Plot Details: This opinion reveals major details about the movie's plot.

Director Jun Fukuda brought an interesting, if totally ludicrous, new twist to the cinematic legend of Godzilla in 1967. The new Godzilla film would feature an offspring of the fearsome, towering giant monster who had previously been among the most menacing and terrible reptiles ever to trash a miniature metropolis. That film, SON OF GODZILLA, is solely aimed at the juvenile audience, and adults with any sense of logic and credibility will immediately dismiss the film as being totally ridiculous. However, anyone who enjoys a “good” bad movie will have a field day. There are lots of unintentionally hilarious scenes to be found in this volume of the popular Godzilla series, and if nothing else, the film is highly enjoyable and pretty entertaining.

The story is set on another nameless tropical island. But instead of having dozens of natives chanting and dancing around a giant moth, this island is home to a group of scientists performing experiments in climate control using atmospheric detonations of chemicals and solutions designed to alter the normal climate on the island. Soon, the group is joined by a reporter (dammit! Why does this guy just HAVE to be a reporter?) who assists with their work. Yes, it is another bum reporter, but at least here he isn’t TOO annoying of a character. I was beginning to get really sick of those nosy reporters who seem to bungle everything they do in earlier Godzilla flicks, so this is a bit of an improvement, but it still seems that nearly every one of these movies has one main character be a reporter.

Regardless, soon an accident with one of the experiments creates a horrendous radioactive storm that dumps down boiling hot rain on the island, wiping out vegetation, creating landslides, and damaging some of the equipment used for the experiments. The team begins to try to repair some of the damage. They soon discover that the excessive radiation has mutated mantises into giant, hungry behemoths, who dig up a giant egg in the hills surrounding the team’s camp. The egg soon cracks open revealing: SURPRISE! the “son of Godzilla,” who has been said to more resemble the “Pillsbury dough boy” than a reptile. This is true. “Minya,” as he is called, looks absolutely ludicrous. Nothing even close to resembling his dad (or mom??). Well, it turns out that the big Godzilla is on his way to try to protect his offspring from the swarms of giant mantises, and when he arrives, he begins to take care of business.

Jun Fukuda again has us longing for the days when Inoshiro Honda actually made this series SOMEWHAT believable. Fukuda seems uninterested in any of the conventions of the early Godzilla films, and goes totally the other way. Godzilla is no longer menacing, but instead a joke; laughable. To his credit, kids will no doubt enjoy Fukuda’s SON OF GODZILLA because it features a young “Godzilla” who learns how to be a monster: how to roar, breathe fire, and generally be threatening from his dad in some of the most ridiculous scenes ever related to the camera. Minya sounds at times like a cat meowing, at others like a screech, and can only breathe smoke rings to begin with, but with Godzilla’s teaching, soon his is blowing full scale “radioactive death breath!” Godzilla is now a parent... and a somewhat deadbeat one at that. After teaching his son how to be a good giant reptile, Godzilla seems more interested in napping than protecting Minya from the giant insects on the island, and often lets Minya wonder around wherever he wants to go.

Eiji Tsuburaya again has the task of creating the special effects in this one, and although there are no big cities in sight, Tsuburaya’s effects are pretty effective. The various elements of the scientific team’s camp, including towers, substations, and silos are well rendered and constructed. Tsuburaya also had the task of making the structures look worn by the radioactive storm that apparently singed the steel in most of the structures. The actual scene of the radioactive storm washing away earth, damaging trees and structures, and generally wiping out the island is well shot and pretty convincing. The island locales for the film are also great; the set is covered with lots and lots of palm trees and tropical plants. A nice change of pace, and no doubt a set that would save the producers a ton of money since they didn’t have to construct a whole bunch of miniature Tokyo’s, Osaka’s or other cities.

The only real problem here is the costumes used for both Godzilla and Minya. Godzilla looks pretty bad here; a fact that I don’t understand. How can Godzilla go from having a good costume one film to a poor one the next? You’d think that they would at least use the same costume, or, if anything, improve the costume from one film to the next. How do you explain the costumes getting WORSE?? Minya also looks pretty pathetic, one of the worst costumes of Toho’s Godzilla series.

Considering the poor costumes for the main monsters, the effects used to render the giant mantises( identified in a later film as being called “Gamakera”) are pretty good. They don’t look great, but they’re a lot better than Minya, for example. In fact, the only time they look stupid is when the mantises attempt to fly away, using fake wings attached to the bodies. There’s also a giant spider, called “Spiega,” which is somewhat crude is its creation, but looks effectively ugly and hairy. This creature also has silk that it can shoot at its opponents, and a fang it can use to inject poison into its enemies. These monsters seem to always be trying to tie up Minya for a snack.

As far as the human characters, they attempt to carry on their experiments, and eventually run into trouble with the monsters. They also meet up with a native girl who was shipwrecked on the island some time before, who helps them out, saving the men when they develop a tropical disease. The story is somewhat extraneous, but nowhere near as bad as most Toho subplots.

The film also features an appropriately humorous and playful music score from Akira Ifukube. This music is quite a change from his more serious music composed for most other Godzilla films. The music here has a jungle or tribal sound to it, and it is a lot of fun to listen too; a nice change of pace.

The American version of the film is very brief, barely running 75 minutes. The original Japanese version of the film ran closer to 90 minutes, so who knows what the original looked like. As is, all of the humor and little of the serious nature of Godzilla remains in the film.

In the end, SON OF GODZILLA is not too bad. If you take it with the right amount of humor, than it is a pretty entertaining and amusing flick. I had a problem with the terrible costumes used for Godzilla and his son, Minya. Really, there was no excuse for this; the other monsters in the film look pretty good. Another issue in the film is the relative lack of action, but I thought this was made up for to an extent by the story line, and humorous moments involving Godzilla and Minya. Overall, I would say this is one of the more enjoyable Godzilla films, but definitely, this one is nothing like most of the earlier Toho films directed by Inoshiro Honda. By now, Jun Fukuda has caused us to all but forget Godzilla’s appearances in the earlier films where he was such a menacing force of brazen destruction. If you can take this film as the fun and amusing entry that it is, SON OF GODZILLA should keep you entertained, and I would recommend it as an amusing and fun entry into the Godzilla film series. Next up in the series was the ultimate monster bash, Inoshiro Honda’s DESTROY ALL MONSTERS.

Recommended: Yes

Viewing Format: VHS
Video Occasion: Good for Groups
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children up to Age 4