10 Godzilla Movies You Can Skip

Godzilla has been the star of countless classic kaiju clashes throughout his 70-year career, but mixed in with the classics are some films that can be safely ignored. Since Godzilla first arrived in Japan in 1954, he has evolved into one of the most famous movie characters of all time. The massive Godzilla franchise has several major films that define the character, his enemies, and the important themes that the radioactive monster played a role in communicating.

However, there are also several that are of very little importance to Godzilla’s overall legacy. The Godzilla movie timeline has been reset multiple times, and as a result, some films ended up being of little consequence. Others, especially from Godzilla’s familiar Showa Era of the 1960s-1970s, are overly silly and over-the-top, making them difficult to enjoy at times, as Godzilla cuts extremely weak monsters. As legendary as Godzilla is and as epic as some of his films are, there are some films that can simply be ignored by dedicated Godzilla fans and newcomers alike.

10

Attack of All the Monsters (1969)

One of the most maligned films of the Showa era takes place in a dream

Even the most skippable Godzilla films often have at least a few redeeming qualities, but All monsters attack is extremely difficult to defend and most hardcore G fans designated it as the worst Godzilla film of all time. To begin with, the main action of the monster takes place in the dreams of a little boy who is frequently bullied. As a result, he dreams of Godzilla’s youngest son, Minilla, who is also tormented by a bully, the incredibly forgettable Gabara. The weak story that follows shows Minilla eventually overcoming his bully (with Godzilla’s help, of course), just like the boy does in real life.

All monsters attack was initially presented, based on its title and promotional materials, as Godzilla and his son facing off against a horde of Godzilla’s familiar enemies and the newcomer Gabara. What the public got was a silly, childish story that featured very few actual fights against monsters. Perhaps the greatest crime of All monster attacks is the large amount of reused footage from other Godzilla films.

9

Godzilla vs. Space Godzilla (1994)

A forgettable villain makes a forgettable film

Depending on who you ask, some people will say that SpaceGodzilla has one of the coolest monster designs in the Godzilla franchise. Others will decry his design as yet another (somewhat lazy) altered version of Godzilla, which is especially egregious considering Godzilla just fought his robotic doppelgänger in the previous film, Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II. SpaceGodzilla has a somewhat confusing range of powersmany of which are simply different variations of the energy beams that dominated Heisei Era battles.

Godzilla x SpaceGodzilla doesn’t do much to progress the overall Godzilla lorealthough it marks the first appearance of what many consider the best Godzilla suit in Toho history: the MogeGoji/DesuGoji design. Ultimately, SpaceGodzilla is a forgettable villain with a forgettable story and motivation. The film serves as an unnecessary stop on the way to one of the best Godzilla films, the 1995 classic Godzilla vs. Destoroyah.

8

The Return of Godzilla (1985)

A dark pivot away from Showa’s nonsense with little heart

After 1975 Mechagodzilla TerrorToho took a nine-year break from producing Godzilla films. When Big G made his triumphant return to the big screen, it was in the aptly named The Return of Godzillawhich traded in the Showa Era camp for a darker, more brutal version of Godzilla. While the deadly and dangerous version of Godzilla that dominated the early stages of the Heisei Era was a refreshing change of pace, the film in which he first appeared was not as well received.

The Return of Godzilla was marked by inconsistency in special effects, dialogue, and acting, with Godzilla even appearing to change his overall size to suit each moment of the film. The Americanized version, Godzilla 1985could be even worse thanks to some of the narrative changes and hastily inserted Raymond Burr in an effort to evoke the original film. It’s an extremely poor attempt at recreating what made Godzilla’s original appearance so impactful.

7

Son of Godzilla (1967)

Godzilla and his unimpressive offspring fight some bugs

Godzilla has been given a “son” on several occasions throughout his film history, but the first time occurred in 1967. Son of Godzilla. Featured the debut of Minilla, the smooth-bodied juvenile version of Godzilla himselfalthough interestingly, he was never described as Godzilla’s biological son. Theoretically, this would imply that there is a female Godzilla somewhere, or that Godzilla reproduces asexually, which is simply not a necessary plot device in the universe.

Godzilla’s adopted son Minilla has made three appearances in the Godzilla films:

• He debuted in Son of Godzilla and fought against Kamacuras and Kumonga alongside his father

• He participated in the final battle against King Ghidorah in Destroy all monsters

• He ventured through Japan with Kento and Samon Taguchi before convincing his father not to attack the Gotengo in Godzilla: Final Wars

No matter its origins, Minilla is a minor and little-loved monster in Godzilla lore, and Son of Godzilla It’s part of the reason. The silly monster goes through “Godzilla training” so he can defend himself, and finally he and Godzilla fight Kamacuras (after Godzilla killed two others) and Kumonga. The action is bad, Godzilla’s costume is perhaps the worst in the franchise, and adds virtually nothing to Godzilla’s overarching narrative.

