All Monsters Attack (DVD)

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All Monsters Attack DVD review (click for larger image)Reviewed by Uncle Creepy

Starring Tomonori Yazaki, Eisei Amamoto, Sachio Sakai, Kazuo Suzuki

Directed by Ishirô Honda

Distributed by Classic Media


There’s nothing like a good old-fashioned Godzilla flick. You could put one on any time of the day, any day of the week, any week of the year, and I’d watch it. Maybe it’s because of my childhood attachment to these movies that I hold them so dear to my heart. Or maybe, just maybe, it’s because watching a bunch of people in wacky rubber suits blow stuff up is nothing short of chicken fried gold! No matter what the reason, being able to see these flicks remastered and in their original form minus the dubbing (although the good folks at Classic Media include the American versions here, too) is just such a treat! Their latest release? All Monsters Attack, or Godzilla’s Revenge as it was known here in the States.

Meet Ichiro (Yazaki). He’s a little kid with a giant-sized imagination. In fact, his imagination is so big that it allows him to travel to Monster Island to befriend Godzilla’s son, Minillia (WAG-WAH). That’s a good thing, too, because both of our kid-heroes have been having a hell of a time from bullies at school or, in Minilla’s case, a towering creature named Gabara on the island. Together our unlikely twosome learn to become men by building the confidence to stand up to their respective foes, and that’s a lesson neither will forget.

All Monsters Attack DVD review (click for larger image)The only trouble here is that All Monsters Attack is by far the weakest of the series. Why? Because it’s more After School Special than it is true Kaiju film. Yep, this is a Godzilla flick for kids, and as an adult I appreciate it even less. I don’t want one to grow on or life lessons; I want destruction, monster inspired terror, and absolute mayhem. That’s what appealed to me when I was a kid, and that still appeals to me now. I know, I know, there are twenty-odd other films in the series that give us all that, but still. To compound things, most of the monster footage included here is from other films in the series, and that makes this seem like even more of a wasted viewing. Sigh.

Both versions are presented here in pristine condition with the Japanese version clocking in at about five seconds longer. Don’t ask me what scene(s) the extra stuff is in as it’s really too scant of an addition to be pinpointed.

As far as extras go, we get a very competent little package. In addition to the film there’s a lively commentary with Japanophile Richard Pusateri (who’s the dude that coined the the acronym GINO for “Godzilla In Name Only” to describe the monster in the TriStar Godzilla movie), a heartfelt six-minute long biography of Ishirô Honda, and of course the now standard to these releases poster and still galleries. Quick, concise, and good! Just how extras ought to be!

If you’re as big a fan as I am, you’ll want to have this baby in your collection if only to be a completest. People looking for more than just cut and pasted scenes from other, better Godzilla movies are better off just watching them.

Special Features

  • Audio commentary by Richard Pusateri
  • American and Japanese versions of the film
  • Ishirô Honda Biography featurette
  • Poster and still galleries

    Film:

    3 out of 5

    Special Features:

    3 out of 5

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