Godzilla Vs. Destoroyah / Godzilla Vs. Megaguirus: The G Annihilation Strategy [Blu-ray]

This review is for the Blu-Ray edition of 'The Toho Collection - Godzilla vs. Destoroyah and Godzilla vs. Megaguirus' released by Sony in 2014.I'm reviewing each movie separately. Each movie comes on it's own disc and has only a trailer for extra's.*****WARNING - THERE ARE LOTS OF SPOILERS IN THIS REVIEW*****GODIZILLA VS. DESTOROYAHPLOT/SYNOPSIS: Godzilla comes ashore in Hong Kong after his home island, Birth Island, is destroyed by an explosion of radiation from Godzilla. Godzilla has streaks of glowing orange and has smoke or steam pouring out of his body.Keniche Yamane, the grandson of Dr. Yamane from the original 'Godzilla (1954)', joins G-Force. Keniche's sister, Yukari, interviews Dr. Ijuin about micro-oxygen, which he is working on. Emiko Yamane has told Keniche that it is basically the same thing that was used in the Oxygen Destroyer. Keniche has alerted his team to the danger of what is happening to Godzilla. He predicts that Godzilla could overheat and possibly destroy the world.A tiny creature is found in a sample taken on a subway construction site. It eats it's way out and grows. Soon after, a bunch of creatures (Destoroyah's), show up and start reeking havoc in Tokyo.Godzilla shows up in Tokyo Bay. The Super X3 attacks Godzilla with it's freezing ray and this stops him. Godzilla Junior arrives at a beach in Japan. It had been believed that Junior had perished with Birth Island. He is now much larger than last seen and looking like Godzilla. Godzilla heads in the direction of Junior. The Japanese Self Defense Force (JDSF) attacks the mini-Destoroyah's. Unfortunately for them, the creatures all merge into one large Destoroyah.Keniche hatches a plan to get Miki Saegusa to use her psychic powers to lure Godzilla Junior to Destoroyah. He hopes that this will cause Godzilla to come rescue him. It works.Destoroyah changes to a new flying form and attacks Godzilla Junior. Destoroyah hurts Junior in the battle and absorbs some of his DNA. After getting battered around, Junior does some serious damage to Destoroyah before heading out to meet his father. After Junior seemingly wins the battle, he heads out to meet Godzilla. Destoroyah has now changed into a new and larger super form. While Godzilla and Junior are greeting each other, Destoroyah flies to them and attacks. He then picks up Junior, flies into the sky and drops Junior from high above. Junior is now dead or dying. Godzilla engages in battle with Destoroyah and ultimately gets the upper hand. He then heads over to Junior and gives him some of his life force. Junior closes his eyes and seemingly dies but it is unclear. Destoroyah comes back at Godzilla firing his various weapons. Destoroyah picks Godzilla up with his tail and tosses him. Godzilla gets up and starts melting. He emits energy and fires at Destoroyah. Destoroyah is taking a lot of damage and attempts to fly away. The Super X III along with the ground cryo-lasers fire on Destoroyah and he comes crashing down and blow apart.With the battle over, Godzilla melts down despite the efforts of the JDSF to freeze him. Fortunately, Junior absorbs all the radiation and comes back to life. Tokyo will not be a permanent wasteland.PRODUCTION/COMMENTS: This movie was released by Toho in 1995. It was the number one movie for the year at the Japanese box office.-The idea for the oxygen destroyer being used came about because of a proposed script for a movie about Godzilla battling 'Ghost Godzilla'. In that proposed movie, Godzilla would have fought the 'Showa era' Godzilla from 1954.-CGI was used in this film. It was used for Godzilla's meltdown as well as a computer simulation of Godzilla melting down and a few other shots as well.-This would be Akira Ifukube's final score for a Godzilla film. It would be producer Tomoyuki Tanaka's final Godzilla film as well.-Godzilla's breath is changed to orange from Blue for this movie.-The original name of Godzilla's foe was 'Destoyer'. It was changed when they found out that the name couldn't be copyrighted.