Franchises: Godzilla. Son of Godzilla (1967)

This is one of a few Godzilla movies I first saw on television rather than videotape. I don't remember what channel it was (it could've been Sci-Fi Channel), but it was when I was very, very young, when my grandparents had to take care of me while my parents were at work. Whatever channel it was, it was showing monster movies all day, notably The Land That Time Forgot, but I was watching because they kept saying some Godzilla movies were going to be shown soon. However, I was too young to understand that it wasn't going to be until that afternoon, and got really frustrated because I wanted to see Godzilla. Specifically, I remember a part from The Land That Time Forgot, where a creature lies in wait in a river to attack a boat, and I was sure it was Godzilla, only to be frustrated when it turned out to just be a typical dinosaur. Finally, I gave up and went outside to play for a while but left the television on (amazingly, nobody changed the channel during that whole time). I was on the front porch, right outside the living room, and was playing, when I suddenly heard Godzilla's roar. Needless to say, I did my best impression of a rocket and shot back into the house! The movie, indeed, was Son of Godzilla, which I was excited about since it was one I hadn't seen yet, and I just sat there, absolutely glued to the television, for the entire two hours it was on. I also remember that Godzilla vs. The Sea Monster, which I already had on VHS, was on afterward and I wanted to stay until it was over, as I thought there might be another one afterward (I don't know if there was, though). Unfortunately for me, that week was when they were having Bible School and I had to go when Mom arrived from work to pick me up, which was before The Sea Monster was over. Oh, I was so angry at Mom for that. But I digress.

Son of Godzilla tends to be a very polarizing entry, with Godzilla purists tending to absolutely despise it as the first one that was aimed squarely at kids, veering the series even further away from the dark, serious, allegorical tones it started out with. The introduction of "Minya," or "Minilla," Godzilla's pudgy son, as well as the even further humanization of Godzilla himself, in particular, are often cited as huge mistakes on the part of the filmmakers. But, as much as I really enjoy the dark, serious entries, feeling that the original Godzilla, along with a later film, is the absolute best one, and a true cinematic work of art, I'm not at all opposed to a Godzilla, or kaiju film, in general, that's just meant to be entertaining, as long as they succeed on that score. For me, there's room for both the Godzilla who's a bringer of death and destruction, and the campy, silly Godzilla with a tenacious attitude. So, I'll stop beating around the bush and come out and say it: I love this one. So sue me, I really, really enjoy this film. It's silly and ridiculous (although, some of the later films make this one look straightforward, by comparison), and it's very obvious that Toho was really trying to appeal to kids, but, I don't care. Ever since I finally got it on VHS when I was eleven, and later on DVD and Blu-Ray, I've always had a lot of fun with it.

During a stormy night on the South Seas, a plane picks up some unexplained interference, and almost slams into Godzilla, who emerges from the water off to the side. The pilots notice that he's heading towards a small island, Sollgel Island, which seems to be the source of the interference. There, a group of scientists, led by the stern Prof. Kusumi, are secretly conducting weather control experiments in order to make inhospitable lands more fertile for growing food. However, after three months on the hot and humid island, tensions are on the rise, with one man in particular, Furukawa, desperate to go home. Unexpectedly, a reporter named Maki Goro parachutes from a passing plane, having sensed a possible story, and refuses to leave unless he gets one. Reluctantly, the group allows him to stay, forcing him to earn his keep by cooking and cleaning. It turns out that there are large praying mantises, as tall as a human, on the island, and while taking a walk one day, Goro sees a native girl swimming in the ocean, although no one believes him, since the island is supposed to be uninhabited. The experiment soon gets underway, but while it seems successful at first, the unexplained signal that interfered with the plane's instruments do the same to their equipment. This causes a radioactive capsule to detonate in the atmosphere prematurely, causing intense heat and a radioactive storm, with boiling hot rain. After the storm passes, they find that the mantises have become absolutely huge as a result. The giant insects, called Kamacuras, are drawn to a rocky mound and dig out an enormous egg, which they break open to reveal a baby Godzilla. Godzilla himself comes ashore and destroys the scientists' base before heading off to defend the baby, whose cries are the source of the interference. Once he's vanquished the Kamacuras, Godzilla takes the baby in. Goro, meanwhile, meets the native girl, Saeko, and after he introduces her to the team, they all move into her cave. Their biggest priority is to fix the radio and call for help, but with the presence of Godzilla, his son, the Kamacuras, and an enormous spider called Kumonga, as well as a devastating, tropical disease taking hold of the men, that will be easier said than done.

