In the past year, I’ve been watching the old Toho Godzilla kaiju “monster” movies with the kiddies. This weekend, we watched the 1975 Toho film Terror of Mechagodzilla. It’s a direct sequel to Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla. Am I crazy to watch Godzilla films with the kids? No, I don’t think so. I believe that being a good father involves sharing the silly stuff along with important life lessons. I have a lot of nostalgia for the monster and kung-fu movies that I grew up watching on Saturday afternoons. While my wife beats a hasty retreat 100% of the time, the kids are thankfully enjoying them.
I won’t go into the plot, since it’s rather overly complicated, and a bit silly. To summarize, malevolent aliens come to Earth to retrieve & repair the giant Mechagodzilla robot, tag-team it with the fictional aquatic Titanosaurus, destroy Japan, and subsequently take over the world. Cue the evil maniacal villainous laughter. Don’t worry — even though Godzilla gets roundly beaten in his first bout against both monsters, the humans find a weapon to even the battle, allowing Godzilla to overcome the insurmountable odds, and ultimately save the day.
As a 36-year old man, I must admit the film’s plot and acting were horrendous. The pacing was slow, the plot was overly complicated, the aliens were silly, and I thought the actual monster battles were a tad dull. Still, the kids had a good time overall, but I had to fast-forward the slow parts of the film. I did enjoy the dated 70’s fashion — that was mildly amusing.
Next up? Godzilla vs. Megalon. And I think that’ll be it for a while.