Admiral Taizo Tachibana was a child when Godzilla first attacked in 1954. He is now teaching new cadets about the history of Godzilla and the creation of the Japan Self Defense Forces (JSDF). His class is interrupted by a report of the disappearance of a nuclear submarine. A salvage sub is sent out and sees Godzilla.
The Admiral’s daughter, Yuri Tachibana, is a reporter for a film company, BS Digital, which makes what they call docudramas. They are basically one step above sleaze. They are filming at a lake near Mount Myoko where a monster supposedly dwells. Suddenly an earthquake rocks the area. The earthquake epicenter seems to be moving. Yuri wants to investigate. A friend of hers, Teruaki Takeda, gives her a book about The Guardian Monsters. He thinks it may be a clue as to what caused the earthquake.
Another earthquake happens again but in a different area. Suddenly a red monster comes out of the ground. The monster is later called Baragon but is, at the time, mistakenly identified as Godzilla. On the shores of Lake Ikeda Mothra’s larva rises up from the depths.
An old man, Hirotoshi Isayama, tells Yuri that Godzilla is coming and that the guardian Ghidorah must be woken up to join the other guardians in beating Godzilla. He tells her that Godzilla represents the souls of those that were killed in the war. Those that Japan wants to forget. Godzilla is seeking revenge on Japan on behalf of those lost souls.
Godzilla emerges from the ocean and begins ravaging the land and killing everything in sight. While Godzilla is rampaging Mothra has spun her cocoon. Baragon and Godzilla meet. Godzilla beats Baragon and continues on toward Tokyo. Mothra emerges from her cocoon and attacks Godzilla. Ghidorah is awakened and joins the fight. Like a game of chess Godzilla battles Mothra and Ghidorah. Each one using the weapons it has and using Godzilla’s weapons against him.
“Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack” was released in 2001 and was directed by Shusuke Kaneko. It is the twenty-fifth film in the Godzilla franchise and the third in the millennium era.
Forget everything you know about Godzilla and hit the re-set button. In this rendition of the story Ghidorah is a good guy and Mothra doesn’t have any Shobijin. Poor Baragon is also a good guy but doesn’t get any credit at all.
There has been some flack about King Ghidorah now being a good guy. Originally the script called for the guardians to be Anguirus, Varan and Baragon but Anguirus and Varan were not considered box office material so they were changed to Mothra and King Ghidorah. Although Mothra is a logical choice, King Ghidorah was added because he was a fan favorite. Some people had problems with King Ghidorah being a good guy, but since most of the time he is under the control of aliens why can’t he be under the control of an ancient edict?
Along with the change in some of Godzilla’s history there were some revamps to the other monsters. King Ghidorah is smaller than normal. Usually he is taller than Godzilla but this Godzilla is bigger, badder, and fatter. Mothra is also smaller. She also shoots stingers instead of releasing poison scales. Baragon no longer has a heat ray.
There are a lot of things I liked about this movie. First the wonderful music score by Akira Ifukube. The theme for this film is one of my favorites. Baragon, cause he’s adorable. The story itself is also good. I liked the mix of legendary guardians and modern weaponry like the D-03 drilling bullet. It also has some really good fight sequences and, of course, a nasty looking Godzilla.
English dubbed
Japanese subtitled