GODZILLA VS. MOTHRA | Movie Review

 GODZILLA VS. MOTHRA
(Gojira tai Mosura)
A.K.A: Godzilla and Mothra: The Battle for Earth

December 12, 1992

Following on the strategy of bringing back popular monsters, Toho decided it was time for the return of the monster who's popularity rivaled that of Godzilla himself.

After a meteorite strikes the planet, it sets off a chain reaction of disasters including the awakening of Godzilla and a new monster, Battra. Meanwhile, Mothra also emerges from her egg and is forced to fight against the raging monsters to save the earth from destruction. 

Mothra's return ended up being a decision that would pay off big time for Toho. Her adult or 'Imago' form is strikingly beautiful and colorful, easily of the best looks Mothra has had in her career. She even gets new abilities to help her combat Godzilla, given how much more powerful he's become. She can now shoot lasers from her antennae and lighting from her wings.

Of course, you can't have Mothra without having her twin fairies accompanying. In this movie they are known as the Cosmos, played by Keiko Imamura and Sayaka Osawa.

If Mothra is the yin to the balance of Earth, then Battra is the yang, the one who will destroy indiscriminately and shows no remorse towards humanity. Battra has such an incredible design, he's basically an edgier version of Mothra and I love it! In fact, Battra's so edgy he doesn't even need to cocoon himself to adulthood, he pretty much just 100 rare candies himself into his Imago stage. 
The only awkward thing about him is that his roar is an altered version of Rodan's roar. Which is odd considering Rodan himself would appear in the following movie.
With the exception of Battra's larva stage, depicted by a suit worn by Hurricane Ryu, Mothra and Battra were all puppets.

Godzilla's as good as ever, but one thing I'm not a fan of is how they changed his roar. From 'The Return of Godzilla' to 'Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah', Godzilla had a deeper, scarier roar than he did in the Showa series and it fit the character well. But from this movie and onward it returns to more of a Showa style roar that I feel does not fit this incarnation of Godzilla and a lot of the other sounds he makes end up sounding way too squeaky.

Godzilla vs. Mothra recycles plot elements found in Mothra's original debut film from 1961 including:
-Kidnapping the twin fairies to be used for promotion
-Evil company having no intention of returning them despite common sense.
-Mothra coming to Japan and causing damage on her way to rescue the fairies.
-Mothra cocooning herself against a national landmark. (Diet Building instead of Tokyo Tower)

Even elements from Mothra vs. Godzilla get sprinkled in:
-Company wants to use Mothra's egg for promotion.
-Mothra fights Godzilla (ain't it so?)

Sadly, this movie is weighed down for me by a few issues.
The characters of this movie aren't that interesting, particularly our two leads (Tetsuya Bessho and Satomi Kobayashi) who play ex-lovers who spend most of the movie bickering. 
Miki Segusa, our psychic character is relegated to just being around to state when the monsters are going to show up and that's about it.
Despite the bad guys of the film showing similarities to the villains from previous Mothra movies, they really don't impact the story that much and get no comeuppance whatsoever. 
The only shining stars we get in this movie are Shoji Kobayashi playing the Cabinet Security Director, mainly for how much he chews the scenery during some scenes and a special appearance by prominent Godzilla actor, Akira Takarada. 

The film deals with environmental themes that are not subtle in any way and it can get really annoying. Even the issues in Godzilla vs. Biollante didn't feel this preachy.

The monster scenes between our 3 main stars are without a doubt the only highlight of this film, even if Mothra and Battra move too slow to seem believable when flying. This is one of the few Godzilla movies where I don't blame you if you wanna skip the human scenes and just watch the monster action.

Godzilla vs. Mothra is my least favorite of the Heisei movies. While I don't outright hate it, there's not much that makes me excited about revisiting it. Still, the movie made the most money at the box office out of all the Heisei entries and ended up being the second highest grossing movie of 1993 in Japan. For a movie that isn't well revered, that's quite an achievement. 

4 years after her return to the big screen, Mothra would end up starring in her own trilogy of stand alone films. Meanwhile, the seeds were being planted for an American produced Godzilla film after Toho sold the rights to Sony.

