Godzilla 2000 on DVD

A Tongue in Cheek Monster Hit

Here's a movie that proves you just can't keep a good man in a suit down.

Godzilla 2000 is a real Godzilla movie, as opposed to that overblown thing created by Dean Devlin and Roland Emmerich a couple of years ago.

Oh sure, those guys had the technology - but they didn't have Toho films' attitude. The slogan "Get Ready to Crumble" says it all: strap yourself in for another round of Japan-bashing - and we don't mean racist comments!

Godzilla 2000 is from Toho films, who've brought us the rest of the Godzilla movies (excepting the Devlin/Emmerich thing).

They've updated the story and incorporated digital effects, but at heart Godzilla 2000 is what a Godzilla movie should be: a touch silly, but fun and never to be taken seriously.

The film opens with the head unit of the Godzilla Prediction Network cruising its rounds, fully expecting the "King of the Monsters" to rear its ugly head at any time. It does, of course, coming ashore and starting to crunch whatever's in its path.

Unfortunately, another group of Crisis Control people don't share GPN's wish to capture and study Godzilla; they want to off the big beast once and for all, and have brought out some heavy equipment to facilitate the task.

Meanwhile, on the sea bottom (where an abundance of Japanese monsters seem to be born), a meteorite is brought to the surface - and then turns out to be an alien vessel of some sort.

Ah, an enemy for Godzilla to fight!

The story blends current issues like the environment and energy needs with traditional Godzilla fare like funny dialog, "men in suit" monsters (though the suits are actually pretty good), and much mayhem as miniature Japan is trashed. Add in relatively cheesy computer generated effects (which makes them a perfect match for this film) and you have a Godzilla movie that's nothing short of a real hoot.

The DVD is presented in digitally mastered anamorphic widescreen video and Dolby Digital 5.1 surround audio. The picture is a tad grainy, but this must have been deliberate because the "Godzilla 2000" logo at the beginning is crystal clear - and it doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things anyway because it merely adds to the "camp" effect of the overall production. Audio quality is very good, though all the explosions and stuff didn't shake our home theater as much as we thought they should.

Extras include an audio commentary, some behind the scenes footage (Think the monster's computer generated? Watch these parts!), trailers, talent files (including a bio of the "big guy" himself), and production notes.

Godzilla 2000, from Columbia Tristar Home Video
94 min, Widescreen (1.85:1) 16x9 compatible, Dolby Digital
Starring Takehiro Murata, Hiroshi Abe, Godzilla
Produced by Shogo Tomiyama
Written by Kiroshi Kashiwabara and Witaru Mirmura, directed by Takao Okawara

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