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 Lt. 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:

kaiju | shared universe | monster | king ghidorah character | godzilla character | 

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Taglines:

Saigo ni ikinokoru no wa dare da!? (Who will be the last to survive!?)

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Genres:

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

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Certificate:

Not Rated

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

[Yuri tries to convince her boss on doing a story about the possible return of Godzilla]
Yuri: You don't sound interested.
Kadokura: ...Godzilla is passé.

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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

Featured in Cinemassacre's Monster Madness: Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack (2008)

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Soundtracks

Godzilla Theme
Track from "Godzilla Vs. King Ghidorah" - 1991
Ending Credits Theme 1
Composed by Akira Ifukube

User Reviews

Godzilla goes supernatural

Godzilla mothra and king ghidora: giant monsters all out attack.

Godzilla mothra and king ghidora: giant monsters all out attack or GMK for short can be considered a semi-reboot of the franchise. Compared to the rest of the millennium era Godzilla movies, GMK is the most unique in terms of tone, spirit and overall feel of the movie. Even Godzilla's origin and design sets itself apart. Here is a monster mashup done well, despite its budgetary limitations, with a bigger badder Godzilla than ever.

Where Godzilla films have been mostly sci fi in nature, GMK seeks to throw in a supernatural fantasy spin on a familiar mythos. As usual, a string of mysterious attacks on sea vessels, this case some submarines, leads the the reemergence of Godzilla. Defeated in the 1950s by a destructive chemical weapon, Godzilla's corpse was apparently reanimated by the souls of world war 2 soldiers. Larger, angrier and more powerful than ever, this super zombie Godzilla is possessed by pure evil as he starts tearing his way across japan. Meanwhile, an intrepid reporter discovers an old prophecy that seems to foretell the second coming of Godzilla and an old man who reveals to her the legend of three guardian monsters who would be the key to ending Godzilla's murderous rampage.

This fantasy retelling, as well as reworking familiar monsters' origins, may not sit well with some. On its own merits, this movie works; recasting Baragon, Mothra and Ghidorah into mythical guardians of earth; a big change especially for Ghidorah who was in previous films an alien weapon of destruction. The first thing to stand out were the new monster designs. Intricately crafted yet with a decent amount of mobility. Godzilla gets special mention for his menacing new look; vampire fangs, jet black skin, insanely sharp claws and soulless white eyes oozing with evil. His overall look is closer to the original Godzilla only with his size and fearsome features pumped to the max.

What many would appreciate is the return of "Godzilla is the ultimate badass" theme. Here he is the villain and humanity is powerless. The monsters engage in truly spectacular fights with the director's stylish camera-work enhancing the scale of such clashes. Another mistake this movie corrects from previous ones is that even in scenes without the monsters, their presence is felt. Many past films just drag in their human scenes until the beasts show up for the action. Accompanying the action here is a pulse pounding score by Kou Otani whom anime fans would recognize as the composer for Gundam Wing Endless Waltz and many other memorable anime soundtracks.

GMK's human characters are well developed; we see our main character go from just wanting the scoop of a lifetime to a well rounded individual who has experienced true horrors of disaster and pulled through. The monsters who are the stars are by far the best among the millennium series of Godzilla movies. Perhaps the fantasy element was not too popular, seeing as how subsequent movies went back to sci fi. But no doubt, it was a bold move, a bold semi reboot, with awesome action, great production design for its modest budget, and a story that never let's up with the tension. A must watch for any Godzilla fan.

Details

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Release Date:

15 December 2001 (Japan)

Also Known As:

Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Attack of the Giant Monsters

Filming Locations:

Studio 1, Toho Studios, Tokyo, Japan

Box Office

Budget:

$9,400,000 (estimated)

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$18,623,382

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