Another Great, Scarce, Out of Print Original Japanese Laserdisc!

Godzilla
vs
Mecha Godzilla

a.ka. Godzilla vs the Cosmic Monster

(1974)

CLV
WideScreen
Japanese Laserdisc

Music by Masaru Sato

Original Japanese Issue!
Excellent Condition
All Paperwork, Including OBI
Catalog # TLL 2228

Godzilla vs Mecha Godzilla (1974)

Wow! What a film! Godzilla looks great, MechaGodzilla looks even better, and the effects are great! (WARNING: Possible Spoilers.)

I understand a lot of people thought Anguirus & King Seesar were pathetic in this film, but let's face it: Could you (logically) physically beat something metal one-on-one? I don't think so.

All in all, a great Godzilla film. Don't miss the final battle, especially where Godzilla gets busted open, & where he becomes a magnet.

Far too much time is spent elaborating about a yet another silly alien plot to take over the world with a giant monster (which is how Mecha-Godzilla comes into play in the first place). The aliens are especially silly this time. When beaten up, their faces turn into plastic gorilla masks while making a "groumf, groumf" noise. They try to kill their captives by putting them in a sauna chamber, and they have the most primitive password security in the world for a supposedly highly advanced alien race.

Hokey aliens and their far-fetched plans are part of a silly retro kaiju film, and contribute to the good, silly fun. What sort of ruins it in this film, is that another subplot is running along at the same time. Something about the legendary guardian of Okinawa, called King Ceasar (though various sources spell his name in hundreds of different ways) who will awaken when some silly prophecies come true (written on a cave wall, like all prophecies). There's a mystic statue of some kind involved, which is essential to trigger the awakening of King Ceasar. Now, the meat of the film has everyone running around trying to rip off the statue from each other. The aliens want it for some reason, and a bunch of Interpol agents who really have no clue in the world how to look discreet (huge sunglasses and trenchcoats, and an attitude that just screams "Look! I'm a suspicious, possibly secret agent type of character!") pop up all over the place saving the heroes in extremis. In the end, the goodie humans finally get the statue in the right place and proceed to wake up the fabled King Ceasar. And that's where the whole thing falls to pieces.

After way too much time has been spent building up to the appearance of King Ceasar, the final result is a huge disappointment. He looks like a giant Pekinese lap doggie who needs a shampoo job. And all he does is deliver a few mild slaps to Mecha-Godzilla, after which he rolls over and plays dead for almost all of the big final battle. It's a shame to think that so much of the movie is wasted on a build-up for such a rubbish monster. As a result, the final battle is far too short-lived, and the film as a whole drags and seems dull at moments.

It would've been lots better with the whole King Ceasar subplot scrapped, as all it does is clutter up a movie that began with some very promising kaiju scenes. It's worth seeing for Godzilla completists, since the giant monster scenes in there are quite decent when you do get to them, and there's lots of typical hokey fun!

This is an ORIGINAL Japanese issue, high quality laserdisc which has been long out of print and is not available on DVD.

$80.00