1966 and 1967 are considered the absolute peak of the Japanese kaiju boom, especially 1967, as every major studio in the country produced at least one of these movies, and Ultraman was reigning supreme on television. But because of all this competition, as well as television's ongoing impact on Japanese cinema, the Godzilla series' commercial success was slowly waning, with Godzilla vs. The Sea Monster having been the lowest-grossing one to date. Thus, with the knowledge that children were the only ones still attending these movies in the theater, Son of Godzilla was aimed squarely at them, and the budget cut down all the more. This led Shinichi Sekizawa to write another story set on a tropical island, something he was very adept at, due to his wartime experiences. However, by this point, Sekizawa was starting to grow tired of writing kaiju movies, so he had a protege of his, Kazue Kiba (or Shiba, according to some sources), help him with it. Regardless, Tomoyuki Tanaka didn't like some of Kiba's concepts, leading Sekizawa to write the script that was ultimately shot.

Like before, while the "A-team" of Ishiro Honda, Eiji Tsuburaya, and Akira Ifukube were preoccupied with another film (in this case, King Kong Escapes), the "second tier" group who made Godzilla vs. The Sea Monster was behind Son of Godzilla. Chief among them was Jun Fukuda in the director's chair. Given how little he thought of Godzilla vs. The Sea Monster, and his disinterest in kaiju movies in general, it must've irked him that he was almost immediately pressed into doing another one. However, it again seems to me that he made the most of the situation and the silly script he was given, trying to make the most entertaining film possible. In fact, I find it kind of hard to believe it could come off as delightful and well-made as it is if Fukuda had truly been on autopilot during filming. As we'll see, a lot of the characters are, like before, pretty bland, but, regardless, Fukuda uses his skills at comedy and action very well, and manages to make a monster flick that's quite fast-paced, exciting, and just fun. Maybe he wasn't happy about doing it, but I think he had to have had some heart in it to make the film even halfway watchable. Of course, this is also likely what Teruyoshi Nakano meant when he once described Fukuda as a craftsman who was adept at any subject matter, regardless of whether or not he was personally interested in it. In any case, Toho would bring Ishiro Honda back for the next couple of films, but if Fukuda thought that meant he was done with Godzilla, he was very wrong.

There are many correlations between Godzilla vs. The Sea Monster and this film, but a most unfortunate one is that the characters, while likable, are pretty bland overall. That goes for Akira Kubo as Maki Goro, the reporter/photographer who parachutes down to the island because he smells a good story. He's a pretty fair, heroic lead during the latter part of the film, but that's virtually all there is to him, save for his determination to get a scoop. In fact, despite what I just said, I hesitate to really call him a main character because, save for introducing Saeko to the group, he doesn't do anything all that important and is mostly a bystander and hired hand for the team. He spends a good chunk of the first half of the movie taking pictures of the operation (which the lead scientists allow, even though they initially told him they didn't want a story done on them), cooking and cleaning for everyone, and either running from or helping to fend off the monsters. Notably, he's the one who first sees Saeko, and you wouldn't be wrong in guessing that he'll eventually befriend and become something of a romantic interest for her. His most eyebrow-raising moment, though, is when he actually mistakes Minya for Godzilla himself! I think David Kalat is right when he comments that Goro needs glasses. I apologize if it looks like I'm struggling in talking about Goro, but these types of bland, leading man characters don't offer much for discussion. There are some humorous moments with him, however, like how, when he first refuses to leave, he sits down at a table, crosses his arms like a spoiled child, and stays there until nightfall, all while still wearing his life-jacket. Later, when he's preparing to make stewed vegetables for dinner, he's told that one of the team members used the bin he's using to wash a pair of boxers earlier! The expression on his face when he looks at the vegetables after learning that is pretty funny. I also chuckle at how, near the end of the movie, when the weather experiment has proved successful, Goro sneezes mid-sentence while telling Prof. Kusumi and Fujisaki about the rapidly falling temperature (it sounds the funniest in the Japanese version).

