In the late 1960s, the Japanese film industry was in trouble. Desperate for some cheddar, Toho Studios decided to take a cue from the "monster rally" movies produced by Universal Studios in the 1940s, which put all of their famous monster characters (Dracula, Frankenstein, the Wolf Man) onscreen at the same time. The result, for them, was box office gold. Thus. . .
Destroy All Monsters (1968)
. . . was born.
Not only was Toho keen on grouping most of their monsters into a single film, but they also reassembled the original "Gojira" creative team of Ishiro Honda, Eiji Tsuburya, and Akira Ifukube - and old-school kaiju magic was born. . . again.
Set 30 years in the fuuuuuture (a.k.a. 1999), "Destroy All Monsters" opens on Bonin Island (Monster Island?), where humanity has confined all of the worlds monsters in a kind of resort prison. Thankfully, they all get along well together, but the landmass is still fenced in with gas deterrents and magnetic barriers, just in case. There's also a control room beneath the island from which goobers can monitor the beastly inmates. Well, until the power goes out and the monsters break free, which happens fairly quickly. Soon Rodan is swooping over Moscow, Gorosaurus is in Paris, smashing the Arc de Triomphe, Godzilla is crushing New York City (way before his American debut), and Mothra (in larval form - must be an offspring of the previous Mothra) crawls through China.
A high-tech spaceship, the Moonlight SY-3, is recalled from moon duty to investigate the control center (don't they have anything closer?). There they discover - shocker - that aliens have taken it over. And not just normal aliens, but lady aliens in sparkly space jumpsuits! They call themselves the Kilaaks, and they demand sanctuary on planet Earth, or else all of the monsters, which are under Kilaak control, will destroy civilization. Why can't they just ask nicely?
The Kilaaks hail from the asteroid belt which runs between Mars and Jupiter. That's funny, because so did the Mysterians (from 1957's "The Mysterians"). If you recall, the Mysterians had destroyed their planet in a massive nuclear war, and the resulting radiation had rendered them unable to make Mysterian babies so they invaded Earth for both sanctuary and breeding stock (womenfolk). What a coincidence, because here come the Kilaaks from the same general area of space. Are Kilaaks just Mysterian women? Could be. The Mysterians appeared to be all males. It must have been one hell of a mass divorce.
Not only are the Kilaaks controlling monsters (via transmitters hidden throughout the landscape), but they also control various humans via subdermal transmitters. After various shootouts and monster mashes (including one highlight where Godzilla, Rodan, Manda and Mothra take out Tokyo), the SY-3 discovers the transmission control base on the moon and takes it out, freeing the monsters of Earth and revealing the true forms of the Kilaaks (large tadpoles made of rock). In a last-ditch effort, the Kilaaks send in King Ghidorah to, hell, I don't know - die. So he does, after getting his golden ass handed to him repeatedly by the overwhelming collection of monsters he's facing. He had no chance.
Next, a "fire dragon" appears and destroys some shit in retaliation. It turns out just to be an alien spacecraft hidden within a ball of fire, and after the SY-3 takes it down, the monsters return to their resort prison, wave goodbye to the camera, and all is right in the universe.
They really didn't spend much time in devising the plot for this one, nor did they even bother with any character development. "Destroy All Monsters" is wall-to-wall action. Some kaiju fans claim that this is how they prefer it. They hate when all that stupid "human stuff" gets in the way of the monsters, but I think, when done right, the human plotlines can play off of, and enhance, the kaiju plotlines. There are a couple of upcoming Godzilla movies which get this absolutely perfect. But not this one. On a purely juvenile level, "Destroy All Monsters" delivers, in spades. There's just not much between the ears.
Let's take a look at the lineup: Godzilla, Rodan, Mothra, Anguirus, King Ghidorah, Minilla, Kumonga, Manda, Varan, Baragon, and Gorosaurus. Some monsters get more screen time than others. Varan and Baragon merely have cameos, and when we see Varan, it's not even a full-sized Varan suit - it's a small prop model used for promotional tours!
Here's my plea - if you're putting together a Godzilla marathon, save this movie for the end of Series 1! "Terror of Mechagodzilla"(1979) is the final movie in the original series, but "Destroy All Monsters" is a much better finale. I have a couple of reasons for this. For one thing, it just feels like a finale. It's the biggest movie in the series, and the final "monster farewell" montage at the end is a great way to close it all out. Plus, the movie takes place in 1999 and all of the subsequent movies take place in the 60s/70s, so it makes more sense from a chronological standpoint. And, finally, King Ghidorah is dead. His body lies lifeless and broken at the end of this movie, yet he makes one more series appearance in "Godzilla vs Gigan"(1972). Uh-uh. No way. He's dead, Jim. Even the lights in his eyes are snuffed out. Save "Destroy All Monsters" for last.
All Monsters Attack (1969)
Known as "Godzilla's Revenge" in the United States (neither title is appropriate), this is the black sheep of all Godzilla movies and is considered to be the worst movie in the series by most fans. I'd have to agree, with one caveat - this is the most kids-oriented of all the Godzilla films and, considering that it's entertainment for tykes and not for me, it's okay.
It's also the shortest of all the movies. It's 69 minutes long, and half of that is stock footage from previous movies. Damn, they really made this one cheap.
The story revolves around our protagonist Ichiro, a precocious little latch key kid who's constantly bullied by another kid named Gabara. In his rich fantasy life, Ichiro likes to visit Monster Island and hang around with his pal Minilla (who, in his dreams, can shrink himself down to Ichiro's size) and watch Godzilla battle other monsters in stock footage. Most of the monster scenes in this movie come from "Godzilla vs the Sea Monster" and "Son of Godzilla". The only original footage in this film features a new monster named Gabara (coincidence, eh?), a silly beast born from a child's imagination. He's bright green and can deliver electric shocks from his skin. Monster Gabara likes to bully Minilla, but Minilla eventually finds the will to stand up to him and defeat him (with help from daddy). Learning from his monster friend, Ichiro finds the confidence to stand up to real-life bully Gabara - and also to outfox a couple of bank robbers in hiding who hold him at knifepoint. Yikes! There's a happy ending, an annoying song, and Bob's your uncle.
Not much to say here, since most of the movie is recycled. Here's the roster: Godzilla, Minilla, Gabara (his one and only appearance), Anguirus, Ebirah, Gorosaurus, Kamacuras, Kumonga, and Manda. Godzilla's main theatrical competition during this era was Gamera, the flying turtle, who was kicking his ass at the box office. I suspect that "All Monsters Attack" was Toho's attempt to capture some of Gamera's more kid-friendly magic. It must not have worked, since Godzilla returned to his (slightly) more serious roots for the next few entries.
Next up, Godzilla goes Green!
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