Gojira tai Megagirasu: Jî shômetsu sakusen (2000) Directed by Masaaki Tezuka

Maybe I'm just crazy but I really like the Gojira 'millennium series' so far. Something very fun and charming about modern movies using old school film-making techniques!

There is just always something very fun and interesting about movies in which you are always able to exactly tell how everything got done. You can basically CGI everything nowadays and the possibilities with it are endless but when things look like you are actually able to physically touch and smell it, it often works out as far more engaging and in some ways more impressive to watch as well, since you are actually able to see all of the craftsmanship, creativity and hard work that went into the making of it.

Still I'm really not saying that the movie is perfect looking as well though. I mean, all of the miniatures really look like miniatures and the kaijus like guys walking around in rubber suits. But really, when you watch a Gojira movie, you know that that is exactly what you are going to get and you shouldn't want it any other way. It's part of the charm and fun of these movies of course.

The story of the movie is pretty similar to that of the Gojira movies from the '90's, meaning that's not great but it at least puts its emphasis on the entertainment and things never turn into either something too silly or too serious.

I also like how for most part the biggest adversary to Gojira wasn't another giant and powerful kaiju but a bunch of 'small' dragonflies instead and of course the humans as well again. The other big kaiju doesn't show up until the very end, which makes the end fight all the more thrilling and spectacular to watch.

It really still is a far from perfect Gojira movie though in my opinion. There are still a few too many needless distractions in the story for that and some of the human characters could have been fleshed out better. Also the movie and story as a whole tends to feel a tad bit too simplistic and therefor never all that surprising either.

But I still really had lots of fun with this movie. It's by no means a perfect one but it definitely is a very entertaining one nevertheless!

7/10

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