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

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 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:

This was deliberately set out be a Godzilla film aimed at small children for release during the Christmas season. Among the more unusual aspects of the film was the casting of Eisei Amamoto as a toy designer and friend to the little boy. Amamoto was normally cast in other films as the slimiest of criminals, gangsters and henchmen.

Quotes:

Minya: How do you like that, weirdo!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Sanford and Son: Sanford and Rising Son (#5.10)" (1975)

Soundtrack:

Kaiju Machi

Certainly not classic Godzilla,but a good little kid's film

Godzilla's Revenge is often regarded as one of the worst Godzilla films,and it's reputation was not helped by coming after the terrifically entertaining Destroy All Monsters. The film was obviously made on a tiny budget,with the majority of the monster stuff footage from Godzilla Vs The Sea Monster,Son Of Godzilla and even King Kong Escapes! However,look closer and the film is actually quite interesting,especially if you remember it was aimed at very young children.

Having all of the monster footage exist in the mind of a small boy almost justifies the stock footage in a way,as if he was remembering previous stuff he'd seen. The 'real'footage takes place in a much more realistic environment than usual,and addresses concerns that might mean a lot to young children-parents spending not enough time with them,loneliness,bullying,etc. Of course things like the son of Godzilla shrinking down to human size and talking irritate some older Godzilla fans,and none of the 'new'monster footage is particularly good,but some films one just has to judge by thinking of the target audience,and as a kid's film it's really quite good,perhaps a perfect film for parents to introduce Godzilla to their children!

People who claim Godzilla movies are all the same should see this and maybe the surreal Godzilla Vs Hedorah,both are very unusual and original variations on the kaiju formula.