Big G, and Jun Fukuda, the new director, had to follow up the famous Ishiro Honda. The story follows Ryota Kane who was convinced that his brother was alive and steals a boat with some total strangers and ends up on an island run by the Red Bamboo.
The weak point of this film is that it's not much of a kaiju film. Godzilla and guest star Mothra both sleep through most of the film. Godzilla's nemesis in this film is a large shrimp assisted by a crazed condo, both employed by a SPECTRE wannabe. The film just isn't ambitious enough for it to be a great film.
But it is a fun film, probably the first Godzilla movie with a sense of humor. I mean, it's nice to have social commentaries. (There's one squeezed into the end of this one as well.) But it's also nice to just watch a entertaining film that's doesn't take itself too seriously.
I have no complaints about Jun Fukuda, and it's almost understandable that he choose to focus on the human aspect since it's his first monster film. Masaru Sato adds a wonderful score, and the special effects were still supervised by Eiji Tsuburaya. While it's not the best Godzilla movie, it's still a good start for Fukuda. B-