Saeko (Beverley Maeda), or "Reiko" in both of the English dubs, is also pretty bland. Granted, she's certainly beautiful, as well as compassionate, befriending and feeding Minya when he first hatches. Significantly, when she joins up with the team, she gives them a new place to stay after Godzilla wrecks their base, and helps them out when many of them become ill with a high fever by telling them of a red lake whose water can cure it. She also aids them in calling for help when Kumonga traps them inside her cave. And, of course, she becomes particularly close to Goro. But, despite her good qualities, Saeko is not only bland but there are things about her character that are just odd. For instance, there's no reason why she initially hides from the scientists. You learn she's the daughter of an archeologist who remained on the island after World War II and, as a result of her growing up there, is naïve about the civilized world, not even knowing what Tokyo or cities are, but that doesn't explain why she felt the need to keep herself hidden or why she ducked out of sight when Goro first saw her swimming. Some sort of explanation, no matter how small, like maybe her father didn't trust the mainland due to the war and that distrust trickled down to his daughter, would've helped. Also, Saeko tends to let things get pretty bad before she reveals that there's a solution. She lets this tropical disease torment the men for a good while before revealing that there's some special water that can cure it. Furthermore, when Goro prepares to go for it, that's when she decides to tell him that Godzilla and Minya are living near the water, and that you also have to go by Kumonga's valley in order to get there. That information would have been nice to know beforehand, lady! And she also lets everyone sit around in her cave, completely downtrodden by the fact that they're trapped in there by Kumonga, before telling them of an underwater tunnel that leads to the outside. In other words, she's of the, "You didn't ask," type.

King Kong vs. Godzilla's Tadao Takashima returns to the series as Prof. Kusumi. But unlike the comedic role of Sakurai, Kusumi is the very stern leader of the Sollgel Island weather control operation, one whose brilliance is matched only by how much of a taskmaster he is. During the relatively short amount of time they've been on the island, he's really been pushing his men to have 100% focus, and isn't someone who suffers fools, as Morio finds out at the beginning of the movie when he attempts to shorthand his inspection of one of the silver iodine towers. This has created some tension between Kusumi and the men, and he isn't too fond of Goro when he first arrives and is reluctant to allow him to stay. Though he does relent on that opinion, his patience with the reporter, no matter how friendly they do become, can wear a little thin, as you see in the scene where Goro is following him into the jungle, constantly taking pictures of him. Although the first attempt at the experiment goes horribly wrong and creates a powerful radioactive storm that douses the island in boiling hot rain, Kusumi intends to continue with it, with one man even saying that setbacks only encourage him to try harder. But, as things get progressively worse, with Godzilla having destroyed their base, the men weakened both physically and mentally by the fever, and other monsters like the Kamacuras and Kumonga lurking about, Kusumi decides to give up and concentrate on escaping the island. Ironically, not long after he makes this decision, he realizes that performing the experiment and freezing the monsters along with the island may be the only way they can escape. The second attempt proves successful, and when everyone has gotten off the island and see that it's now snowing, Kusumi has a look of pride on his face. (If you think about it, though, the experiment didn't really aid in them escaping, as Godzilla and Minya were too busy battling Kumonga to worry about the humans. They actually could've escaped without doing it.)

Akihiko Hirata is here again as Fujisaki, Prof. Kusumi's second-in-command, and it's actually his largest role in a Godzilla movie since he was Dr. Serizawa in the original. Unfortunately, as tended to happen, Hirata is unable to bring much depth to his character, as Fujisaki only comes across as a less stern authority figure. Significantly, after Goro arrives, Fujisaki is the one who suggests they put him to work cooking and cleaning in order to take that load off of them. Among the men, he's the one most devoted to helping Kusumi complete the experiment, never once questioning him, and is even quite shocked late in the film when the professor says he must give up on his life's work so everyone can get off the island safely. He's so willing to help Kasumi that he goes as far as to say they can't call for help because the radio was damaged by the radioactive storm, when, in reality, he broke it on purpose (in the Japanese version, that is; in the English versions, it still works but he just says it doesn't). After they move into Saeko's cave, Fujisaki spends the rest of the film trying to fix the radio after it  was really put out of commission when Godzilla destroyed the base, as well as helps tend to the men when they come down with the fever.

