The younger me and the current me are two very different minds. Tastes change as people grow older and that's normal. Today I'm more interested in details I wasn't before and a lot of it shows in my opinions for this series-- admittedly. My opinion has probably changed for about 80% of these films, but here are the most drastic shifts:
Godzilla's Revenge - I used to be like most fans: Claiming this is one of the worst because of it's lack of focus on Godzilla, the story about the kid, the stock footage...blah, blah, blah. The younger, dumber me couldn't see the genius behind using Godzilla as a hook to tell a more personal story. The flaws are glaring, but atleast there's something very true about the storyline to overlook those flaws for.
Godzilla vs. Destroyah - There was a time that I put this in the top 5 best Godzilla movies. Today? It sits somewhere in the middle of the pack. The special effects are pretty rough, especially after all that Gamera: Guardian of the Universe accomplished on a shoestring budget earlier that year. (How did vs. Destroyah cost $5.5 million more than Gamera?) The unfinished character arcs and dropped plot points are also a sore spot in a movie that gets a bit overhyped. Regardless of how I see it now, I admit I still enjoy it a great deal for nostalgic purposes. The movie isn't ruined for me, it's just not very prolific.
Monster Zero - Here's a big one. I used to hate this movie for the severe lack of monster action and the attention to all things not Godzilla. Today, it's one of my favorite Godzila movies. Maybe my number one. And I love it for all the reasons I used to hate it for. The monster action is sparse, but still contain some of the best fights in the series. I love the pulpy characters, the way they intertwine and the popular sci-fi tropes of the era. It's a crazy movie, but it all works because there is a welcomed lack of Godzilla in it.
Destroy All Monsters - As a kid I thought this was the best of the best due to the amount of monster action. Today? It's like watching paint dry. This is an example of why we need strong characters in a Godzilla movie. Unlike Monster Zero, the characters here are about as flat and one dimensional as it gets. Thus, I don't really care about what happens to them. I'm not in any suspense for the situation. And I couldn't give a damn about what's at stake. The Mt. Fuji battle is fun, but other than that I think it's Ishiro Honda's weakest Godzilla film. It relies too heavily on the novelty that we see all these monsters in one movie.
It's interesting that Godzilla vs. Gigan is of such great debate here. I'm typically stuck in a rut on this one too. I remember when Barry's Temple of Godzilla was one of the only Godzilla sites out there and his page reviewed the movie with: "This is either one of the worst or one of the best movies in the series, depending on how you look at it." He couldn't have been more correct. Godzilla vs. Gigan is a visually cohesive movie, with strong characters and fun action. But it's also a movie with visual effects that either don't work or clash with the overused stock footage. It can be fairly boring to watch as it tries to fill in the dead spaces with shots from Ghidorah: The Three Headed Monster or Monster Zero. It's a great example of trying to get things to pan out under a lack of resources, but it's also a plodding, dreary film that's suppose to be fun.
"'Nostalgic' does not equal 'good,' and 'standards' does not equal 'elitism.'" "Being offended is inevitable. Living offended is your choice."
