Here we are with #0 on the BChamps 3217 Countdown to the Return of the King of all
Monsters! Of course we’re talking about Godzilla, the most popular and most recognizable
monsters ever. Now you might be asking why this is #0 instead of #1. The reason is that I
first need to talk about the giant monster movie genre in general. This won’t be necessarily
a review, but my perspective about the genre.
First off, I need to mention a film from last year, known as Pacific Rim. I will make a full review of it some other time, but I’ll just go over it briefly for this article.
Before Pacific Rim came out, there really weren’t a whole lot of movies like it released within the last 10 years or so. It’s what is known as a Kaiju movie. If you watched Pacific Rim, the word Kaiju was thrown around everywhere. What, is it some made up term for the monsters? Actually, no. If you did some research, you would know that Kaiju is a Japanese word which translates to ‘strange beast’, but it usually refers to giant monster. Godzilla would be considered a kaiju. One thing about the film news websites that always bugged me before its release, was that all of them referred to the monsters as ‘kaiju monsters’. They were literally calling them ‘monster monsters’.
Anyway, it was the first kaiju movie that’s been made in a while, and I was excited. I thought the movie was excellent! Me being a kaiju nerd, I followed everything just fine. But from what I understand, a lot of people could not follow the premise of the movie. People had trouble over the fact that kaiju were coming out of a portal in the ocean, and we built 250 foot tall mechawarriors to fight them. What’s so hard to follow? Sure, unless you live in Japan, that stuff doesn’t happen too often. It IS strange, and it ISN’T realistic at all, but when do you go to a GIANT MECHA VS KAIJU MOVIE and expect it to be realistic? In case you're one of the people who didn’t quite get it, I have a solution. It’s called suspension of disbelief. Do it.
The main question I’ve spotted on the internet pertaining to the logic of the movie is this:
Why did they build giant mechs to fight the monsters? Couldn’t they have used jets and tanks and nukes instead?
If you’ve seen any old kaiju movie, you would know that tanks and jets don’t do jack to them, and putting a kaiju anywhere NEAR a nuclear weapon or power source is the worst idea in the long, sad history of bad ideas. But the real answer is because it’s a kaiju movie! It’s supposed to entertain us with different and sometimes crazy ideas, strange and cool looking creatures, and have imagination, effort, and passion put into them! That’s what
And this is just for laughs.
First off, I need to mention a film from last year, known as Pacific Rim. I will make a full review of it some other time, but I’ll just go over it briefly for this article.
Before Pacific Rim came out, there really weren’t a whole lot of movies like it released within the last 10 years or so. It’s what is known as a Kaiju movie. If you watched Pacific Rim, the word Kaiju was thrown around everywhere. What, is it some made up term for the monsters? Actually, no. If you did some research, you would know that Kaiju is a Japanese word which translates to ‘strange beast’, but it usually refers to giant monster. Godzilla would be considered a kaiju. One thing about the film news websites that always bugged me before its release, was that all of them referred to the monsters as ‘kaiju monsters’. They were literally calling them ‘monster monsters’.
Anyway, it was the first kaiju movie that’s been made in a while, and I was excited. I thought the movie was excellent! Me being a kaiju nerd, I followed everything just fine. But from what I understand, a lot of people could not follow the premise of the movie. People had trouble over the fact that kaiju were coming out of a portal in the ocean, and we built 250 foot tall mechawarriors to fight them. What’s so hard to follow? Sure, unless you live in Japan, that stuff doesn’t happen too often. It IS strange, and it ISN’T realistic at all, but when do you go to a GIANT MECHA VS KAIJU MOVIE and expect it to be realistic? In case you're one of the people who didn’t quite get it, I have a solution. It’s called suspension of disbelief. Do it.
The main question I’ve spotted on the internet pertaining to the logic of the movie is this:
Why did they build giant mechs to fight the monsters? Couldn’t they have used jets and tanks and nukes instead?
If you’ve seen any old kaiju movie, you would know that tanks and jets don’t do jack to them, and putting a kaiju anywhere NEAR a nuclear weapon or power source is the worst idea in the long, sad history of bad ideas. But the real answer is because it’s a kaiju movie! It’s supposed to entertain us with different and sometimes crazy ideas, strange and cool looking creatures, and have imagination, effort, and passion put into them! That’s what
Pacific Rim did, and it did it well.
