Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah (1991) Gojira vs. Kingu Gidorâ (original title)

Director:

Kazuki Ohmori

Writer:

Kazuki Ohmori

Release Date:

14 December 1991 (Japan)

Genre:

Action | Adventure | Drama | Sci-Fi

Plot:

Time travelers use Godzilla in their scheme to destroy Japan to prevent the country's future economic reign.

Plot Keywords:

Godzilla | Dinosaur | Island | Time Traveler | Sequel

Awards:

1 win

Cast

Kosuke Toyohara	...	Kenichiro Terasawa
Anna Nakagawa	...	Emmy Kano
Megumi Odaka	...	Miki Saegusa
Katsuhiko Sasaki	...	Professor Mazaki
Akiji Kobayashi	...	Yuzo Tsuchiashi
Tokuma Nishioka	...	Takehito Fujio
Yoshio Tsuchiya	...	Businessman Yasuaki Shindo
Kenji Sahara	...	Minister Takayuki Segawa
Kôichi Ueda	...	Ikehata, the mad old soldier
Sô Yamamura	...	Prime Minister
Yasunori Yuge	...	Army Chief
Kiwako Harada	...	Chiaki Moriyuma
Kenpachiro Satsuma	...	Gojira
'Hurricane Ryu' Hariken	...	Kingugidora
Chuck Wilson	...	Chuck Wilson
Richard Berger	...	Grenchiko
Robert Scott Field	...	Android M-11
Kent Gilbert	...	Ship Commander
Daniel Kahl	...	Major Spielberg
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Wataru Fukuda	...	Godzilla-Saurus

Directed by
Kazuki Ohmori

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Kazuki Ohmori

Produced by
Tomoyuki Tanaka	....	executive producer
Shogo Tomiyama	....	producer

Original Music by
Akira Ifukube

Cinematography by
Yoshinori Sekiguchi

Film Editing by
Michiko Ikeda

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Okihiro Yoneda	....	chief assistant director

Special Effects by
Koichi Kawakita	....	director of special effects
Tetsuzô Ôsawa	....	special effects production designer

Visual Effects by
Tetuzo Osawa	....	visual effects designer

Music Department
Akira Ifukube	....	conductor
Akira Ifukube	....	music arranger
Shinichi Tanaka	....	music mixer
Akira Ifukube	....	orchestrator (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Toho Company

Distributors

• Toho Company (1991) (Japan) (theatrical)
• Kuk Dong (1991) (Korea) (theatrical)
• TriStar Pictures (1991) (USA) (theatrical) (dubbed)
• Columbia TriStar Home Video (1998) (USA) (VHS)
• Columbia TriStar Home Video (1998) (USA) (DVD)
• Astro Distribution (2004) (Germany) (DVD)
• Manga Films (2005) (Spain) (DVD)
• Paradiso Home Entertainment (2005) (Netherlands) (DVD)
• Madman Entertainment (2006) (Australia) (DVD)
• Nihon Eiga Satellite Broadcasting (2008) (Japan) (TV)
• Vision Film Distribution (1993) (Poland) (VHS)

Special Effects

• Marbling FineArts (miniatures and models)

Other Companies

• Toho Studios  sound stages

Also Known As:

"Gojira vs. Kingu Gidorâ" - Japan (original title)

Runtime:

103 min | USA:100 min

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Australia:PG (2006) | Germany:12 | UK:PG | USA:Unrated

Filming Locations:

Kyushu, Japan

Company:

Toho Company

Trivia:

When the time travelers arrive in February 1944, a US Navy officer sees their spacecraft, but his commander dismisses the possibility of a UFO; the commander then says, "You can tell your son about when he's born, Spielberg." This is an obvious reference to Steven Spielberg, whose father Arnold served in the war and whose war stories inspired the frequent WWII settings of his films.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: When King Ghidorah has Godzilla in the death grip, choking him, while he's drooling and charging up his energy, strings are visible on King Ghidorah.

Quotes:

Kenichiro Terasawa:You say that you feel Godzilla?
Miki Saegusa:Yes whenever I close my eyes, I see him as clearly as if he was walking right in front of me.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Troldspejlet: Episode #40.7" (2008)

Good Monster Battles, Music, and City Destruction, but...

With Godzilla films, or any other giant monster on the rampage type film, there is a certain level of suspension of disbelief required... but even in the realm of Godzilla where everything from numerous alien invasions, giant robots, and telepathic twin fairies are possible this movie STILL pushed the limits of believability.

So apparently, Japan in World War 2 was in the habit of hiring soldiers in their 50's and 60's who would not age a day in the next 47 years? Buy some make-up, people! This is the first Godzilla movie to deal heavily with time travel, which can be cool if handled well (BACK TO THE FUTURE) but if handled badly (TIMECOP) can quickly get convoluted and messy, or like this film make no sense at all. It doesn't help that several science fiction elements are jumbled together, complete with androids, flying saucers, biogenetically engineered pets who mutate into Godzilla's biggest foe, etc.

After the groundbreaking work on 1985 and BIOLLANTE, the special effects work here is definitely a mixed bag with lots of good pyrotechnics and miniature skylines that look almost real, but some poor model photography, frequently out of focus. The acting from the non-Japanese cast members (like the bad guys and the US servicemen in the world war 2 flashback) is dire, and for some reason baby Godzilla sounds like Rodan (or Gamera when he gets hurt). I have a feeling Sony/Columbia/Tristar dubbed the Heisei series badly on purpose just to make their GODZILLA 98 movie look better in comparison.

The English dubbing here is ATROCIOUS (even worse than GODZILLA 2000) with such instances as when a fighter pilot shrieks "I'm.... I'm spinning!" when he rolls his plane away from Ghidorah (in an otherwise neat aerial battle)... or the famous bit where the navy guy yells "Take that, you dinosaur!" while his soldiers on the beach are yelling "Keep firing! What is this thing? Keep firing!". It's almost like 6 year olds wrote the English language translation. Also, while the monster effects are neat, the android running scenes are just laughable... like something Ed Wood would do.

However, I can't completely dismiss this mess of a film as it has plentiful and good scenes of city destruction and monster battles, complete with lots of good explosions, editing, and best-of-all, Akira Ifukube returns as composer with one of his best scores up to that point. It's also neat to see a few familiar Godzilla movie faces, such as Kenji Sahara and Katsuhiko Sasaki, and fortunately the psychic woman from BIOLLANTE is barely in it, making me wonder why she was even cast at all. She singlehandedly ruined the Heisei series, as psychics and Godzilla totally don't mix. This was all much better back in the early 60's when the effects were worse but the scripts were simpler.