The most memorable character is Yoshio Tsuchiya as Furukawa, who's on the brink of a complete mental breakdown from the beginning, and is the closest the film has to a non-monster antagonist. Fed up with being stuck on the unbearably hot, humid island, and tired of Prof. Kusumi's taskmaster ways, Furukawa is especially unfriendly towards Goro and his curiosity about the island. When Goro first mentions seeing Saeko and asks that they postpone the experiment until they've found her and gotten her out of harm's way, Furukawa yells at him to not interfere and that he wants the test to be done with so he can go home, before stomping off to his room. His mental status only deteriorates after the first attempt at the experiment goes awry, as he has a very forlorn look on his face when he overhears someone mention that this setback will only encourage Kusumi to continue on. That night, while Kusumi is assessing the damage from the radioactive storm and the necessary repairs, Furukawa breaks and says he quits. And when Goro tells Kusumi that he should continue with his work, Furukawa almost attacks him and has to be restrained. This, coupled with the radio being out of order, causes him to completely snap the next day. He starts shooting his rifle, and when Fujisaki confronts him and asks him if he's lost his mind, he just looks at him and laughs with a crazed expression on his face, before running off to the beach. Only Godzilla's sudden arrival puts a temporary halt to his breakdown. He later catches the fever and becomes delirious from it, picking up his rifle and shooting at the ceiling of Saeko's cave. When the others try to wrestle the gun away from him, he accidentally grazes Kusumi's arm with a bullet and collapses from exhaustion, allowing Saeko to give him the red water. After he's rid of the fever and comes to his senses, you hear that he feels really low about shooting Kusumi. Thus, when the professor says their experiment may be the only way to escape, Furukawa, determined to make up for his mistakes, is eager to help with preparations. At the end of the movie, when everyone has gotten off the island and the experiment has proved a success, Furukawa seems not only genuinely happy for Kusumi, but also seems to take some pride in it himself.

Everyone else is pretty much faceless and interchangeable. In fact, save for Kenji Sahara as Morio, I'm unsure of some of their names. I've learned that the one guy who tells Fujisaki that working for Dr. Kusumi may be a great honor but he's a little too demanding, and later tells Goro how maddening being stuck on the island has been for them, is Ozawa (Kenichiro Maruyama), but the other two guys, Tashiro (Seishiro Kuno) and Suzuki (Yasuhiko Saijo), I have no clue. I know

one is a much shorter guy who, once they're able to go outside after the radioactive storm, notes that they were almost roasted by the intense heat, but I'm not sure if the other even has any dialogue! Morio, however, is memorable, mainly because he's played by Sahara, but also because he does have some amusing moments, like at the beginning when he reports in and Prof. Kusumi chews him out for trying to skip the details of his inspection, and because he's the one who used that bin Goro was going to use to prepare dinner to wash his

boxers. He also seems to be quite a cheery fellow, despite the circumstances of his situation. And for those who like to play spot the actor in these movies, Chotaro Togin, who played Ichino in the previous film, is one of the men on the plane during the opening, and Osman Yusaf, who played one of the submariners in King Kong vs. Godzilla, is the submarine captain at the end.

Godzilla vs. The Sea Monster and Son of Godzilla have always fit together for me, with one playing right off the other. Besides how, together, they mark the point where the franchise started to change direction towards a very campy and silly approach that would appeal more to children, as well as when a new creative team began to step in, what immediately comes to mind when I think of them is how they both take place on tropical islands (I'm surprised these films were never released together in some sort of two-pack called,