Now, the importance of Pacific Rim, from my viewpoint, was to introduce new generations to the genre, tell us that they have potential to be just as good as the other sci fi movies we make. And it told us that the genre is making a comeback. It’s must be so, because Godzilla is returning in may! And when Godzilla first came out back in the 50’s, it inspired a whole lot of other kaiju films that never seemed to stop being made. It could happen again! But, will audiences be ready for it? Will they react favorably to studios and filmmakers to keep it going? In order to find out, we gotta look at history.
The first real ‘giant monster’ film was The Lost World, made in 1925, based off of
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s book of the same name. It was revolutionary in the special effects department, being the first to use stop motion animation to bring the dinosaurs to life. The climax had a Brontosaurus stomping around London. People hadn’t seen anything like it.
After the release of King Kong in 1933, the giant monster thing started to catch on. Probably the most important to the Godzilla franchise is The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms, which is also one of my favorite monster movies ever. Released in 1953, a year before the original Godzilla, it was about a prehistoric lizard woken up by an atom bomb test and went on a rampage through New York. Sound familiar? That’s because it helped inspire the idea of Godzilla. It also inspired the nuclear trend, where almost every single monster in films had something to do with nuclear energy or radiation.
But Godzilla was different than the Beast. He was an allegory for the forces of nuclear destruction, rather than just a B movie used for making money, without a full grasp of how serious nuclear destruction is, just exploiting it. After Godzilla hit the big screen, it was go time. the kaiju craze had started, and it went on for about 20 years. They turned out to be the delightfully cheesy classics that people all over enjoyed. Godzilla’s movies were usually a success, and were definitely the most popular and memorable. But, with the low budgets, his movies started to degrade. When they started trying to appeal to kids is when things got ridiculous... in a bad way. Finally, in 1975, he was given a rest, and the giant monster/kaiju genre went with him.
When Godzilla came back in 1985, it was.... not a success.... at all. It only grossed a little over $4 million during its entire run time at theaters in the US. The giant monster genre didn’t really come back with him either. Due to the failure at the box office, and not being well received by critics, it was the last Godzilla movie to be released theatrically in the US for about 15 years. All throughout the 90’s, Godzilla movies were still being made, but only released in Japan. As far as America was concerned, the giant monster genre was dead. What happened? Why was it failing? Why was the King of all Monsters being
Now, the importance of Pacific Rim, from my viewpoint, was to introduce new generations to the genre, tell us that they have potential to be just as good as the other sci fi movies we make. And it told us that the genre is making a comeback. It’s must be so, because Godzilla is returning in may! And when Godzilla first came out back in the 50’s, it inspired a whole lot of other kaiju films that never seemed to stop being made. It could happen again! But, will audiences be ready for it? Will they react favorably to studios and filmmakers to keep it going? In order to find out, we gotta look at history.
The first real ‘giant monster’ film was The Lost World, made in 1925, based off of
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s book of the same name. It was revolutionary in the special effects department, being the first to use stop motion animation to bring the dinosaurs to life. The climax had a Brontosaurus stomping around London. People hadn’t seen anything like it.
After the release of King Kong in 1933, the giant monster thing started to catch on. Probably the most important to the Godzilla franchise is The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms, which is also one of my favorite monster movies ever. Released in 1953, a year before the original Godzilla, it was about a prehistoric lizard woken up by an atom bomb test and went on a rampage through New York. Sound familiar? That’s because it helped inspire the idea of Godzilla. It also inspired the nuclear trend, where almost every single monster in films had something to do with nuclear energy or radiation.
But Godzilla was different than the Beast. He was an allegory for the forces of nuclear destruction, rather than just a B movie used for making money, without a full grasp of how serious nuclear destruction is, just exploiting it. After Godzilla hit the big screen, it was go time. the kaiju craze had started, and it went on for about 20 years. They turned out to be the delightfully cheesy classics that people all over enjoyed. Godzilla’s movies were usually a success, and were definitely the most popular and memorable. But, with the low budgets, his movies started to degrade. When they started trying to appeal to kids is when things got ridiculous... in a bad way. Finally, in 1975, he was given a rest, and the giant monster/kaiju genre went with him.