Till next time, I have been your host Gryphon

and thank you for joining me here in my lair.

So long...

I hope you have enjoyed reading this and if you would like to see more from The Gryphon's Lair, be sure to give my Facebook page a 'LIKE' to see updates and other related stuff. 

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GODZILLA VS. KING GHIDORAH | Movie Review

 GODZILLA VS. KING GHIDORAH
(Gojira tai Kingu Gidora)

December 14, 1991

While Godzilla vs. Biollante wasn't a failure at the box office, it didn't quite perform to Toho's expectations. Anxious to up their numbers, the decision was made to bring back one of Godzilla's most popular adversaries.

Visitors from the future arrive in the present day (1992) and claim that they can erase Godzilla from history by altering the events that led to his creation. After they appear to succeed, King Ghidorah suddenly appears and under their control begins to decimate the cities of Japan in order to prevent the country from becoming a world superpower in the future. Just when all hope is lost, it appears that Godzilla may not be gone after all, but even that hope is fragile...

Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah was and still continues to be a fan favorite entry. 
We get a look at the origins of Godzilla. During WWII, a Japanese garrison doing battle with American soldiers ends up being "saved" by a Tyrannosaur-like dinosaur bearing a resemblance to Godzilla.

Obviously the return of Ghidorah is a big factor, his new design is sleek, threatening and his presence is just as powerful. His new origin is a point of contention amongst fans though. He starts out at 3 cute little creatures called Dorats, who get left behind in the place of the 'Godzillasaur' on Lagos Island (no relation to the real world location) in the Marshall Islands aaaand guess what happened there?
And since most of the trailers don't feel like keeping it a surprise, I might as well tell you, we also get the appearance of Mecha-King Ghidorah!

I feel the effects team took what they learned from Ghidorah's previous appearances and perfected them. With puppeteers operating the heads, wings and tails with piano wires, they managed to create a smoother moving and more believable monster. They still cant seem to escape the stiff flying props though.
The body of Ghidorah had it's body operated by Hidemi Miyata (better known by his nickname: "Hurricane Ryu") inside the suit. 

Composer Akira Ifukube also returned to the series, bringing back a mix of old and new themes while keeping his signature rousing energy with a hint of somberness. From this point, he would continue to score most of the Heisei Series. 

Left to right: Wilson (Chuck Wilson), Glenchico (Richard Berger) and Emmy (Anna Nakagawa)

Godzilla vs King Ghidorah also sparked a bit of controversy not just for showing American soldiers being killed but also depicting Westerners as the villains. There was even a news report on CNN about it. But director Kazuki Omori defended the movie saying: 
"The movie is not especially anti-US, I just thought I'd try to picture the identity of the Japanese people...even the American extras who were crushed and squished by Godzilla went home happy, I don't see any anti-American sentiment in the film." 

Let's wipe the slate clean and go back to the first movie. It was never the intent of Ishiro Honda to blame the United States for the H-bomb test. The point of that movie was to blame war and weapons of mass destruction: Godzilla was the punishment for ALL humanity. Personally, I think people simply read too much into these movies.

But when you're not questioning that, you're probably going to wreck your brain thinking about how this movie presents time travel. Just when it looks like they would follow the basic 'Back to the Future' rules of altering the past, they throw that out the window when most of the other characters who didn't go to the past still remember Godzilla. Now keep in mind that the Godzilla presented in the series so far is the second incarnation after the original was killed in 1954. But it is never made clear which Godzilla was removed from the past. 

One other moment worth highlighting is during a fight with Godzilla and the newly formed Mecha-King Ghidorah. Both monsters end up slamming into the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building. Referred to as the "Tax Tower," many Japanese fans were happy to see this structure reduced to rubble. 

At this point as someone who reviews Godzilla stuff, you're probably expecting me to say that Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah is the best Heisei movie if not the best of the entire series. But honestly, I feel this movie is a tad overrated.

As far as the Heisei series goes, I'd put it in the middle of my favorite Heisei movies list in terms of favorite to least favorite. Now don't misunderstand me, I get why fans love this movie, their reasons are the same reasons I like this movie. The story is interesting when it's not confusing, the cast is pretty solid, the fights between Godzilla and Ghidorah are a ton of fun and the scene between Godzilla and Shindo near the end is simply one of the most iconic moments in Godzilla's history.


