The saving grace for this movie is the action-packed nature of it. There's plenty of beautiful beams, but unlike much of the Heiseis there's some nice close combat scenes as well. The other golden nugget is how Godzilla is really given a run for his money this time around. Unlike the last film, it is generally agreed upon that Toho knew they wanted a Mechagodzilla movie for their 1993 G flick. True to its action-packed form, there are plenty of monsters in the movie.
Godzilla maintains his good looks yet again, but now he's got a baby. I have a couple of reservations about the baby, but I'll discuss that later. Rodan makes a comeback for this movie, and he looks pretty good. Unfortunately, he seems a little stiff at times and his movements can look forced, as if they aren't animalistic (obviously they aren't). The region one dub refers to him as Radon rather than Rodan, which is the proper way to pronounce it. As a die-hard Godzilla guy though, I somewhat bemoan them feeling the need to infuse energy powers into anything and everything within the Heisei universe, so I'm not a Fire Rodan fan. It's probably impossible to infuse another Mechagodzilla with the character of the 1974-1975 original, but this Mechagodzilla looks good overall, just devoid of personality. Maybe that's not such a bad thing being a cold mech without a soul. While not a "monster" by any stretch, Garuda is Japan's anti-G aircraft that was replaced by Mechagodzilla but is still used effectively here (we never actually saw Garuda perform outside of this film anyway).
As before, we don't have a bad basic plot, but it is soured by lame acting and bland characters. The Garuda pilot is supposed to be nerdy-funny and nerdy-funny in his displays of affection towards another character, but it just comes off as dull, almost annoying. Although this film isn't geared towards younger crowds, it's probably best enjoyed when you're younger and care less about plots, acting, characters, etc. It's not a bad film in any way (unless you don't care about monsters, which would make this a mind numbing experience for you), and its high adrenaline monster action theme is pleasing. At least it was an improvement over the last two films, if nothing else (lack of pacing issues makes this one so much better).
As an aside, one of the qualms I have with the movie is Baby Godzilla. Why is he only the size of a grown man? In the previous film, the Mothra larvae was gigantic. A newly born Godzilla ought to be at least as large as a newly born Mothra larvae, right? Even when Godzilla walks up to Baby Godzilla at the end of the movie, it looks way too small. For comparison, it seems like a human giving birth to a six inch infant. While we're on the subject, what the heck is a Godzillasaur? They claim it's of the same "species" as Godzilla, but that it's a less aggressive herbivore. We have no history of a Godzillasaur and no explanation there after. Plot hole. Plus, the name might draw a false relationship to Godzilla's original form, the 1944 Godzillasaurus.
This film would probably only get like a 4.5/10 from me, but the monster action saves the day somewhat, so 6/10 it is.
Godzilla maintains his good looks yet again, but now he's got a baby. I have a couple of reservations about the baby, but I'll discuss that later. Rodan makes a comeback for this movie, and he looks pretty good. Unfortunately, he seems a little stiff at times and his movements can look forced, as if they aren't animalistic (obviously they aren't). The region one dub refers to him as Radon rather than Rodan, which is the proper way to pronounce it. As a die-hard Godzilla guy though, I somewhat bemoan them feeling the need to infuse energy powers into anything and everything within the Heisei universe, so I'm not a Fire Rodan fan. It's probably impossible to infuse another Mechagodzilla with the character of the 1974-1975 original, but this Mechagodzilla looks good overall, just devoid of personality. Maybe that's not such a bad thing being a cold mech without a soul. While not a "monster" by any stretch, Garuda is Japan's anti-G aircraft that was replaced by Mechagodzilla but is still used effectively here (we never actually saw Garuda perform outside of this film anyway).
As before, we don't have a bad basic plot, but it is soured by lame acting and bland characters. The Garuda pilot is supposed to be nerdy-funny and nerdy-funny in his displays of affection towards another character, but it just comes off as dull, almost annoying. Although this film isn't geared towards younger crowds, it's probably best enjoyed when you're younger and care less about plots, acting, characters, etc. It's not a bad film in any way (unless you don't care about monsters, which would make this a mind numbing experience for you), and its high adrenaline monster action theme is pleasing. At least it was an improvement over the last two films, if nothing else (lack of pacing issues makes this one so much better).
As an aside, one of the qualms I have with the movie is Baby Godzilla. Why is he only the size of a grown man? In the previous film, the Mothra larvae was gigantic. A newly born Godzilla ought to be at least as large as a newly born Mothra larvae, right? Even when Godzilla walks up to Baby Godzilla at the end of the movie, it looks way too small. For comparison, it seems like a human giving birth to a six inch infant. While we're on the subject, what the heck is a Godzillasaur? They claim it's of the same "species" as Godzilla, but that it's a less aggressive herbivore. We have no history of a Godzillasaur and no explanation there after. Plot hole. Plus, the name might draw a false relationship to Godzilla's original form, the 1944 Godzillasaurus.
This film would probably only get like a 4.5/10 from me, but the monster action saves the day somewhat, so 6/10 it is.