"Godzilla's South Seas Adventures,"). But while each of them effectively exudes the look and feel of their setting, Son of Godzilla is practically dripping with it, which is why it really appeals to my personal love for it. Save for the opening with the plane, we're on the island for the entire film this time around, and get to explore it more, whereas in Godzilla vs. The Sea Monster, Letchi wasn't explored that much because the characters were busy contending with the Red Bamboo. We get to see virtually every part of Sollgel Island, from the

lush jungles and grassy fields, with a lake in the interior, to the shoreline and the rockier areas, such as the quarry near the lake of red water where Godzilla and Minya take up residence, and Kumonga's valley. While the scenes at the base and inside Saeko's cave were shot on actual sets and soundstages, there was a fair amount of location work done, notably on Guam and some spots around Japan. But, as beautiful as the place is, the movie gets across how being there for several

months isn't exactly fun in the sun. The base and the silver iodine towers being the only bits of civilization gets across just how isolated the men are, and that they've been cooped up together within the base's claustrophobic confines. What's more, the punishing heat and humidity are very apparent, with the characters often sweaty, and the bright cinematography, while bringing out the lushness of the environment, also creates a feel of the sun constantly bearing down on them. Thus, it's understandable why tempers are beginning to flare. And then, there's the tropical disease that causes the men to develop dangerous fevers. 

Even though he was mainly writing what he knew, and doing so here to save money, I have to think Shinichi Sekizawa understood that a tropical island is a really good setting for this type of science fiction movie. For one, you just naturally expect to see dinosaurs and monsters appear in jungles on isolated pieces of land like Sollgel Island (which can be seen as the prototype for Monster Island, developed in the following films as the home of Godzilla and the other monsters that have appeared in the series). For another, I like that

aforementioned feeling of isolation that comes with it, both in the men being away from the mainland and their day-to-day lives for so long, and how their little base is all that protects them from the jungle, which is crawling with monsters. And after Godzilla wrecks the base, they have to seek shelter in the primitive conditions of Saeko's cave, which Kumonga eventually turns into a deathtrap.

Also like the previous movie, while Son of Godzilla is, for the most part, meant to be just pure entertainment, there is a little more meaning to it than you might think. As Matt Paprocki, again writing for DoBlu.com, says in his review of the film's Criterion Collection release, the main theme here is Japanese idealism, with parallels to what Japanese soldiers went through when they were stationed in the Pacific during World War II. While everyone else works dutifully to complete the weather control experiment, Furukawa has a

complete mental breakdown from the isolation, stress, and sweltering heat and humidity, as a number of soldiers likely did (Sekizawa would likely know, given his own wartime experiences). What's more, like the troops, the team suffer from a bad tropical disease and are ultimately forced to hide out in a cave, with the only difference being due to monsters rather than enemy attack. There's also an unsettling notion to the experiment's very nature. While it's being done with the best of intentions, and Prof. Kusumi says they're keeping it

secret for the time being because they know this type of power could be abused, they don't seem to consider that this is still a major case of tampering with nature. Kusumi describes biomes like Siberian tundra, African deserts, and South American jungles as useless "wastelands," but that's only in regards to those who don't actually live there, and he doesn't think about the negative effects changing the weather conditions could have, not only for people who do live there but for the native wildlife

and the environments themselves. In fact, we see this potential danger firsthand when the first attempt goes awry and Sollgel Island is hit with a brutal radioactive storm that causes intense heat, boiling hot rain, and mutates the already large Kamacuras into giants. While not nuclear weapons tests, these experiments still involve radiation being sent up into the atmosphere, and the fallout is virtually the same. And yet, by the end of the movie, they've successfully frozen the island, forcing Godzilla and Minya into hibernation, and it's meant to be a joyous occasion, since science has succeeded.