Despite the nonsensical timey-whimy, mumbo jumbo and often silly action moments, Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah still manages to be fun and thought provoking. With a great cast, great special effects, great music, it's everything you want in a Godzilla movie. Even if some fans feel differently, I feel it deserves its reputation as one of the best films.

Till next time, I have been your host Gryphon

and thank you for joining me here in my lair.

So long...

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GODZILLA VS BIOLLANTE | Movie Review

 GODZILLA VS. BIOLLANTE
(Gojira tai Biorante)

December 16, 1989

With Godzilla successfully brought back to the big screen, Tomoyuki Tanaka, despite pushing 80 years, pushed to continue the series while sharing duties with fellow producer, Shogo Tomiyama. The next Godzilla movie would be inspired by a contest held by Toho where story submissions could be presented. Out of close to 5000 entries, a dentist named Shinichiro Kobayashi had the winning script. Writer/Director Kazuki Omori made several changes and created that would be one of the most underrated Godzilla films.

With Godzilla trapped in a volcano, Japan starts to recover from his attack. But the threat of his return still looms over the country. The JSDF (Japanese Self-Defense Forces) scramble to prepare a bio weapon using Godzilla's own cells to be used against him. After a scientist uses the cells in his project to develop a new indestructible, super plant monster named Biollante is spawned. Sure enough, Godzilla does escape and proceeds to seek battle with Biollante, while the JSDF races to finish their bio weapon.

Unlike the often vague continuity of the Showa series, every film in the Heisei series would pick up sometime after where the last film left off. 

The human cast is made up of good characters, but the stand out player is definitely Miki Saegusa played by Megumi Odaka. While the Heisei series takes a more realistic approach, the filmmakers weren't afraid to throw in a lot of fantastical elements. Miki possesses psychic powers and is often used by the JSDF to track or sense Godzilla's activity. Her involvement in the plot of the series varies by film but she is very much a great addition to the series and a welcome new character that stands out from the usual scientists, reporters and military archetypes seen in these movies. 

Godzilla's design is updated and the design would remain consistent with only minor changes in the following sequels. In fact, his new look would become one of the most iconic looks the King of the Monsters has ever had. Look at any Godzilla merchandise or marketing and it will more than likely use the Heisei look. This movie also debuts a brand new ability for Godzilla, his Nuclear Pulse attack, where Godzilla unleashes his atomic energy in a shock wave. 

Biollante is probably the most unique monster Godzilla has fought. She is as beautiful as she is terrifying and that goes for both of her forms. While the animatronic Godzilla and miniatures are all well done, the most commendable visual effects work in this movie is Biollante's second form. Not only was the suit itself massive, it required 32 piano wires to move her tendrils convincingly and the results are near perfection. There's even a moment where Biollante actually charges toward Godzilla, just to further show off how powerful she can be.

The score by Koichi Sugiyama, who's name some may recognize through his work on the 'Dragon Quest' video game series, is quite an interesting one. At moments it can be upbeat and triumphant while moody and threatening the next.
And then there's his 'Bio Wars' track. I really have no idea how else to describe it, it's amazing. Go look it up on YouTube and enjoy. 

A few of Godzilla's classic themes also return to the series. This movie in particular makes great use of the main title theme from 'Invasion of Astro Monster.'

Godzilla vs Biollante is noteworthy for its exploration of genetic engineering and science as themes. There are many debates on the ethical implications of the handling of the Godzilla cells to create the Anti-Nuclear Bacteria to defeat Godzilla. While the pros are present there is also the fear that the cells might produce a monster worse than Godzilla. Biollante is a combination of Godzilla, rose and human cells. A character named Dr. Shiragami (Koji Takahashi) does this in the hopes of keeping the soul of his dead daughter alive.

As scary as nuclear power can be, genetic power can be just as if not more dangerous. Basically, this movie "Jurassic Parked" before 'Jurassic Park'.

