Review of Godzilla (2014) by John K — 08 Apr 2016

It has been said that in order for a movie to appeal to us, it must have some aspects that are familiar and some that are original. Too much or too little of either does not work. That analysis makes sense to me. The new Godzilla has plenty of rehash. In some ways it is a derivative movie, touching on themes already seen in Jurasic Park. That movie tapped into the deep bass regions suddenly possible through Dolby sound systems, to bring some original scare factor. But Godzilla does much the same with its monsters.

The plot of new Godzilla differs from the original, bringing some new and creative twists. Watanabe is in character and the most convincing because he tries to convey a sense of wonder or astonishment which is essential for a monster movie -- and which the other characters do NOT convey most of the time. The other characters are basically typical stereotypes of Americans. The script relies too heavily on the Family Values angle; the scenes of emoting just look rather fakey to me. Bring on the beasts.