Gojira-Minira-Gabara: Oru kaijû daishingeki (1969)

User Rating:

3.9/10   

Director:

Ishirô Honda

Writer:

Shinichi Sekizawa (writer)

Release Date:

8 December 1971 (USA)

Genre:

Family | Sci-Fi

Plot:

A bullied schoolboy dreams of traveling to Monster Island, where he befriends Godzilla's son, who is also having bully troubles.

Plot Keywords:

Monster Island | Godzilla | Bully | Dream | Bank Robber

Cast

Tomonori Yazaki	...	Ichiro Miki
Eisei Amamoto	...	Toy Consultant Shinpei Inami
Sachio Sakai	...	Bank Robber Senbayashi
Kazuo Suzuki	...	Bank Robber Okuda
Kenji Sahara	...	Kenkichi 'Tack' Miki (Ichiro's Father)
Machiko Naka	...	Ichiro's Mother
Shigeki Ishida	...	The Landlord
Midori Uchiyama	...	Minya (voice)
Yoshifumi Tajima	...	Detective
Chotaro Togin	...	Assistant Detective
Yutaka Sada	...	Trainman
Yutaka Nakayama	...	Guy Painting Billboard
Ikio Sawamura	...	Bartender
Haruo Nakajima	...	Gojira
'Little Man' Machan	...	Minira

Also Known As:

All Monsters Attack
All Monsters on Parade (literal English title)
All kaijû daishingeki
Attack All Monsters
Godzilla's Leverage
Godzilla's Revenge (USA)
Godzilla, Minilla, Gabara: All Monster's Attack (literal English title)
Great Charge of All Monsters
Minya: The Son of Godzilla (USA)

Runtime:

USA:70 min | Japan:92 min

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Australia:PG | USA:G

Company:

Toho Company

Trivia:

Eiji Tsuburaya was bedridden during production, so Ishirô Honda took over the effects direction, which resulted in limited special effects work and stock footage. Tsuburaya did not work on the film at all, aside from the stock footage, but is credited out of respect.

Quotes:

Minya: How do you like that, weirdo!

Movie Connections:

Spoofed in "Robot Chicken: Squaw Bury Shortcake (#3.2)" (2007)

Soundtrack:

Kaiju Machi

a matter of perception

Gojira-Minira-Gabara: Oru Kaijû Daishingeki should not be seen as SF or a monster film, but a film about a child growing up without enough exposure to his parents. Viewed in this light, it really doesn't matter that the film is filled with stock footage. Kids often imagine themselves in movies essentially as they happened, so the introduction of a new monster is something unusual in that regard.

Child actor Tomonori Yazaki is wonderful as Ichiro (whose name simply means "first male child"), and his parents are simply stuck in their situation. They must work to support Ichiro, but in doing so, they are unable to raise him. Instead, he is cared for by a neighboring toymaker. While this may be seen as any kid's dream, Minami, played by comedian Eisei Amamoto, demonstrates himself a rather inept parent, an old guy who was to eccentric to marry and have children. Whether or not Gojira exists diegetically is open to debate (cf. Gojira tai Hedora for the action figures), although the name is recognizable to the public within the film, is really irrelevant. When this boy fantasizes about having a parent, he fantasizes all wrong, learning lessons appropriate for a monster, but not for a person. Whether the monster itself is naturally exciting (cf. the child in Kingu Kongu tai Gojira) or whether Gojira is a cinematic character really becomes insignificant in the mind of a child anyway. Even if they don't belive something is real, they like to pretend it is, anyway.

When Ishiro Honda cut this film for festival exhibition, he deleted the comic ending which is really inappropriate and suggests that the lessons Ichiro learned from Gojira are okay. This plays against the final scene with the mother, who promises Ichiro she will never work at night again, while her non-verbals convey that she cannot hold to this promise, in effect fulfilling one responsibility mandates coming up short on another of equal importance.

It might perhaps be better if the film were regarded as an experimental drama, one the parents should watch with children and discuss. The intended audience is clearly not young adults looking for action, or worst, campy action.