Unlike The Return of Godzilla, Godzilla vs. Biollante was not released in theaters in the US, it only saw a release on VHS and Laserdisc by Miramax through HBO Films in 1992. In a bizarre move, the VHS include a trailer for a comedy called "The Opposite Sex and How To Live With Them", to this day I have no idea why this was done but it is funny to think back on. This movie took a long time to get on DVD/Blu-ray along with Godzilla Raids Again, the Japanese version of King Kong vs. Godzilla and The Return of Godzilla. When it finally got released in 2012 it was given a PG rating for and I quote: "Traditional Godzilla Violence" which is just great.
Unfortunately, none of the Heisei movies after 'The Return of Godzilla' saw a theatrical release in the United States.

Despite the odd promotional choice before the movie and the fact that there were pretty bad storms going on when I first watched it, I really enjoyed this movie and was shocked to find out that most fans didn't hold it in such a high regard. Over time however that started to change and is now looked at as one of the best and underrated entries of the series as a whole. If your looking for a Godzilla movie with an original, unique and thoughtful story with some great monster action then I say give this one a watch.

Till next time, I have been your host Gryphon

and thank you for joining me here in my lair.

So long...

I hope you have enjoyed reading this and if you would like to see more from The Gryphon's Lair, be sure to give my Facebook page a 'LIKE' to see updates and other related stuff. 

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HASBRO POWER RANGERS LIGHTNING COLLECTION - TIME FORCE RED RANGER | Figure Review

As I've mentioned before I am a casual Power Rangers fan and I've been aware of the Lightning Collection line of action figures for a while now. But if there is one season of Power Rangers I absolutely love, it's Time Force! So as soon as I found out they were making a figure of my favorite character from that show, Wesley Collins the Red Ranger, I knew I had to get my hands on it!

Right out of the box, this figure look incredible! 

The helmet appears to be made of a different plastic material than the rest of the body and that helps give it a nice reflective look. The silver line work is done so well it astounds me. The rest of the helmet is sculpted very nicely. There is a dent by the mouth piece which I assume is battle damage.
Out of the box, the head may appear to be pressed too close to the body, giving Wes little to no neck. But you can pull his head up a bit without popping it off to make it look better.

The body looks very good, it doesn't look disproportionate at all. I especially like the sculpted wrinkles in the suit, it gives the figure a nice bit of realism.

The paint work is mostly good. The body has a nice shade of red and the white and silver compliments the red nicely. It's when you scrutinize the figure up close that you notice some goofs.

The white around the triangle is a uneven. This is actually a common issue with the figure and the unevenness of the paint can vary from figure and it is for that reason I decided to not buy this figure online. I went to an actual store so I could pick out which one looked the best.
Also, the silver around the gauntlet does bleed out around the arms.

Among the smaller details like the Morpher and the belt buckle, the paint on the smaller details isn't the best, but I'm willing to let it pass. I do not envy the difficulty the painter of these figures faced while working on it.

Wes' articulation is as follows:

 Head can rotate and move slightly up and down. 

Shoulders can move forward and backward. Arms move up and rotate at the shoulder. Biceps can rotate at the shoulder. Elbows have a double bend. Hands can rotate and bend at the wrist.

The upper body can rotate, bend forward/backward and side to side. The waist can bend very far forward/backward.

Legs can move forward, but not backward. Wes can perform an perfect split. The thighs can rotate. The knees have a double bend. You can make the boots rotate, which I believe makes up for the foots lack of rotation. But the feet can move up/down and has an angled ball joint that lets it pivot.

Wes has a great degree of posability and it can get even better when you add in his accessories.

Wes comes with a closed fist for his right hand and a thumbs up for his left hand.

 And of course, no Time Force Ranger would be complete without their signature Chrono Sabers.
Before I started working on this review, I thought it was weird that the Chrono Sabers were clear. But you're reading a review by someone who watches the source material of the figure he's reviewing while working on said review, which help immensely with getting your facts straight. And I can say for sure that the Chrono Sabers are in fact clear. 
Both Sabers look great regardless and can be attached together as a double bladed weapon. 

