Japanese Title: "All Kaiju Daishingeki" or "Oru Kaiju Daishingeki"
AKA: "All Monsters Attack"
***Not Rated***
Released: December 20, 1969 (Japan)
1971 (U.S.)
Length: 70 min. (Japan)
69 min. (U.S.)
Gojira Movie Number: 10
If I thought I’d be getting an outpour of outrage from the Kaiju Eiga lovers out there, I probably wouldn’t attempt to review this movie. But as it’s likely that my audience is small, it doesn’t matter as much.
Gojira’s Revenge is a travesty! It shows people how not to make a movie. If b-movie meant bad-movie," then this is a good example. Why do I hate this movie!? Because it claims to be a Godzilla movie, but Godzilla plays a very minor role in it. This movie is all about a troubled little boy with a lot of imagination. His name is Ichiro.
Unfortunately for the viewer, we get to see this kid’s visions. He dreams of going to see Minya (or Minilla, depending on your source), Godzilla’s son on Monster Island. To get himself into the mood, he talks to a buzzing hunk of garbage that’s supposed to be a short-wave radio of some sort. Then after riding a plane in which all the passengers and pilots disappear from, he ends up on Monster Island.
Admittedly, it’s cool to see so many monsters from the Godzilla series in one movie. However, since it’s all stock footage from previous movies, one can only speculate that Toho was trying to bilk us for all we were worth. There are scenes from "Son of Godzilla," Godzilla vs. the Sea Monster" and who knows what else! The only non-stock movie monster is Gabera, a stupid looking bipedal creature that makes an annoying roar/laugh every time he’s onscreen or near Minya.
Gabera is the aforementioned kid’s foe. He’s a bully to the kid and a monster-bully to Minya. Thus, Minya is basically a personification of the kid.
This movie has a coming-of-age type theme to it. The kid fights with some bank-robbers in an abandoned warehouse and ends up pretending to be Minya when kicking two adults butts in scenes reminiscent of "Home Alone." Personally, I think "Home Alone" ripped this movie off. All they did was remove the monsters!
Anyway, the kid captures the baddies and beats the bully. Thus, he becomes a hero to the bully’s gang and even the bully becomes his friend. How did the timid kid get so tough? By listening to Minya’s advice about facing ones fear: "No! Do…or do NOT! There is no try!" Oh wait, that’s from a good movie! Never mind! Instead, Minya blows smoke rings this way and that, and after a battle or two, he somehow manages to beat Gabera. That is what inspired our pint-sized "hero" to kick some major booty!
If you like cute (kawaii) Kaiju and dumb kids, this is your kind of flick. It’s so dumb that there are moments that are kind of funny. Watching Minya get stomped on by Godzilla is always a treat, even if you’ve seen it before from "Son of Godzilla."
I give it:
