Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack (2001)

Three ancient guardian beasts awaken to protect Japan against Godzilla.

Director:

Shûsuke Kaneko

Writers:

Keiichi Hasegawa (as Kei'ichi Hasegawa), Shûsuke Kaneko

Stars:

Chiharu Niiyama, Ryûdô Uzaki, Masahiro Kobayashi

1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Chiharu Niiyama	...	Yuri Tachibana (BS Digital Q reporter)
Ryûdô Uzaki	...	SDF Adm. Taizô Tachibana
Masahiro Kobayashi	...	Teruaki Takeda (science writer)
Shirô Sano	...	Haruki Kadokura (Yuri's boss)
Takashi Nishina	...	AD Aki Maruo
Kaho Minami	...	SDF Intelligence Capt. Kumi Emori
Shin'ya Ohwada	...	SDF L:t. Gen. Katsumasa Mikumo (as Shin'ya Ôwada)
Kunio Murai	...	SDF HQ Secretary Masato Hinogaki
Hiroyuki Watanabe	...	Yutaka Hirose
Shingo Katsurayama	...	SDF Intelligence Maj. Tokihiko Kobayakawa
Toshikazu Fukawa	...	Adjutant Miyashita
Masahiko Tsugawa	...	Chief Cabinet Secretary
Hideyo Amamoto	...	Prof. Hirotoshi Isayama the Prophet
Nobuaki Kakuda	...	Commanding Sector officer (as Nobuo Kakuda)
Takafumi Matsuo	...	Mototsu Station police officer

Storyline

Strange incidents occur when an American submarine has been destroyed by a mysterious force at sea off the shores of Guam. Only Admiral Tachibana was certain that behind the disaster was none other than the destructive King of the Monsters, Godzilla! 50 years after his attack on Tokyo in 1954, Godzilla has mysteriously returned to life to destroy Japan, and General Tachibana, whose parents died in the monster's destructive wake, was prepared for his return to protect Japan from yet another tragic disaster, but is dismissed by the overly confident Japanese government, who underestimate Godzilla's power. But to further prove Tachibana's claim, his daughter Yuri, who works for the TV news program "Digital Q," investigates strange phenomena in three separate areas in Japan (two of which involve the deaths of immoral youths), and meets a mysterious old man named Isayama, who proclaims that aside from his infamous nuclear origins, Godzilla is an accumulation of vengeful souls (of both ...

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Plot Keywords:

godzilla | mothra | ghidorah | kaiju | gojira | 

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Taglines:

Who will be the last monster standing?

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | Drama | Fantasy | Horror | Sci-Fi | Thriller

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Release Date:

15 December 2001 (Japan)

Also Known As:

Godzilla, Mothra, King Ghidorah: Daikaiju Sogougeki

Filming Locations:

Studio 1, Toho Studios, Tokyo, Japan

Box Office

Budget:

$9,400,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Toho Company

Technical Specs

Runtime:

105 min 89 min (USA) (TV)

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Only Godzilla film of the six-film "Millennium" series (1999-2004) in which stuntman Tsutomu Kitagawa does not play Godzilla. Instead Godzilla is played by another stuntman, Mizuho Yoshida (best known as the title creature from the Zeiram movies), mostly for his height (Godzilla was to be the tallest monster in the movie).

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Goofs

The unnatural way King Ghidorah's two outer heads attach to his body, and the way they move, clearly reveal there's an actor inside his suit, and that these two heads are actually arm puppets. In other films, the heads were moved by strings, producing a much less fake-looking effect.

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Quotes

Adm. Tachinaba: I had been very proud, up to this moment, that I had never seen any real combat in my life.
Captain: You felt that way too?
Adm. Tachinaba: I think everyone feels that way.

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Alternate Versions

During the November premier, in addition to the unfinished special effects shots, the score was incomplete. It has been remixed since then.

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Connections

Follows Godzilla vs. Destoroyah (1995)

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Soundtracks

Great Monster War March
(AKA: "Monster Zero March")
Track from "Ostinato" Album - 1986
Ending Credits Theme 2
Composed by Akira Ifukube
Arranged by Hiroshi Kumagai

User Reviews

Awesome Giant Monster Goodness!

GODZILLA, MOTHRA AND KING GHIDORAH - GIANT MONSTERS ALL-OUT ATTACK

Granted I haven't seen many of them but I should think this 2001 feature is the best Godzilla movie I've seen.

50 years after the last Godzilla attack, Japan's coast again begins to feel the tremors of its favorite monster. There have been rumors of Godzilla sightings in other countries (a clever reference to the '98 Hollywood version when two naval cadets whisper to each other, "The New York attack was Godzilla?" "The Americans say so but our experts have their doubts"), but now it appears old Gojira, after a health-giving dose of radiation from a nuclear sub, is heading back to the Sushi bars.

The early parts are somewhat slow, time spent in introducing us to the various characters, with Godzilla sightings mostly restricted to brief glimpses amidst shaky cameras and falling debris. But soon our rubber-suited gargoyle, who is no more the lovable muppet monster of previous entries in the series, decides its time to come out of the closet for some major ass-kicking.

Fortunately, help is at hand in the form of the Guardian Monsters who are fated to protect Japan from Godzilla - Baragon, Mothra and Ghidora. Godzilla v/s Baragon is okay but not very good...there are no real special moves depicted and the rubber suits look too goofy in the day. But considering that Baragon's name doesn't even come up in the title, even the makers obviously considered him only a warm-up before the big battle.

And when the big battle starts...man!!! I wish I had been watching it in IMAX format with really loud surround sound, because this is one awesome battle. Sure, the rubber suits never get believable but I was having too much fun to worry about that. There's a good combination of scale models and CGI to depict the battle of the monsters and the wholesale destruction of Tokyo City. Caught in the crossfire are Japanese civilians and the Army, which is making its own (pathetic) maneuvers to combat Godzilla.

The acting of the human characters in this movie is corny but never annoying. The actor playing the military commander who is also the father of the reporter heroine is quite good in his role. The special FX may lack the polish of Hollywood extravaganzas but work perfectly well in the accepted formula. And unlike most Hollywood disaster movies, this is not one that leaves all the people except the evil lawyer miraculously unscathed. People here die. The brave soldiers die, the bumbling TV cameramen die, the schoolchildren die...even the cripple dies. That's what genuine monster movies are about. This film is a welcome return to the bad old days for Godzilla.