Also included is this lighting effect piece (is that why this line is called the Lightning Collection?) that fits right over the blade of either Saber. The piece is made of a soft rubber so you don't have to worry about it breaking in half, but still handle it with care. 
I just wish there was a way the Chrono Sabers could be attached like a pair of clock hands.

Wes also comes equipped with a standard issue Chrono Blaster. It looks ok, the guns themselves have a bit more color to them. But again, small object = hard to paint, I'll give it a pass.

 The other accessory that comes with almost every figure in the Lightning Collection is a head sculpt of the corresponding Ranger character.
This face features a very nice likeness of the incomparable Jason Faunt who played Wes on the show. 

And yes, my DVD case of Power Rangers: Time Force is signed by Jason Faunt himself and I got to watch him do his morph in person. It was awesome!

The only other accessory I wish Hasbro would have added was his big ass V1 cannon.

But lack of cannons and uneven paint applications aside, this figure is amazing. I would highly recommend if you're a Power Rangers fan.
I love that I have Wes, but I cant help but need Jen, Trip, Katie, Lucas and Eric to go with him! And if the Lightning Collection has plans to do the rest of the Time Force Rangers, you bet your behind I'm jumping to purchase them! 

Till next time, I have been your host Gryphon

and thank you for joining me here in my lair.

So long...

I hope you have enjoyed reading this and if you would like to see more from The Gryphon's Lair, be sure to give my Facebook page a 'LIKE' to see updates and other related stuff. 
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THE RETURN OF GODZILLA | Movie Review

THE RETURN OF GODZILLA

(Original Title: "Gojira")

December 15, 1984

Godzilla's creator Tomoyuki Tanaka ultimately thought that the decision to change the direction of the series to appeal more to children was the mistake that killed the series. Despite this, he still had a desire to continue the series after 'Terror of Mechagodzilla. 

10 years later, an opportunity to do so finally came. This would be the beginning of what is known as the Heisei series of films. (Pronounced: "Hey-Say") 

The first of which, returned the series to it's original dark tone.

30 years after the original King of the Monsters attacked Japan, another Godzilla appears to terrorize mankind. After attacking a Russian submarine, the world is thrown into panic. The US and Russians insist on using a nuclear weapon to take out Godzilla but Japan is adamant on using other means to repel the monster.

Under the direction of Koji Hashimoto, a former assistant director of several of the Showa Godzilla films, Godzilla was no longer the hero to mankind. He returned to his roots as a symbol of nuclear terror and destruction. And what better way to reintroduce him than during the height of the Cold War? The Return of Godzilla can be looked at as both a sequel and a reboot to the series that only follows the 1954 film, it was actually the closest movie with a similar tone to the original until 2016. In Japan, this sequel to the first Godzilla was titled "Godzilla", which would confuse anyone getting into the series. Luckily, most fans refer to this movie as The Return of Godzilla, now if only The Thing and Halloween were more fortunate...

Donning the new Godzilla suit was Kenpachiro Satsuma, who had previously played Hedorah and Gigan. His experience with suit acting and mentoring he received from Haruo Nakajima made Satsuma the natural choice to play Godzilla. 

In the years that Godzilla had not been in the movies, the city skyline of Japan had changed dramatically, sporting buildings that would surpass Godzilla's original height. As a result, Godzilla went from 50 meters to 80 meters and the sets had to be built smaller than normally. Whether or not the details of the smaller size were compromised is debatable, but in my opinion, they look fine.

The effects team lead by Teruyoshi Nakano had a much bigger budget to work with and chose to experiment with new ways to bring the King of the Monsters to life. In addition to the suit, Godzilla was also portrayed by a 16 ft. tall animatronic dubbed the 'Cybot Godzilla'. The Cybot was mainly used for close up shots and public appearances and while it's obvious that the heads of the suit and the Cybot don't match 1:1 and sometimes the movements of the Cybot can be a little jerky, it doesn't bother me very much.

What I find distracting is the huge life size foot they used for certain shots. For some reason, the claws on the foot are curved in a way that they do not match the suit and it bugs me more than it should. I'm more willing to forgive the stiff puppets of the giant sea louse at the beginning of the film.

