Godzilla in 3 parts (all in one blog!)

For Christmas, my beloved got me the amazing Toho remaster of the original Godzilla (usually found in stores as Gojira). The DVD pack contains both the original film in Japanese w/ English subtitles and a second disc with the English dubbed, Raymond Burr starring Godzilla: King of Monsters. Not feeling like reading at the time, we watched the American re-edit. It moves so slowly with Raymond Burr. And much of the Godzilla stomping around reused the scenes from earlier, or reused a particular cut (I saw him roar over the same power lines about 5 times). I decided to watch the Japanese original later on, and the difference was amazing. The pacing is better, all the repetitive monster scenes were entirely from the American cut, and the storyline with the main characters is much more interesting. I was very surprised at the dramatic difference between the two versions.

In addition to the Gojira pack, Norah also got me a multipack of Godzilla DVDs, which include two dual packs of Heisei era Godzilla films (Godzilla vs. Mothra w/ Godzilla vs. Ghidorah and Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla w/ Godzilla vs. Biolante), the 1998 Matthew Broderick Godzilla, and the first 4 of the Millenium series (Godzilla 2000; Godzilla vs. Megagirus; Godzilla, Mothra, Ghidorah: All Monsters Attack!; and Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla).

I just watched Godzilla 2000 all the way through today (which I only have the dubbed version). The English dubbing/script is often peppered with the types of exclamations found in silver age and early 90s comics. Additionally, the main antagonist (not Godzilla?) has an extremely overdone voice, which amused me. Regardless, the story was pretty good, and emphasized Godzilla's efforts to protect Japan, despite his continued attacks on it. My favorite part was at the end, though. Someone asks, "Why does Godzilla help us, when since he's arrived we've only tried to kill him?" The response is, "Maybe it's because... we've all got a little bit of Godzilla in all of us." Godzilla then proceeds to romp around the city a bit more and make a huge sweep with the fire breath, before standing looking straight at the camera, flames leaping high around him. Then the credits roll. I just thought it was hilarious.

Also, the guy in the suit had to be hot right then.