Godzilla vs. Megalon1973

74/100 So, to the point: this movie is bad. The plot is simplistic yet also somehow absolute nonsense, it's full of stock footage, and it's just goofy schlock that gives Godzilla a bad reputation. And I love it for exactly those reasons. The human plot of this movie, like most of the Showa era, is a thinly veiled excuse to get to the monster scenes, but it's a pretty good excuse. The two "friends", Goro and Hiroshi, are pretty alright and to its credit, the movie has a fair amount of human action scenes as well, which are always fun to see in these monster movies. The only thing about the human plot I can't stand is the little kid, Rokuro. He's pretty much the stereotypical annoying kid, whining his way through every scene he's in. I've seen his kind before and I know I'll see more of them later. However, the main draw of the film, once again, like most Godzilla films, is the effects and the monsters, so let's talk about those now. The effects are pretty bad in this one, which makes sense given its limited budget. This has the spirit of a TV production all the way throughout. The one exception I found pretty good was the scene where Megalon destroys a dam only to get swept into the rushing water, a scene which apparently took up most of the three-week filming schedule. And now for the main stars of the film, the monsters. They're easily the best part, not just for the action (which is cool as ever to see) but also for the sheer amount of personality each one has. This version of Godzilla is the most heroic, and I always found him endearing. My favourite moment with him occurs in the climax, in which he slides on his tail to dropkick Megalon. Gigan is also here, and he's always nice to see, given he's a personal favourite. Megalon's alright (in fact, he's kind of dull next to Gigan), but he makes a good partner monster. However, the true "main character" of this film, so to speak, is not Godzilla, but the size-changing, crime-fighting Ultraman-alike robot Jet Jaguar. In a way, he's the perfect encapsulation of this film, being pretty much everything wrong with the Godzilla franchise yet too fun in concept alone for me to hate. Kaiju fans looking for something with actual quality, a good story or anything that actually makes a film good will probably be disappointed. But it's definitely very fun in a "so-bad-it's-good" way, and if that interests you, check it out. ...also, wow, that poster has aged terribly.