When Godzilla came back in 1985, it was.... not a success.... at all. It only grossed a little over $4 million during its entire run time at theaters in the US. The giant monster genre didn’t really come back with him either. Due to the failure at the box office, and not being well received by critics, it was the last Godzilla movie to be released theatrically in the US for about 15 years. All throughout the 90’s, Godzilla movies were still being made, but only released in Japan. As far as America was concerned, the giant monster genre was dead. What happened? Why was it failing? Why was the King of all Monsters being
shunned in America?
Not to worry! Tristar seemed to have all the answers to our problems! They were making an all American Godzilla movie, hoping to bring respect back to his name! And... it turned out to be a steaming load of BS. The 1998 Godzilla movie was a disgrace! Instead of returning pride to him and making him popular again, he was ridiculed worse than he already was! It was the worst possible representation of the King that could ever have been possible! If
Godzilla failed, then the whole kaiju genre failed. That’s what we learn from all this.
Then, just two years later, another Godzilla film was released in the US, only this time, it was the real deal. Toho finally got back to making his movies. But, despite being a legitimate kaiju film, it only got about $10 million total gross. But as for the critics, a lot liked it, and a lot didn’t. After that, it was direct to video releases in America, before finally giving Godzilla a rest in 2004.
At this point in time, kaiju movies were twitching on the last limbs of life, just barely hanging on. In 2008, Cloverfield was released, being the first giant monster film in America since Godzilla 2000. I don’t count Dragon Wars from 2007. Anyway, Cloverfield put a new take on the genre, having it done in Blair Witch style shaky cam. An interesting approach. But it didn’t really bring back the giant monster genre.
And just last year, in 2013, Pacific Rim came out. It knew what it was, the crew had fun with it, and put in all their heart and effort. The movie brought back the spirit that had been lacking in these films for a while. Heck, it’s been lacking in a lot of films these days. Which brings us to this year. 2014. The 60th anniversary of Godzilla.
But there are still some unanswered questions. What exactly happened that turned people off from the kaiju movies, and why do modern audiences dislike them so much? That is what we are going to find out.
First, we have to know what makes kaiju films so unique. Basically, they’re just another type of sci fi, focusing on a monster, or several. But these aren’t just any monsters. We’re not talking about the Wolfman, the Creature From the Black Lagoon, vampires, werewolves, the Predator, not anything like that. It’s specifically giant monsters. Would King Kong count? Yes he would. Although not as big or destructive as Godzilla, he still fits the formula of a giant monster. The monster is always what sets it apart from normal monster movies. They all have cool and interesting designs and abilities, although some of them look
Not to worry! Tristar seemed to have all the answers to our problems! They were making an all American Godzilla movie, hoping to bring respect back to his name! And... it turned out to be a steaming load of BS. The 1998 Godzilla movie was a disgrace! Instead of returning pride to him and making him popular again, he was ridiculed worse than he already was! It was the worst possible representation of the King that could ever have been possible! If
Godzilla failed, then the whole kaiju genre failed. That’s what we learn from all this.
Then, just two years later, another Godzilla film was released in the US, only this time, it was the real deal. Toho finally got back to making his movies. But, despite being a legitimate kaiju film, it only got about $10 million total gross. But as for the critics, a lot liked it, and a lot didn’t. After that, it was direct to video releases in America, before finally giving Godzilla a rest in 2004.
At this point in time, kaiju movies were twitching on the last limbs of life, just barely hanging on. In 2008, Cloverfield was released, being the first giant monster film in America since Godzilla 2000. I don’t count Dragon Wars from 2007. Anyway, Cloverfield put a new take on the genre, having it done in Blair Witch style shaky cam. An interesting approach. But it didn’t really bring back the giant monster genre.
And just last year, in 2013, Pacific Rim came out. It knew what it was, the crew had fun with it, and put in all their heart and effort. The movie brought back the spirit that had been lacking in these films for a while. Heck, it’s been lacking in a lot of films these days. Which brings us to this year. 2014. The 60th anniversary of Godzilla.
But there are still some unanswered questions. What exactly happened that turned people off from the kaiju movies, and why do modern audiences dislike them so much? That is what we are going to find out.
First, we have to know what makes kaiju films so unique. Basically, they’re just another type of sci fi, focusing on a monster, or several. But these aren’t just any monsters. We’re not talking about the Wolfman, the Creature From the Black Lagoon, vampires, werewolves, the Predator, not anything like that. It’s specifically giant monsters. Would King Kong count? Yes he would. Although not as big or destructive as Godzilla, he still fits the formula of a giant monster. The monster is always what sets it apart from normal monster movies. They all have cool and interesting designs and abilities, although some of them look
completely effing weird. But, sometimes that was the point. The weirdest kaiju I’ve ever
seen have been from the Ultraman series. Those are just ridiculously messed up. And
maybe that’s a problem for most people. The monsters can sometimes look too strange
and too weird and turn off some viewers.