Those opposed to humanizing Godzilla are this film's major detractors, as this is one of his most anthropomorphic portrayals in the entire series. I, however, enjoy his rather nicely-plotted character arc here. When he first appears, he's the same tenacious, violent monster as before, and while he does come in to save Minya from the Kamacuras, he doesn't seem to think of him as anything other than a helpless creature that he's obligated to protect. He's annoyed when the baby gets in the way of the fight and has to pull him back by the tail, and after he vanquishes the Kamacuras, he turns and whacks Minya in the back of the head with his tail, unintentionally, then just walks off, leaving the helpless newborn behind. However, he comes back and allows Minya to get up on his tail for a ride, suggesting he just thought he was following him and then realized he wasn't. Since Godzilla has never had to deal with infants before, he probably doesn't realize that a newborn creature like Minya can't just follow him. Some time later, when Minya has grown larger and is now around half Godzilla's size, we see that he's accepted his newfound responsibility as a father, albeit a very stern and intimidating one. He's obviously irritated when Minya's fooling around with his tail while he's trying to sleep, and he has to deal with the child throwing a tantrum when he won't do what he's told (the funny thing about the latter instance is that Godzilla picks up Minya's tail and drags him away while he's still screaming, and at one point, he stops and growls at him, as if he's telling him to shut up). When Goro and Saeko watch him trying to teach Minya how to roar and fire an atomic blast, Goro comments that Godzilla is like the many strict, Japanese parents who won't let their kids play and insist they study (reminds me of the way Chi-Chi treated Gohan). In fact, he gets so frustrated with Minya when he's trying to teach him how to do an atomic blast that he raises his hand, as if he's about to slap him! But that cruel gesture is defused when, after Minya spits the atomic blast when Godzilla steps on his tail for the necessary pressure, Godzilla pats him on the head and later allows the kid to sleep beside him. So at the very least, Godzilla does give Minya some affection when necessary. Nowhere is that more evident than during the film's ending. Not only does he come to Minya's aid when he's about to be killed by Kumonga, and the two of them work together to defeat the giant spider, with Godzilla appearing to be proud of his son when it's over, but when the island is freezing and Minya falls in the snow, Godzilla comes over and puts his arms around him so they can share body warmth. The two of them then go into hibernation, and it's one of the series' most genuinely touching moments. 

But as much as I may like Godzilla's portrayal, I absolutely despise this suit, and I know I'm not alone in that. From what I can gather, the reason for this off-putting design is because they designed Minya first and then made Godzilla look more like him, which was such a bad move. I mean, just look at him! Do I need to go into detail as to why he looks like shit? The head and the face are the worst, with the big, bug eyes and heavy eyebrows, which sit high atop the head, the wide mouth, short snout, and pug-like nose. The rest of the body

doesn't like that great, either: the neck is long and thick, the dorsal plates look misshapen, the hands are a bit awkward, and Godzilla looks much chubbier than in the last few films. Even the tail is off, as it looks crooked near the tip in some shots, and when he's sitting down, the legs suddenly look very short and stumpy. During Godzilla's first two appearances, at the beginning of the movie and when he officially enters the story at the thirty-minute mark, it's the suit from the previous two movies, which, of course, looks

nothing like the abomination we're stuck with for the duration, making our first look at it all the more jarring (a small precursor to the cutting back and forth to footage from different movies in All Monsters Attack later on). That suit was clearly not in good shape by this point, especially after what it went through in the previous movie, which is why they used it for the water scenes, but one wishes they had repaired it as much as they could, as it still looks so much better than the suit they went

with. Speaking of those first two appearances, they're the only instances here where Godzilla is played by Haruo Nakajima; the main suit, which was made much larger than normal so it would tower above Minya, was far too big for him. At first, Seiji Onaka, a baseball player and bit player, was hired because of his tall stature, but either right before filming or immediately after it started (depending on the source), he broke his hand. Thus, Nakajima's buddy, Hiroshi Sekida, was the

one who played Godzilla for the rest of the movie. If you're familiar with Nakajima's body language, you can tell it's not him in there, as Godzilla doesn't quite have that energetic, brash attitude Nakajima had firmly developed by this point, and he also often stands up completely straight, which makes this suit all the more off-putting.

Godzilla's vocalizations have more variety here. His main roar goes back and forth from the harsh sound it's had since Mothra vs. Godzilla to a fuller and warmer, a tone which would be used for the entirety of Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla later on. I'm pretty sure this is also the last time you hear the version of the roar that has a very angry-sounding start to it. Godzilla also makes a lot of grunts and groans, such as a loud one that's a combination of a roar and grunt, another that, to me, sounds like loudly creaking metal (I say that because I first

noticed it in Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla and initially thought it was Mechagodzilla's leg creaking), and some annoyed-sounding groans he makes whenever Minya gets on his nerves or when he's frustrated with him. Combined with his head movement, the groan he makes when he has to pull Minya away during the fight with the Kamacuras has a ring of, "Oh, God," about it and is pretty funny, as is the groan he makes towards Minya after the child has jumped onto and fallen off his tail. Those groans, which were also uttered by King Kong in the same year's King Kong Escapes, would be heard again in Godzilla vs. Megalon, which is where I first heard them.