Fortunately, none of that can take away from how awesome Godzilla is presented in this movie. He looks awesome, he sounds awesome and he can actually be quite terrifying in this movie. One of my favorite Godzilla moments of all time is in this movie. Just before he comes ashore to Tokyo, the JSDF fire everything they have at him. It does nothing. Godzilla then fires his atomic breath at them, we see explosions, people running around on fire and being vaporized. And then everything goes silent until Godzilla lets out a victory roar.

It's worth noting that one man uncredited with helping with the creature effects was named Shinji Higuchi.

This would not be the last Godzilla movie he'd work on.

If I could find one weak link of this movie, it would be the cast. Our main players reporter Goro Maki (Ken Tanaka), fisherman Hiroshi Okumura (Shin Takuma) and his sister Naoko (Yasuko Sawaguchi), while important to the story aren't always the most interesting to watch. 

One bright spot in our leads is Dr. Hayashida (Yosuke Natsuki), a man who lost his parents to Godzilla's rampage in 1954 who began studying Godzilla out of vengeance, but after awhile began to view him in a similar matter to Dr. Yamane. He now views Godzilla as mankind's punishment for tampering with nature and is essential in coming up with the plan presented to deal with him or "send him back home."

The most compelling part of this film comes from watching the politicians discussing the moral implications of using nuclear weapons against Godzilla as the United States and Soviet Union pressure them to do so, forgoing their existing nuclear policies. One of the best lines in the movie has to be when the Prime Minister proclaims: "Should Godzilla appear in your countries, either America or the Soviet Union...would you have the courage to use nuclear weapons?"

Scenes like this would later be replicated and perfected in 2016's Shin Godzilla.

There's a rumor that this movie features an uncredited cameo by the creator of Dragon Ball himself, Akira Toriyama.

The score was provided by Reijiro Koroku. While this may have been his only Godzilla movie he worked on, his music is haunting, attention grabbing and I really like it. I don't even mind that none of the original Ifukube themes are used.

As I explained in my How I Got Here post, this was the very first Godzilla movie that I saw. Of course, I saw the Americanized version that was retitled 'Godzilla 1985.' The movie was edited by New World Pictures (A former film production and distribution company founded by Roger Corman himself), the changes included the typical Godzilla movie edits, including the cutting out some of more poignant scenes of the film, adding in music from other movies and inserting new scenes with American actors, one of which was Raymond Burr reprising his role from the 1956 American version of the original Godzilla.

Most of the American footage includes the actors not really taking the matter of Godzilla seriously. But if you thought that was bad, it could have been a lot worse. The original plan was to completely re-dub the movie and turn it into a comedy. (Think 'Kung Pow! Enter the Fist')

It was Burr who shot this idea down and even threatened to leave the project if they didn't treat the dubbing of the film seriously. Say what you will about his performance in the film and Godzilla! King of the Monsters, but you have to give respect to that man. Plus, his speech at the end is by far, the best thing added to an Americanized Godzilla film. 

Another noteworthy change involves the handling of a scene involving a nuclear missile. 

In the movie, A Russian ship is attacked by Godzilla and that sets off the controls for a nuclear missile. A crew member sees this and he tries desperately to stop it from being launched.

However, in the '1985' version, it was changed to make him look like he was deliberately firing the missile.

Again, made during the Cold War. I'm not excusing it, just stating the facts. It's about as on the nose as the Dr. Pepper product placements.

I loved watching Godzilla 1985 as a kid, I've watched it so many times I'm surprised my VHS copy hasn't been worn out by use. I've literally watched it so many times I have most of the dub memorized and could recite scenes on command.

I always wanted to watch the original uncut version, but it was difficult if not impossible to find outside of Japan. Until finally, I found that someone uploaded it with subtitles to Myspace. (I am dead serious about this!) My love for this movie increased ten fold.

The Return of Godzilla remains my personal favorite of the Heisei series and the franchise overall. It was an excellent way to revitalize the franchise and insure that Godzilla would remain a dominating pop culture icon around the world.

Till next time, I have been your host Gryphon

and thank you for joining me here in my lair.

So long...

I hope you have enjoyed reading this and if you would like to see more from The Gryphon's Lair, be sure to give my Facebook page a 'LIKE' to see updates and other related stuff. 

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