Review of King Kong vs. Godzilla (1962) by Michael H — 06 Apr 2010

Having watched the American release, I was annoyed at the poor dub and extra scenes. As well as the fact that even though another 10 minutes of some american guys talking about dinosaurs was thrown in, it was still 10 minutes shorter than the original. I do intend to watch the Japanese cut and then re-review this, buut for now, this shall do.

The plot was quite odd. A Pharmaceutical company finds some rare berries, on the island where King Kong lives. The owner of the company wishes to own Kong for advertising purposes, because she's bored of Godzilla constantly attacking.

Godzilla is unthawed from the iceberg he was frozen in, back in Godzilla Raids Again, and both giant monsters are headed for Tokyo!

This IS a kaiju movie so lets get down to what's important: the giant monster fighting!

This being the first Godzilla movie in colour, the king of the monsters is looking pretty damn good, however, Kong's costume looks a bit....outdated, the face looks weird, he blinks ALOT, and his arms keep changing length. But when Kong and Godzilla meet for a 2nd time (the 1st was a bit anticlimactic) you forget about how shit the american bits are at the start, their random communication satalite and ludicrous claims that Godzilla is a Stegosaurus Rex. Because it's a fast paced and exciting fight, with Kong gaining an ability to match Godzilla's Atomic Breath. The American version is cut short, the 2 monsters fall into the water, so Kong goes home, there is no winner. I was disappointed at that.