Gojira VS Mekagojira (1993)

Director:

Takao Okawara

Writer:

Wataru Mimura (writer)

Release Date:

11 December 1993 (Japan)

Genre:

Action | Drama | Horror | Sci-Fi

Tagline:

Three is a very big crowd.

Plot:

The UN builds the robot Mechagodzilla in hopes of destroying Godzilla.

Plot Keywords:

Godzilla | Mechagodzilla | Giant Monster | Psychic | Creature Feature

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Masahiro Takashima	...	Kazuma Aoki
Ryoko Sano	...	Azusa Gojo
Megumi Odaka	...	Miki Saegusa
Yûsuke Kawazu	...	Professor Omae
Kenji Sahara	...	Minister Takayuki Segawa
Akira Nakao	...	Commander Takaki Aso
Kôichi Ueda	...	General Hyodo
Leo Meneghetti	...	Dr. Asimov
Daijiro Harada	...	Takuya Sasaki
Tadao Takashima	...	Chief Hosono
Keiko Imamura	...	Psychic Schoolteacher
Sayaka Osawa	...	Psychic Schoolteacher
Shelley Sweeney	...	Susan
Kenpachiro Satsuma	...	Gojira
Wataru Fukuda	...	Mekagojira

Also Known As:

Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla (USA) (video title)
Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II (USA) (video box title)
Godzilla vs. Super-Mechagodzilla

MPAA:

Rated PG for sci-fi monster violence and some language.

Runtime:

108 min | USA:105 min

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Australia:PG | Finland:K-10 | Germany:12 | USA:PG

Company:

Toho Company

Trivia:

Originally intended to be a remake of Kingu Kongu tai Gojira (1962) a.k.a. King Kong vs. Godzilla. The producers, however, considered Turner Entertainment's asking price for the rights to King Kong too high. They then planned on using Mechani-Kong from Kingu Kongu no gyakushû (1967) a.k.a. King Kong Escapes, but they feared this would violate Turner's copyright. They ultimately decided to remake Gojira tai Mekagojira (1974) although the Mechani-Kong theme was used in the film.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: During the first fight between the two title Kaijus, when Mechagodzilla shoots Godzilla with the chest beam while he is down, strings can be seen on Godzilla.

Quotes:

Minister Takayuki Segawa: [answers phone] Yes? What's that? Godzilla's attacking the city?

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "The Angry Video Game Nerd: Godzilla (#4.15)" (2009)

a mighty entertaining entry in the series

This is definitely one of the best of the second series of Godzilla films that ran from 1984 to 1995. While it is not as good as "The Return of Godzilla" or "Godzilla vs. Biollante", it is definitely one of the better ones that followed into the 90s in terms of its entertainment. Like all Godzilla films, it was made on a low budget, has so-so acting, bad dubbing in its English version, and when compared to Hollywood, mediocre special effects. But what it does have that other entries don't is a high value of entertainment. And it is most certainly better than Tristar's 1998 "Godzilla" film.

Godzilla is still pretty much the same as he has been throughout the entire Heisei series: a powerful and nearly invincible monster with a purpose behind his existence. The film brings back one of Godzilla's more famous opponents from the 70s: MechaGodzilla, a mechanical clone of the king of monsters. And MechaGodzilla looks great here, even better than he did in his Showa films. MechaGodzilla is more humanoid, has a smaller head, and a more robust form to make him look like a heavily armored weapon of war and more like an anti-Godzilla figure. And he's equipped with a wide range of science-fiction weapons such as lasers that come from his eyes, mouth, and torso. He has missiles, tasers, cords with hooks sharp enough to penetrate even the flesh of Godzilla, and many other things. MechaGodzilla in this entry, is not a physical fighter, but a distance fighter. And it works out for his enormous bulk.

Rodan was also reintroduced into this series, and was a much better improvement over some of his Showa entries and even his Shinsei entry in 2004. He resembles the original Rodan, more like a pterosaur than an eagle or hawk. And he retains the original power of the first Rodans to fly at high speeds and cause devastating shock waves. True, his supersonic flight and its resulting destruction is totally unconvincing, but I think one can easily suspend the disbelief if they watch the original "Rodan" (1956).

And there is a new monster, called Baby Godzilla, which is a juvenile specimen of the same species of Godzilla. The suit used for Baby Godzilla was a complete success. It looks cute, animal-like, and very realistic for just being a rubber suit. Definitely better than the Little Godzilla costume used in "Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla" a year later, which painfully resembled Minya from the Showa series.

Action sequences in "Godzilla vs. MechaGodzilla 2" are very good, the real reason for its entertainment value. There are several fights, all of which mostly include Godzilla, MechaGodzilla, and Rodan exchanging heat rays and laser beams at each other and creating surprisingly realistic explosions and destruction on their surroundings. Rarely ever do they make physical contact and with some Godzilla films, that's a flaw, but here: it's a positive point.

The character development in the film is relatively poor, as is the case with many Godzilla movies, but here, it works out because a lot of our characters are intentionally humorous. Such as the main character, who for most of his screen time, is a bumbling dinosaur freak who is becoming an embarrassment for everybody he works for. The other characters are more serious, but have their own personalities to stay interesting. Not to become very powerful additions, but interesting nonetheless.

Overall, "Godzilla vs. MechaGodzilla 2" is a very fine Heisei Godzilla movie and it provides a high level of entertainment value in its style. I recommend it to any Godzilla fan not only for its fun action sequences and interesting storyline, but also for Akira Ifukube's wonderful music score. A very fine Godzilla movie.