-Godzilla Junior's resurrection was originally planned as a post credit scene.WHY DID TOHO KILL OFF GODZILLA?: For years, Toho wanted to hand off Godzilla to Tri-Star. They had been planning on killing him off for years. He lasted until the seventh movie of the 'Hesei Series' because it took awhile for Tri-Star to get their act together. Finally, the American Godzilla was ready and the time came for Toho to kill off Godzilla. But not before they hedged their bets with an ambiguous ending.WAIT, IF THE SUPER X III COULD TAKE OUT DESTOROYAH...:Why didn't the Super X III use it's freezing ray on Destoroyah sooner? They could have saved a lot of destruction if they just unleashed it sooner rather than waiting for the battle between the monsters to end. In addition, this sort of minimizes Godzilla's final victory. The kill shot comes not from him but from the Super X III.CONCLUSIONS: For me, this Godzilla movie is without a doubt the saddest of the entire series. Only the 1954 original approaches it in the 'sadness' category.GODZILLA DIES, SHOULD I WASTE MY TIME WATCHING THIS?: If you are like me and don't like watching Godzilla lose and/or die then you might not enjoy this movie. I make an exception for this movie. My reasons are as follows:1) Godzilla actually wins the battle against his opponent, Destoroyah.2) Godzilla was dying from the get go and it was advertised as the 'death of Godzilla'. Godzilla's death was the whole point. He is literally melting down as the movie starts.3) This movie was meant to end the Hesei series so it needs to be watched if you are watching the series in order.4) In a way, Godzilla lives on. After his meltdown, the energy he releases, revives Godzilla Jr.WAIT... WHAT JUST HAPPENED AT THE END?: The first time you watch this movie, you might not be exactly sure what happened at the end. The movie does not make it clear as to what transpired. So if you are new to Godzilla, here's what happened...Godzilla, being made of nuclear 'stuff', melts down. An attempt is made to 'cool' his body by the Japanese Self Defense Force. This obviously fails. The radiation that leaks out of Godzilla's body is supposed to make Tokyo a nuclear wasteland for a century or more. Somehow, the body of the supposedly dead Godzilla Jr. absorbs all of the radiation that Godzilla just expelled. This not only saves Tokyo from becoming a wasteland, it also brings Godzilla Jr. back to life and enlarges him to a full size Godzilla. Its anybody's guess as to whether or not the new Godzilla is violent since it was established that Godzilla Jr. was a different and non-aggressive species of Godzillasaurus.The point of all this was to give Toho a way to bring back Godzilla in case things didn't go as planned with the American production company (Tri-Star). Ultimately, Toho ends up bringing Godzilla back about 5 years later in a new timeline.DID GODZILLA JUNIOR DIE? The prevailing thinking is that Junior dies and is resurrected by the radiation that Godzilla emits. I'm not quite so sure. Godzilla has appeared to die many times throughout his history, only to seemingly come back to life. For example, Godzilla appears dead in 'Godzilla vs. Gigan' as well as the just released 'Godzilla: King of the Monsters'. So I'd like to propose the theory that he was not yet dead but just unconscious. It's not as if anybody checked to see if he still had a heartbeat. Most living creatures, including humans very often pass into unconsciousness before they 'officially' die. Remember, Godzilla walks over to him and gives him some life force. At that point, Junior closes his eyes. Before that, he didn't even have the energy to close his eyes. This life force probably kept him alive long enough for radiation to do it's job in bringing him back to full strength. He would have needed to be alive for that to happen.RATINGS:Plot: 8.5/10 or 4 1/2 stars - This is about as good as it gets for a plot in a Godzilla movie.Opponent: 9/10 or 4 1/2 stars - Very cool, only MechaGodzilla and King Ghidorah are 'cooler'.The Suit: 10/10 or 5 stars- Although unusual, this one-off look is pretty awesome.Battle: 5/10 or 2 1/2 stars - Destoroyah is neat looking and well thought out but the battles don't look all that good. The monsters are mostly immobile during their fight.SFX: 8/10 or 4 stars - The effects are pretty good.Overall: 7.5/10 or 5 stars( I'm bumping it up a star!) - Automatic 2 point deduction on scale of 1/10 for Godzilla losing. However, I'm making an exception this one time for the star rating.GODZILLA VS. MEGAGUIRUS:In this timeline, only part of the first Godzilla movie in 1954 is used. It can be argued that this movie is part of a completely different timeline from any other Godzilla universe. It is assumed that Godzilla appears in 1954 just like in the original movie but Godzilla is not killed by the Oxygen Destroyer nor has the Oxygen Destroyer ever existed. A newsreel at the beginning explains that Godzilla has come back to life but it's possible something is lost in the translation and that it means that Godzilla has returned from hibernation or dormancy.PRODUCTION: This movie was made in 2000 and was released by Toho. There was no American theatrical release.