I’ll admit, there are some pretty stupid looking kaiju out there. It can be a turnoff, and it can affect the whole movie. But there’s more to it than just the look of the monster, it’s the special effects that bring the monster to life.
It should be obvious that there was no CG when the genre was in its glory days. So, they had to rely on practical special effects. They made puppets, miniature cities, toy tanks and planes, and most commonly used were costumes. The classic man in a rubber suit technique that I mentioned in my review of The Last Dinosaur. For western audiences, it’s stupid. Why can’t they just use stop motion? That at least looks better. Well, there’s a reason why most of these films didn’t use that technique. It’s because it was time consuming and expensive. However, the original Godzilla solved this problem with the suit acting. It was what they had, and they used it to the best of their ability.
As for me, I think the suit acting is awesome! I love it! Sure, it’s not as flashy as CG, but you have to respect the arts. Especially when explosives were involved. They set real charges to go off with actors right next to them, and the only thing protecting the guy inside, is the rubber of his costume. Godzilla’s suit caught on fire a few times in the past, so the actors really went through hell to make it work.
As time went on, the suits did get better, and the cities more detailed. It’s a lost art that really deserves a lot more respect than what its gotten in the past. But sometimes, the special effects were not the problem for audiences. It was the acting and the story.
For some American giant monster films, the acting isn’t too great. With foreign films, I can’t really tell. The dubbing is what gets in the way. The voices never match the actors! The people dubbing it are not putting in the same level of effort the screen actors are doing. Sometimes it’s monotone and boring, and sometimes it sounds like they’re trying to make
it a cartoon. Very rarely does a foreign kaiju movie get a decent English dub.
I can see why poor dubbing would make it hard for people to be engaged in the movie, and there is a solution... but if the internet is an accurate representation of humanity, I don’t think people these days can take it. You might... in order to spare yourself of poor dubbing.... need to turn on...the subtitles. I know, God forbid anyone have to read through a movie. It only requires you to be literate, but that’s too much to ask for. Honestly, I
I’ll admit, there are some pretty stupid looking kaiju out there. It can be a turnoff, and it can affect the whole movie. But there’s more to it than just the look of the monster, it’s the special effects that bring the monster to life.
It should be obvious that there was no CG when the genre was in its glory days. So, they had to rely on practical special effects. They made puppets, miniature cities, toy tanks and planes, and most commonly used were costumes. The classic man in a rubber suit technique that I mentioned in my review of The Last Dinosaur. For western audiences, it’s stupid. Why can’t they just use stop motion? That at least looks better. Well, there’s a reason why most of these films didn’t use that technique. It’s because it was time consuming and expensive. However, the original Godzilla solved this problem with the suit acting. It was what they had, and they used it to the best of their ability.
As for me, I think the suit acting is awesome! I love it! Sure, it’s not as flashy as CG, but you have to respect the arts. Especially when explosives were involved. They set real charges to go off with actors right next to them, and the only thing protecting the guy inside, is the rubber of his costume. Godzilla’s suit caught on fire a few times in the past, so the actors really went through hell to make it work.
As time went on, the suits did get better, and the cities more detailed. It’s a lost art that really deserves a lot more respect than what its gotten in the past. But sometimes, the special effects were not the problem for audiences. It was the acting and the story.
For some American giant monster films, the acting isn’t too great. With foreign films, I can’t really tell. The dubbing is what gets in the way. The voices never match the actors! The people dubbing it are not putting in the same level of effort the screen actors are doing. Sometimes it’s monotone and boring, and sometimes it sounds like they’re trying to make
it a cartoon. Very rarely does a foreign kaiju movie get a decent English dub.
I can see why poor dubbing would make it hard for people to be engaged in the movie, and there is a solution... but if the internet is an accurate representation of humanity, I don’t think people these days can take it. You might... in order to spare yourself of poor dubbing.... need to turn on...the subtitles. I know, God forbid anyone have to read through a movie. It only requires you to be literate, but that’s too much to ask for. Honestly, I
don’t get why it’s such a big deal.