6

Godzilla (1998)

Tristar’s interpretation takes the ‘God’ out of ‘Godzilla’

After the Heisei Era, Toho put Godzilla on ice for five years so that Tristar could make his American adaptation of Godzilla. Unfortunately, ended up being a huge misfire filled with terrible acting and poorly received changes to Godzilla’s story and characterizationand a silly plot set in a New York City that inexplicably rained every minute of the entire film. Godzilla was explained as an irradiated marine iguana that came to New York to nest and was killed by regular jet plane rockets in the side.

Leaving aside the acting and dialogue, Godzilla could have been a perfectly acceptable kaiju or monster movie in the same vein as Cloverfield or The hostbut not like a Godzilla movie. Currently carries the smallest Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer any Godzilla movie scores an abysmal 20%. Simply put, the creature at its center had none of the majesty or gravitas that Godzilla established over more than 40 years on the big screenmaking this film completely skippable in Godzilla’s grand filmography.

5

Godzilla Strikes Again (1955)

The hastily produced sequel to the first Godzilla film

Seeing the success of Godzillathe producers of the original immediately tried to follow it up with a sequel and put another film into production. As a result, Ishirō Honda, director of Godzillawas unavailable due to a scheduling conflict. The result was a film that looked… well, like it had been rushed into production. It lacked the drama and horror of the originaland it was full of inferior effects. Although it marked the first time Godzilla fought another monster (and introduced fan-favorite monster Anguirus), this film is a cash grab, not a major addition to Godzilla’s legacy.

4

King Kong vs. Godzilla (1962)

Godzilla takes on the role of another Kaiju for a memorable but unimportant showdown

With the release of Legendary’s acclaimed film Godzilla vs. Kong1962 Toho film King Kong vs Godzilla I have a new pair of eyes. Unfortunately, that doesn’t make him any more important to Godzilla’s story. Originally conceived as a film centered on King Kong, in which the giant ape would fight the giant version of Frankenstein’s Monster, later seen in Ishirō Honda’s film. Frankenstein x Baragonthe producers changed Godzilla and rewrote the story. What resulted was a somewhat ridiculous monster showdown that received middling reviews despite its record audience in Japan.

The Godzilla suit is considered one of Showa’s best, but the Kong suit is an atrocity, making the enormous ape difficult to take seriously. Between the dialogue and silly characters, King Kong vs Godzilla seems more comical than anything elseespecially considering some of the fight scenes (including Kong’s famous ‘Eat Your Vegetables’ move, described above). It’s become a cult classic for Godzilla’s most dedicated fans, but ultimately it’s not among Godzilla’s best adventures.

3

Ebirah, Horror from the Deep (1966)

An over-the-top Showa adventure of little significance

In fact, there’s not much wrong with Ebirah, Horror of the DeepBut there’s nothing that stands out about it either. The island showdown between Godzilla, Mothra, a unique monster now affectionately called the “Giant Condor”, and an enormous lobster has some fun fight scenes and marks a refreshing change of pace from the urban battles of the previous installment. Showa Films. Unfortunately, there’s nothing that makes this film a necessary watch, and Since then, Ebirah has been interpreted as a jokewhen he was killed by human super soldiers in Godzilla: Final Wars.

2

Godzilla 2000: Millennium (1999)

A dull and familiar first chapter in a new era

After the resounding failure of Tristar in 1998, Toho rebooted the Godzilla franchise with Godzilla 2000: Millenniumwhich ignored all of the previous Godzilla films except the 1954 original. Godzilla’s new design reflected the advanced tokusatsu effects that were available at the time, as well as the design of Godzilla’s nemesis, the massive monstrosity known as Orga. Toho once again capitalized on the notion of Godzilla fighting a version of himself, as Orga is technically a mutant version of an attempted clone of Godzilla.

The film isn’t notably “bad” in any major way, it’s simply familiar. There is no new ground broken when it comes to the overarching narrative, Godzilla’s powers, or the character himself, and the film is a dull retread of superior Godzilla films of the past with a fresh coat of paint. Godzilla 2000: Millennium is far from the worst of the modern Godzilla films, but it’s easy to overlook.

1

Godzilla vs. Megalon (1973)

The Silliest Depiction of Showa Era Camp

Some Godzilla fans will no doubt disagree with how skippable Godzilla vs. Megalon it’s largely thanks to its inherent silliness. Fan-favorite character Jet Jaguar makes his only appearance in a Godzilla film and helps Godzilla defeat two of his most unique enemies, Megalon and Gigan. Features Big G in his most anthropomorphic formas he shakes hands with Jet Jaguar, gives the peace sign, and one of Godzilla’s coolest moves, a gravity-defying flying kick. It’s the perfect film to showcase mid-Showa Era family camping.

While it may be entertaining in a so-bad-it’s-good way, it’s far from essential viewing in Godzilla’s grand filmography. It seems even worse when you consider this was immediately followed by Godzilla vs. Mechagodzillawhich many G fans consider Showa’s best film and one of the best Godzilla films overall. Godzilla vs. Megalon means absolutely nothing to Godzillalegacy and, in some ways, betrays the best parts of the monster’s historical characterization.

Source: Rotten tomatoes