Undoubtedly, the most hated aspect of the film is the son of Godzilla himself, Minya (or Minilla in the Japanese version, but I always call him Minya, since that's the name I'm the most familiar with; he's actually never given a name here but, whatever). Be it for his design, his extremely child-like personality, or because he's associated with the period where many feel Godzilla lost his balls and became too family friendly, you can think of Minya as the franchise's equivalent of Scrappy-Doo. I, however, have never hated Minya... at least, not in this film. I can't stand him in Godzilla's Revenge, but we'll talk about that soon enough. (The preview for that film on that VHS of Godzilla vs. Monster Zero I constantly rented was where I first saw him and so, like Ebirah, I instantly recognized him when I saw this film for the first time. I was actually expecting him to start talking here but, of course, he never did). Actually, I think he's kind of cute here, and also find myself feeling sympathy for him a lot of the time, like when the Kamacuras break his egg open and force him to hatch, before poking him with their claws. It's that he's a defenseless newborn and is making those cries, and thus, I love when Godzilla comes in and beats on the Kamacuras. I also feel bad for Minya when Godzilla seems to walk away and leave him while, as a newborn, he's unable to walk and can barely even crawl. But, fortunately, Godzilla does come back and take the baby with him. When he matures a bit and starts walking on his hind-legs, many point out that he acts more like a human child than a baby monster, and they're right, but I think it works well for this type of movie. I like seeing him kick a rock around and then try to jump over Godzilla's tail as it moves back and forth on the ground while he's sleeping. I do laugh when Godzilla makes Minya go back to their lair, and he drops to the ground and throws a tantrum, forcing Godzilla to drag him away by the tail. And I like how, when Godzilla is trying to teach him to fire an atomic blast, he seems to think he hurt himself when he demonstrates it and rushes to him, and when he manages to fire it on his own, he gets real excited. I could go on about other stuff I like about Minya, such as how excited he gets whenever he sees Saeko because he expects to be fed some fruit, or how he's clearly concerned for his dad during their climactic fight with Kumonga when the spider's webbing seems to overwhelm him and he does what he can to help, but I think you get the idea.

While I do think it was a mistake to design Minya first and then make Godzilla resemble him, I don't hate the way he himself looks. Granted, while I know they were really trying to go for kids, he is a little more goofy-looking than Godzilla's son should be, with those big eyes, dopey-looking face, and plump body that is very clearly made of rubber, but I can overlook it. I also like that they actually put enough thought to show Minya grow from a brown, embryonic newborn that can't walk (although he can apparently stand, as seen in one

shot), to a gray-colored toddler (played by former midget wrestler, Masao Fukuzawa, or Little Man Machan) that's already a little under half his dad's size. But then, there's the question of whether he really is Godzilla's son or if he's just another of his species, since the mother is never mentioned or ever seen (as is case with all incarnations of Godzilla's child throughout the series). Ultimately, there's no concrete answer to this question, and it's not vital to enjoy the movie, but as I've said countless times, it's one of those things that's fun to

think about. At first, Minya's only special ability is spitting radioactive smoke rings, which do seem to hurt one of the Kamacuras when it hits in the right spot but, otherwise, don't do much damage. However, after Godzilla steps on his tail while trying to teach him to do it correctly, Minya is able to sporadically fire an atomic blast. He does it all the way through the final battle with Kumonga, although it doesn't seem to damage the spider that much, though it can melt his webbing a little bit.

Minya makes all sorts of childlike sounds, the most common of which is a distinctive cooing, and he also makes a noise that actually sounds like he's saying, "Papa!" Other vocalizations include a high-pitched, whining shriek he does whenever he's under duress (notably when he throws his temper tantrum), some low "shoo" sounds, a harsh screech when he's really freaked out or in trouble, like when he's being webbed up by Kumonga, and some irritated/anguished groans after Kumonga has completely webbed him up.