The plots of these movies are, like I mentioned before, require suspension of disbelief in order to enjoy. A lot of times, the plot can be simple, not too crazy, not all over the place, and nothing too outlandish for people, like Rodan. Other times, it can be a little insane, like Godzilla: Final Wars. That could be a little hard for the average person to follow. Again, for someone like me, most of the plots aren’t a problem.
So, we have our reasons as to why people don’t like kaiju movies. The special effects are not impressive, the acting is sub par, the dubbing makes it hard to take serious, people are too stupid to read, and the stories are too simple or too crazy for them to go with. But people still enjoyed them back in their glory days. People liked them for what they were. What exactly made their popularity drop? Well, I think I know the answer.
As the quality of other sci fi movies improved, kaiju movies didn’t. They were left behind. Nobody wanted to see giant monsters anymore. They didn’t want to laugh at bad special effects and stupid acting, they wanted higher quality. And when the kaiju movies tried to make a comeback, they couldn’t pull it off because nobody would give them the time and money to make it happen. What they were loved for, was now hindering their success, and they were stuck with it. Godzilla, the King of all Monsters, basically represents an entire genre. If he fails, the genre fails, and that’s what happened in 1985, and in 2000.
Despite Godzilla’s films not being received well by critics and the general public, he does have a decent fan base, myself among them. As far as other kaiju, they’re usually just looked at as classic, enjoyably bad monster movies, with only some of them being actually good, and even fewer being great.
Now for the biggest questions to ask.... Will Godzilla’s new movie be successful, and will it spawn another generation of kaiju movies? For the first question, I say yes. It will be successful. I’m not sure it will make box office records, or how critics will like it. But it will have some amount of success. The visual effects are obviously vastly improved, it has some respectable actors, and it will most likely have a good story to it. If it inspires more kaiju films is unknown. With advanced visual effects, maybe people will take any new kaiju films a bit more seriously. I cannot say for sure, but it would be really cool.
That’s pretty much all I have to say about the subject. I hope you found this informative, and I hope you saw the points I was trying to make. This genre is underrated. I’m not saying it’s
The plots of these movies are, like I mentioned before, require suspension of disbelief in order to enjoy. A lot of times, the plot can be simple, not too crazy, not all over the place, and nothing too outlandish for people, like Rodan. Other times, it can be a little insane, like Godzilla: Final Wars. That could be a little hard for the average person to follow. Again, for someone like me, most of the plots aren’t a problem.
So, we have our reasons as to why people don’t like kaiju movies. The special effects are not impressive, the acting is sub par, the dubbing makes it hard to take serious, people are too stupid to read, and the stories are too simple or too crazy for them to go with. But people still enjoyed them back in their glory days. People liked them for what they were. What exactly made their popularity drop? Well, I think I know the answer.
As the quality of other sci fi movies improved, kaiju movies didn’t. They were left behind. Nobody wanted to see giant monsters anymore. They didn’t want to laugh at bad special effects and stupid acting, they wanted higher quality. And when the kaiju movies tried to make a comeback, they couldn’t pull it off because nobody would give them the time and money to make it happen. What they were loved for, was now hindering their success, and they were stuck with it. Godzilla, the King of all Monsters, basically represents an entire genre. If he fails, the genre fails, and that’s what happened in 1985, and in 2000.
Despite Godzilla’s films not being received well by critics and the general public, he does have a decent fan base, myself among them. As far as other kaiju, they’re usually just looked at as classic, enjoyably bad monster movies, with only some of them being actually good, and even fewer being great.
Now for the biggest questions to ask.... Will Godzilla’s new movie be successful, and will it spawn another generation of kaiju movies? For the first question, I say yes. It will be successful. I’m not sure it will make box office records, or how critics will like it. But it will have some amount of success. The visual effects are obviously vastly improved, it has some respectable actors, and it will most likely have a good story to it. If it inspires more kaiju films is unknown. With advanced visual effects, maybe people will take any new kaiju films a bit more seriously. I cannot say for sure, but it would be really cool.
That’s pretty much all I have to say about the subject. I hope you found this informative, and I hope you saw the points I was trying to make. This genre is underrated. I’m not saying it’s
Oscar worthy, but they’re fun. I hope they make a comeback soon.
Please feel free to share your comments and opinions, and please check back later for the first review of the Countdown.
Please feel free to share your comments and opinions, and please check back later for the first review of the Countdown.
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