-The Godzilla suit that was used in 'Godzilla 2000' was not used in this movie. It was similar but was custom fit to the actor in the suit.-Godzilla was supposed to continue a trilogy started with 'Godzilla 2000' but it was thought to be too expensive to do. Future movies would be geared toward Japanese audiences only and they had to be done inexpensively. Starting with this movie Toho decided to have a unique timeline for each movie until they figured out what direction they were going in.PLOT/SUMMARY:In 2001, Dr. Yoshizawa asks Hajime Kudo to join her team to help develop a weapon called the Dimension Tide. She is part of a group of people called the G-Graspers. The Dimension Tide is supposed to create a miniature black hole and send it's target into this black hole where it will be imprisoned forever. Kudo is an expert in making miniature robots.Next, the Dimension Tide team gets ready to test their weapon. A little boy witnesses the test. The test succeeds in eliminating a building but leaves behind a wormhole. Later that evening, the little boy see's a meganula, a prehistoric dragon fly, fly right past his window. He follows it to the wormhole and he finds an egg. He takes the egg home and eventually disposes of it in a sewer. Apparently the egg is actually many eggs and they seperate. Somehow this manages to cause a massive flood in Tokyo. The eggs hatch and Meganulon, ancient dragonfly's from 350 million years ago hatch. They then feed and proceed to molt on buildings where they turn into Meganula much the way a caterpillar turns into a moth or butterfly.The G-Graspers unleash an aircraft called the Griffon. The decision is made to fire the Dimension Tide at Godzilla on a small uninhabited island. Godzilla reaches the small island where a swarm of Meganulon attack him. At first the G-Graspers have difficulty locking on to Godzilla with the Dimension Tide. After Godzilla eliminates a bunch of the swarm, they fire. It looks like Godzilla is gone, but he emerges from the rubble. The weapon must cool down before it can be fired again. The remaining Meganula head to Tokyo where their Queen is lying beneath the water. They all give their life force to the Queen.Godzilla has surfaced and heads inland toward a secret plasma facility. Megaguirus shows up and attacksGodzilla. It is after Godzilla's energy. Ultimately, Godzilla defeats Megaguirus but not before his wings sonic boom knocks out the electronics on the Dimension Tide satellite.The G-Graspers get ready to fire the Dimension Tide at Godzilla but it runs out of fuel! It no longer has the ability to target Godzilla. The Gryphon flies toward Godzilla to mark him as a target and the weapon is fired. Godzilla sees the miniature Black Hole approaching and fires his radioactive breath at it. Godzilla disappears from view. The weapon has worked, or has it?After the credits run, there is a short scene in which an earthquake hits the school of the small boy who found the egg and then we hear Godzilla's roar.OK, WE CAN STOP HERE: If you are like me and don't like to see Godzilla defeated, you can stop the movie at the 1hr 30mn mark. This is right after Godzilla polishes off Megaguirus.ABOUT THAT ENDING...DOES GODZILLA SURVIVE? DOES HE RETURN TO EARTH OR DID HE EVER LEAVE?:A few things to take note of here...THE DIMENSION TIDE WEAPON:First off, it is established that the Dimension Tide weapon is not perfect. It is used 3 times in the movie and each time there is, or probably is, problems.1) The weapon is fired at a building and the building disappears, presumably sent into a black hole. There is an after affect that create's a wormhole. I'm not going to go into details about wormholes nor do I claim to know anything about them. What I do know is that they are supposed to be a means to allow travel very quickly to a different part of the universe. Since