Movie Name: Godzilla 1985
Rank:

Review:
Unlike the original "Godzilla, King of the Monsters", this "Americanized" version of "Gojira 1984" resists the temptation to completely rewrite the backplot to make the movie more accessible to American audiences. Instead, a number of "meanwhile, back in the United States..." - type scenes are added to "explain" what is going on. Raymond Burr returns in the American version, but not as effectively as in the original. Unfortunately, the other American characters added for the American version are embarrasingly bad. One interesting plot change which did occur: In the Japanese version, a Russian captain dies while heroically attempting to stop the launch of a nuclear missile toward Tokyo [unfortunately, he fails]. In the American version, however, the scene was re-edited to appear as though the the captain was actually attempting to launch the missile, and dies after successfully launching it! Not only did they change the dialogue and move some of the scenes around, they even a new scene showing a hand reaching out and pushing the launch button! Oh well -- this was at the height of the Cold War...

Movie Name: Gojira 1984 (original Japanese version)
Rank:

Review:
This movie, the first of the new series, went a long way toward capturing the feel of the original film. The cinematography is also quite improved from previous movies. For the first time since the original film, it is almost possible to suspend disbelief and actually believe that Godzilla really is hundreds of feet tall. The plot also captures the cold war mentality as it addresses the question of how the world's superpowers would react to a huge radioactive behemoth rising from Tokyo Bay.