SeeQuant Blending excellent reporting and strong storytelling, this is a disturbing film truly stranger than fiction

InformationRap This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

Keeley Coleman The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

Logan By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

JLRVancouver Taken as a Godzilla movie, "Godzilla's Revenge"* is a god-awful collection of clips from earlier films bound together by a tedious story of bullied kid Ichirô (Tomonori Yazaki) being mysteriously transported to Monster Island to hang out with Godzilla's chubby son Minilla. An alternative interpretation is that the tormented child is dreaming about being on the lush Island to escape from his dreary industrial environment, that Minilla is the friend and confidante that he needs to help deal with his tormentors, and that gruff, aloof Godzilla represents absent parents as Ichirô and Minilla learn to deal with the bullying monster Gabara (who is incarnate in both worlds as a mean kid or as a mean monster (the latter with orange hair that brings to mind a certain current world leader)). As discussed in Kalet's "A Critical History and Filmography of Toho's Godzilla Series" the film, 10th in the series, is polarising, some fans and critics deride it as cheaply made franchise-filler while others praise it as a clever and thought-provoking study of growing up during the Japan's 'economic miracle' period. In the latter interpretation, most of the technical problems (e.g. the changing Godzilla suit) that makes the monster scenes so ridiculous can be explained away (i.e. all of the monster scenes are simply imagined by a young fan who is recreating in his mind what he saw in the films), the tedious side-plot about bullies and bank robbers is the actual plot of the film and thus warrants inclusion, and the goofy saurian father-son bonding over radioactive fire is simply the human child's wishful thinking. As a story of how a child's imagination helps him grow up and over-come adversity, the second interpretation is more substantial than the average monster mashup but some people may object to the take-home messages: that to grow up you have to learn to fight back and that bullies will back down when you do (a common and dangerously optimistic fiction). Oddly, at the end of the film, Ichirô pranks an innocent bystander, apparently to impress the bully's gang, suggesting that growing up includes becoming mean-spirited as well as confident. As a monster/horror/sci-fi/camp movie, "Godzilla's Revenge" is watchable only by hard-core fans (who will likely despise it) but as a fable about growing up in which the iconic kaiju characters are stand-ins for childhood fears and hopes, the film rates much higher (albeit from a different audience). *I watched an English-subtitled version, which is supposedly better than the dubbed version.

starfoxfan86 Up until this film, I've rated the other Godzilla movies (other than the original) off entertainment value. But this one, while I found it amusing- completely fails as a Godzilla movie. The biggest problem is the story. The main story isn't even about Godzilla, it's about a kid who gets bullied and whose parents are always off working. Now about Godzilla and the giant monsters, I don't think it counts as a spoiler to say that most of the monsters in this movie have far less of a cameo than they did in destroy all monsters. Others such as Ebirah, Kamacuras, and Kumonga only return in stock footage- which turns out to be most of the monster fighting. There is one new monster- called Gabara, but that's it. The other huge failing is the point of the monster scenes. The kid fantasizes about going to Monster Island and befriending Godzilla's son, who's troubles parallel his own. And he talks. I think that in the Japanese version, he sounds more like a girl, it's nothing horrible. But the American dub, I can't explain. Just watch the Godzilla's revenge Monster Madness to see what I'm talking about.The final thing to explain is the other subplot. There are two robbers who stole 10,000 Yen- and the kid ends up crossing paths with these two criminals. This part serves little purpose, doesn't make much sense, and could have easily been replaced and/or omitted.The way this movie is set up doesn't even match the other Godzilla movies. Son of Godzilla felt like a real Godzilla movie even though it was set on a remote island. Considering Godzilla getting downgraded to a fantasy, the poor storyline, not to mention poor writing bring this movie to it's well deserved title of "The Worst Godzilla Movie".

joebergeron A cowardly young boy is subjected to mild bullying from other local boys. Even his little girlfriend abandons him when confronted with his craven nature. Suffering a mental breakdown, the boy experiences uncontrollable hallucinations. In them he witnesses the incessant squabbling of various giant monsters and also befriends Minilla, a man-sized creature who appears to be assembled from greyish feces. Minilla also has the ability to increase his size to about 2/3 that of the other monsters, permitting him to be beaten up by them. The boy assists Minilla with tactical advice, eventually enabling the hideous monster-child to briefly get the best of his primary nemesis. From these examples the boy learns to solve his problems with violence and by victimizing innocent bystanders for the amusement of his former tormentors. He appears ready to become the new juvenile terror of his bleak industrial neighborhood.

gavin6942 A bullied schoolboy (Tomonori Yazaki) dreams of traveling to Monster Island, where he befriends Godzilla's son Minya, who is also having bully troubles.This film was specifically geared towards children, and that might explain its silliness. The main character (who is a walking fashion faux pas) is a young boy that is probably easier for children to relate to than adults. There is no message here about nuclear weapons (or anything else besides maybe the plight of the latchkey kids), there is simply a boy with a healthy imagination who comes across numerous cheesy monsters.I have no idea who dubbed Godzilla's son, but the voice makes the movie even sillier than it already is. This film is apparently among the lowest rated of the Godzilla films; Richard Pusateri says fans debate whether this is the worst Godzilla film or the second worst. He does ask us to keep in mind, however, that the target audience was fourth graders and not critical adults. I thought it was fun and a joy to watch, but only because I made every effort not to think about it.Whether for children or not, the film deserves to be considered among the lowest Godzilla films simply for its use of stock footage. If all the previously used shots of Godzilla and friends are removed, I suspect you have very little left of the film.