Monster and Kaiju Movie Thoughts and Impressions

#9 Son of Godzilla

Two 'Island Adventures' in a row. Really gives the impression any random island might just have a visiting Godzilla on it. Or at least weird things like human-sized praying mantises. It's almost a shame our modern world's almost done away with new things to explore so stories like this don't work. Mind you I do realize there are still some things like the big cave system found some years back or that forest-containing sinkhole in China recently, but mostly the world feels possibly a little too tamed these days.

It's a real shame that the Godzilla suit for this movie is so ugly along with Minilla/Minya - never did think he looked much like a young Godzilla even. I really like the big puppets(?) for Kamacuras and Kumonga. Sure the spider spends a lot of leg movement to no real result in a few spots, but that's clearly a lot to keep track of. The giant spider leg is a fun prop too, and helps make the monster a much more personal threat than most of the giant monsters. It's still a big crowded creature romp but it could have been better with some better design work on the Godzilla side of things.

Though, older now and having learned a lot more about Godzilla it is interesting to see that they kept the baby smooth-skinned as he's avoided the radiation scarring on the adult Godzilla. Also now it's really jarring some of the things I just never thought about - like the island orphan woman just throwing these big fruit what seems to be at least a hundred feet in a straight line. 'Designated main character' hits pretty hard as the reporter and her end up doing a lot. At least she makes some sense as she would know the island best.

They do give the male lead stuff to do but in a movie this old it's strange to see the competence balance favor the female lead for a while. It's not exactly odd now sure, but late 1960′s? Not so common then.

The degree of weather control is one of those things that can take me out of the movie but the monster story is the most in depth so far. Minilla training and standing up to fight the last Kamacuras, rightly freaking out at Kumonga's entrance and very nearly never getting put on the census as he's almost turned into spider food. Then the back and forth when Godzilla shows up to help and Minilla freaks out, desperate to help when the fight isn't going Godzilla's way for a while. It's just one of the better examples for the idea we might be able to get away with purely monster-driven stories for at least some shorter entries.

On a final note, Godzilla's pretty physical as a parent huh? Tail stomping, tail dragging, shoving, threatening to hit. Maybe I'm a little overly observant here since mom worked in Child Protective Services until she retired, but it seems to me they would probably have to change Godzilla's parenting style some in any return to the premise. ...now I'm thinking about one of those "We don't like to tell our child 'no' and prefer softer words" parents and their uncontrolled brat getting the atomic breath treatment... If only, eh?