the Meganulon is extinct and comes through the wormhole, possibly this means that you can travel through time also. Either that or the Meganula exists elsewhere in the universe.2)The second time the weapon is fired, it is aimed at Godzilla. It's possible that the Meganula's caused the weapon to misfire or they weapon just may not have worked properly. This is not clear. Godzilla disappears but reappears moments later from beneath nearby rubble. So the weapon may have misfired, doesn't work properly or just doesn't work on Godzilla.3)The third time the weapon is fired, Godzilla blasts the oncoming black hole with his radioactive breath. Godzilla disappears, presumably sent into the black hole to another place in the universe. However, a short while later, it is determined that there is nearby seismic activity that may or may not be caused by Godzilla. In the post credit sequence, a tremor or earthquake occurs and we hear Godzilla's roar.WHAT DOES ALL THIS MEAN?It almost certainly means that Godzilla survived the Dimension Tide Weapon. Here are the possibilities as I see them.1)The weapon failed to strike Godzilla cleanly or was altered by Godzilla's breath causing it to miss him. Just like in the second use of the Dimension Tide weapon, Godzilla gets buried in the surrounding rubble.2)The weapon simply failed to work or it doesn't work on Godzilla. Again, Godzilla is buried in the surrounding rubble.3)Godzilla returned to Earth through a wormhole since it has been determined that a side effect of the Dimension Tide weapon is that it creates wormhole's.4)Godzilla was sent into the black hole, never to return and a new Godzilla has appeared just as a new one appeared in 'Godzilla Raids Again' after the original Godzilla was killed by the Oxygen Destroyer.JUST YOUR USUAL ABSURD TOHO STUFF OR WHAT I DON'T LIKE: As usual, I have many complaints about logic and behavior. Here goes:-For what possible reason would the Dimension Tide team need Kudo. He is self employed and has no skills necessary to lead the team. His employment is based solely on his school teacher remembering how smart he is. What does miniature robots have to do with making a black hole? Last time I checked, Black Holes weren't mechanical devices. His abilties have nothing to do with theoretical science.-The newsreel at the beginning explains that "The advent of nuclear power and the threat of nuclear weapons had brought the monster back to life." The problem is that he had never been killed in this timeline. This can just be an error in translation.-The Dimension Tide team tests an extremely dangerous and unstable weapon near a school? You'd figure they'd choose more carefully. This would need to be done on an island or at least a very remote area. It's not like the area was secure. I small boy was able to infiltrate! Why let peaky logic get in the way of the plot?-What was up with all that water. Where did it come from. Just because there are a bunch of eggs, Tokyo gets drowned several stories deep in water? This makes utterly no sense.-The bullet with the transmitter that Tsujimori fires into Godzilla easily penetrates Godzilla. This is not consistent with what we know about the hardness of Godzilla's armor. The military cannot penetrate Godzilla's armor with all it's high tech weapons yet this bullet has no difficulty whatsoever.-Kudo tells us that the Meganula "must realize Godzilla is an energy source". Huh?... how does Mr. Robot Man know this?-As usual, I dislike the running scenes. Where are they going? If you slow it down or stop these scenes at certain points you can see people smiling and laughing.HOUSTON, TOHO KNOWS NOTHING ABOUT OUTER SPACE:-Come on people at Toho... don't you know anything about satellites. Satellites are in orbit. They don't have fuel. Even if they had fuel and they ran out, there is no gravity in space. The satellite wouldn't just fall out of space and come crashing to earth. Satellites do fall back to earth occasionally after their orbits deteriorate but this is nothing like what happens in the movie. This is just ridiculous.OTHER COMMENTS:-As a long time Incredible Hulk fan, The G-Graspers remind me of Hulkbuster base. I always wondered what they would do with all the stuff they created for the sole purpose of stopping one being.-I have to admit, the comment about Godzilla disappearing up his own 'b---hole' caught me by surprise. I'm not sure how they screwed up this translation from black hole.