Godzilla: All Monsters Attack (Gojira-Minira-Gabara: Oru Kaijű daishingeki) (1969) |
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General | Extras | ||
Category | Science Fiction |
Theatrical Trailer Gallery-Poster Trivia Trailer-Madman Trailers |
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Rating | |||
Year Of Production | 1969 | ||
Running Time | 66:34 | ||
RSDL / Flipper | Dual Layered | Cast & Crew | |
Start Up | Menu | ||
Region Coding | 4 | Directed By | Ishirô Honda |
Studio
Distributor |
Toho Company Madman Entertainment |
Starring |
Tomonori Yazaki Eisei Amamoto Sachio Sakai Kazuo Suzuki Kenji Sahara Machiko Naka Shigeki Ishida Midori Uchiyama Yoshifumi Tajima Chotaro Togin Yutaka Sada Yutaka Nakayama Ikio Sawamura |
Case | Amaray-Transparent-Dual | ||
RPI | $14.95 | Music | Kunio Miyauchi |
Video | Audio | ||
Pan & Scan/Full Frame | None |
Japanese Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s) Japanese Dolby Digital 2.0 (224Kb/s) English Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s) English Dolby Digital 2.0 (224Kb/s) |
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Widescreen Aspect Ratio | 2.35:1 | ||
16x9 Enhancement |
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Video Format | 576i (PAL) | ||
Original Aspect Ratio | 2.35:1 | Miscellaneous | |
Jacket Pictures | No | ||
Subtitles | English | Smoking | Yes |
Annoying Product Placement | Yes, Pan Am | ||
Action In or After Credits | No |
Ichiro (Tomonori Yazaki) is an only child. He lives in a heavily industrialised part of town and his parents work long hours so he is often left in the care of the toymaker Inami ((Eisei Amamoto) who lives in the same apartment building. Ichiro is a solitary, lonely boy who is the subject of bullying by a gang led by Gabara. In his imagination Ichiro escapes to Monster Island where he befriends Godzilla’s son Minilla, who is also being bullied by a bigger monster called . . . Gabara. While on Monster Island Ichiro witnesses a number of battles between Godzilla and other monsters, including Kumonga, Kamakiras and Ebirah, and helps Minilla to stand up to Gabara.
In the real world, a couple of bungling bank robbers are hiding in an abandoned building with a bag of money after a failed getaway. In a series of far fetched incidents, Ichiro is first captured by the robbers but manages to turn the tables on them leading to their capture by the police. With his new found confidence Ichiro takes on and defeats Gabara, earning the respect of all.
Godzilla: All Monsters Attack ( Gojira-Minira-Gabara: Oru kaiju daishingeki) is not really a Godzilla movie. Most of the running time is spent in the world away from Monster Island, focussing on the bank robbers. The creature fights on Monster Island (except for the Minilla vs. Gabara or Godzilla vs. Gabara fights) have no relevance to the plot and in fact are culled from previous Godzilla films, mainly Son of Godzilla and Godzilla vs. Ebirah – Terror of the Deep where the excellent rock tossing contest from that film gets a rerun here. Otherwise, there are no action scenes of Godzilla, or any other monster for that matter, stomping Tokyo or anywhere else. The few new sequences, featuring Minilla, Godzilla and Gabara, are neither very good creature special effects, nor interesting. This in part is because usual Godzilla special effects director Eiji Tsuburaya, who had worked on most of the Godzilla films including the original in 1954, was bedridden during the production of the film so director Ishiro Honda took over these duties as well. Out of respect, Tsuburaya still got his credit.
The tone and context of the Godzilla series of 28 films can vary tremendously. Earlier this year I reviewed Son of Godzilla from 1967 and said that it was as far away from the original Godzilla concept as you can get. I was wrong: Godzilla: All Monsters Attack is so far away it is not really a Godzilla movie at all. At a running time of only 66 minutes it still feels padded with tracking shots of nothing in particular. This is strictly for young kids with its message about standing up to a bully. Fans of Godzilla need not apply.
Godzilla: Attack All Monsters is presented in an aspect ratio of 2.35:1, the original theatrical ratio, and is 16x9 enhanced. Exterior scenes in the industrialised cityscape are quite hazy and lack definition, although interior scenes offer an improvement in sharpness. Colours are quite dull throughout, although blacks are OK and the shadow detail good. Contrast and skin tones vary occasionally. There is mild grain and occasional film artefacts, but nothing serious.
Lip synchronisation is occasional off.
The English subtitles are in a yellow font. I did not notice any obvious spelling or grammatical errors.
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Audio is a choice between Japanese Dolby Digital 5.1 at 448 Kbps, Japanese Dolby Digital 2.0 mono at 224 Kbps, English Dolby Digital 5.1 at 448 Kbps and English Dolby Digital 2.0 mono at 224 Kbps. I listened to both Japanese tracks and preferred the 2.0 which seemed far more robust than the 5.1 and more effectively rendered the creature roars. There is really very little 5.1 separation in any case, the surround encoded 2.0 proving very effective. I could not detect any sub use. Both the English tracks seemed flat by comparison, and in fact the English had a different score. Stick to either of the Japanese tracks.
The music by Kunio Miyauchi is sometimes quite obtrusive and adds very little to the film.
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Overall |
3 colourful Japanese film posters.
3 silent screens giving some facts about the film, including the fact that it was aimed at children and opened during the Christmas period.
Trailers for other films from Madman. Included is Son of Godzilla (2:35), Godzilla: Destroy All Monsters (2:30) and Kwaidan (3:55).
There is censorship information available for this title. Click here to read it (a new window will open). WARNING: Often these entries contain MAJOR plot spoilers.
NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.
The best version of the film seems to be from Region 1 which includes as extras the trailer, image gallery, poster gallery, an audio commentary by Richard A. Pustateri and a feature Ishiro Hondo: The Soul of Godzilla (6:44 min). It is NTSC, of course, with Japanese and English Dolby Digital 2.0 audio.
Godzilla: All Monsters Attack is not really a Godzilla movie at all, nor do monsters attack! With a running time of only 66 minutes it still feels padded. This is strictly for the young kids with its message about standing up to a bully. Fans of Godzilla need not apply. The film is presented on a DVD with good audio, acceptable video and minimal extras.
Godzilla: All Monsters Attack is included in the Madman 6 disc box set Godzilla Showa Classics Volume 2 along with Godzilla vs. Hedorah (1971), Godzilla vs. Gigan (1972), Godzilla vs. Megalon (1973), Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla (1974) and Terror of Mechagodzilla: (1975). While Godzilla: All Monsters Attack may be the poor relative of the Godzilla canon, for a RPI of $49.95 this box set is still a fabulous way to stay in touch with “the original monster of mass destruction”.
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Review Equipment | |
DVD | Sony BDP-S350, using HDMI output |
Display | LG 42inch Hi-Def LCD. This display device has not been calibrated. This display device is 16x9 capable. This display device has a maximum native resolution of 1080p. |
Audio Decoder | NAD T737. This audio decoder/receiver has not been calibrated. |
Amplification | NAD T737 |
Speakers | Studio Acoustics 5.1 |