GODZILLA 2000

A classic sci-fi, lizard-like monster is revamped for the new millennium in GODZILLA 2000, a Japanese production more reminiscent of the original GODZILLA than 1998’s American version. This movie is dubbed in English using silly humor and older special effects, making it as campy as its predecessors.

Yuji Shinoda (Takehiro Murata) and his daughter Io (Mayu Suzuki) make up the organization known as the GPN, or the “Godzilla Protection Network.” While they survey Godzilla’s whereabouts, trying to determine when his next strike will be, reporter Yuki Ichinose (Naomi Nishida) tags along, hoping to photograph the monster.

Meanwhile, Shinoda’s former partner, Shiro (Shiro Sano), is working for the Crisis Control Intelligence Agency, an outfit combining militia with science in order to battle and defeat Godzilla. The leader of the organization, Mitsuo Katagiri (Hiroshi Abe), is hard nosed and turns a deaf ear to Shinoda’s pleas for them to study Godzilla, rather than combat it. Katagiri refuses to listen and launches an all-out attack on Godzilla while Shiro studies a strange object recently found beneath the sea.

The strange object, looking like a large rock, surfaces on its own as though it were floating on the sea. Eventually, it turns itself upright at a 90-degree angle. This baffles Shiro, and he reports to Katagiri what has happened, though Katagiri is preoccupied with attacking Godzilla. Missiles by air and land hit Godzilla, who is just offshore, and hold him off for a little while when, suddenly, the object from the sea rises up and begins to attack Godzilla, nearly defeating it. Godzilla retreats, and the object moves on to downtown Tokyo, where it lands on top of a skyscraper. Part of the rocky surface of the object has been blown away, and underneath is a smooth surface resembling that of a spaceship. Dumbfounded as to why the ship is atop a building, Shinoda and Yuki discover that it is taking the memory from all of Tokyo’s computers by moving from building to building.

The ship moves on to another building when Godzilla returns, resulting in a fiery showdown between the two monsters. With Shinoda, Katagiri and the rest watching, they discover much more about Godzilla than ever before.

While the production qualities of this film are much less than audiences are accustomed, it is not meant to be a visual masterpiece, but a comic look at a classic sci-fi subject. The language dubbing in English leaves room for some extremely corny and sometimes confusing dialogue. In fact, at the screening, nearly everyone was laughing throughout the movie. Katagiri’s character in particular took on a voice similar to John Wayne’s, and the lines assigned to him were reminiscent of one liners and cliches from old westerns and comedies. The plot made little sense, especially in reference to the spaceship that later took on the life form of a giant alien and attacked Godzilla. The spaceship itself resembled the craft used in FLIGHT OF THE NAVIGATOR, only with what appears to be a giant nostril on the side of it.

Despite the movie’s PG rating, there are some obscenities and also some action violence that may be scary to younger children. However, the movie can be credited with showing no depictions of wounds or killings, and only one implied death. GODZILLA 2000 also contains a semi-pagan, evolutionary worldview but also some moral content and one positive reference to God. Thus, MOVIEGUIDE® recommends parental discernment for younger children.