-The high tech aircraft the G-Graspers develop is called the Gryphon. I wonder if this has anything to do with the creature that was supposed to be in the first or second American Godzilla movie but was never made.-Now I know why that spike is so big on the back of Godzilla! I didn't see that coming.-That leap in the air and slam by Godzilla was straight out of the Showa series!-Just something I noticed. When looking at the city, you can see a bridge that looks like Godzilla walked through one of the sets of pillars. He couldn't have of course but if you look at the pillar it looks as if Godzilla's head and spikes walked through it.-Megaguirus' energy blast is supposed to come from the mutated energy it receives from Godzilla.-Toho seems to have an obsession with Black Holes. They come into play in every generation of Godzilla movies. The aliens come from a Black Hole in the Mecha-Godzilla movies of the 'Showa' era. Space Godzilla comes from a Black Hole in the 'Hesei' series and obviously the Dimension Tide weapon 'makes' Black Holes in the 'Millennium' series.CONCLUSIONS: This movie doesn't have a good reputation. I think it is a bit better than what the average Godzilla fan thinks. For sure it has it's problems like just about all Godzilla movies. The battle was decent but I did not like the ending. The special effects were decent but uneven. I didn't like the jittery slow motion stuff, as a result I'm lowering my grade. I love the look of the Godzilla suit. My only complaint is that it doesn't quite move as well as the one's we would get in later movies.Here are my ratings:Plot: 5/10The Fight: 7/10Special Effects: 5/10Godzilla suit: 8/10Overall 6/10 or 3 stars for the movie.

My favorite movie

5 stars for the DVD set. I am glad they included the B Roll at the end of Godzilla vs Destroyah.The previous version had bad dubbing and cut out the end credits.Picture and sound are great and you get the option of Japanese dialogue. This is key for me when I made the decision to purchase these.Now for the actual movies...5 stars for Godzilla vs Destroyah.This movie was the perfect curtain call for the Heisei series. Godzilla is facing meltdown and the clock is ticking for the Japanese to figure a way of preventing Godzilla from taking out the whole planet when he goes into meltdown mode.Destroyah show up as a result of reconfiguring the original weapon that killed him in 1954.He has multiple forms, small crablike forms, a large crablike form, flying form and final form. His final form is awesome. He truly is a menacing looking creature. The fight between Godzilla and final form Destroyah is brutal and well done.I like the light saber horn weapon Destroyah sports.Godzilla junior looks great and in no way looks cartoony. He is older and the sculpt for the suite looks great.The end sequence where Godzilla dies is the the best death sequence for a monster I have ever seen.The musical score called Requiem is beautifully done.When all is quiet, and the think they are truly rid of Godzilla......They kept the b roll this time and it shows scenes from Godzilla from 84 to 95.3 stars for Godzilla x MehaguirusThis movie would get serious and then get downright silly. There was some eyecandy and some lame parts.I liked the new look of the millennium Godzilla. The scene where the heroine fires a transmitter on him looked cool.Godzilla looked fierce and was a force to reckon with. Certain parts just didn't look well and came across as silly.When he shakes his head quickly left to right and the ridiculous belly flop on Megaguirus.Megaguirus wasn't really an innovative looking creature. He looked like a variation of Battora/Battra.Some of the special effects looked great and some looked rushed. You could see strings in a few scenes. No excuse for that for movies that are newer. This isn't the 70's.This movie had an excellent score.I am more of a fan of the Heisei series than the millennium series.With that said, this set is a must for Godzilla fans.I strongly recommend.

Arrived on time and in mint condition, very happy to own the English audio version bluray, great quality Image and you can see much more than the old VHS and dvd but maybe since I was a kid I didn't notice anything other than awesome monsters tail-whipping one another and that's what I love seeing still!!