Like Ebirah and the giant condor, the other monsters are pretty basic, as they're just giant bugs, but one of them is pretty bad-ass, regardless. The first we see are the Kamacuras, large praying mantises that start out as tall as humans but grow to about Godzilla's size as a result of the radioactive storm. There are three in all but two of them are killed by Godzilla when he comes to save Minya, while the last one remains a minor antagonist until it's killed by Kumonga near the end of the movie. As giant insects, the Kamacuras don't have personalities; they just roam around the island and attack anything they see as a possible meal, particularly the humans. They're also able to sense Minya's egg, even though it's buried in a mound, probably due to the energy his cries for Godzilla emit. The last Kamacuras seems to have something of a persona, as it claps its claws together after whacking Minya during their one-on-one fight, and seems to enjoy knocking the young monster around in general. Also, the entire group works together during their fight with Godzilla, attempting to catch him off-guard, but there's little else to say about them as "characters." 

They are very well-designed, though, effectively coming off like real insects (although their claws are different from those of actual mantises: one is a straight, narrow barb and the other is broader and curved, with serrations on the underside). They move like real insects too, with their six legs operating in tandem when they walk, and their bodies bend like they're separated into three segments. This is doubly impressive since they were actually large marionettes, about the size of a person, and were not only a pain to maneuver but

their claws were potentially dangerous, as they were made of iron. Their bright red and orange coloring, with their orange eyes that glow in the dark, make them all the more distinctive and, like Ebirah, surprisingly appealing to look at. What's not so appealing are the close-ups of their nasty, hairy mandibles. They hiss in a manner that the monster called Manda does in the next film, Destroy All Monsters (I've never seen Atragon, so I don't know if Manda did it there) and emit high-pitched screeches, some of which sound like they were borrowed from Minya, while their bodies make a distinct crunching sound when they move.

Far deadlier than the Kamacuras is Kumonga, an enormous spider we first hear about when Prof. Kusumi reads Prof. Matsumiya's notes. A very lethal predator who stays underground in a valley and digs himself out whenever he senses prey nearby, Kumonga moves quite fast for something so big and his webbing is extremely strong and durable, with heat the only thing that can destroy it. While he can't see very well, as shown when it takes him a while to realize Goro and Saeko climbed out of the large crevice he trapped them in during his first appearance, he makes up for it not only with his aforementioned size, agility, and strong webbing, but also cunning. He learns that the humans are staying in Saeko's cave and spins a web outside the entrance, then waits for them to come out. Kumonga is so big and deadly that he's able to make a meal out of the last Kamacuras and almost kills Minya with a venomous barb he jabs out of his mouth. And while Godzilla does come to his son's rescue and frees him from the webbing, Kumonga proves to be a tough opponent even for him, as he overwhelms him with his webbing, stabs him in the eye with the barb, and shrugs off his atomic blast and beatings with a very tough exoskeleton. It takes a good number of blasts and finally a combination of both Godzilla and Minya's to put him down for the count. 

As good as the Kamacuras props are, the one for Kumonga is even more impressive, due to its sheer size (it was sixteen-feet across and could be reared up on the tips of its legs to match Hiroshi Sekida in the Godzilla suit), design, and the operation of its eight legs, which took nearly twenty puppeteers. Again, knowing what a chore that must've been to get the legs well-coordinated, it's amazing how they were able to make the marionette's movements feel akin to those of an actual spider. Being someone who's fairly arachnophobic, it

actually gives me shivers just thinking about it. They also made use of a full-sized leg prop for moments when he tries to reach in and drag away his prey. Kumonga's also really cool-looking in regards to the specifics of his design: a mostly gray-black color scheme, with yellow stripes on the legs and abdomen, numerous purple, glowing eyes, a hook at the end of each leg, twitching mandibles, and an overall hairiness, especially on the legs, that brings to mind real spiders. Like

Mothra's larval form, he sprays webbing from his mouth, and it's made from the same material as well (the actual webbing looks like it's made of paper to me, though). Kumonga has a short, shallow vocalization that sounds like, "Chew, chew!", his legs make a constant warbling sound whenever he's moving, and the sound of his webbing shooting is, indeed, the same as larval Mothra.

As with Godzilla vs. The Sea Monster, Sadamasa Arikawa was special effects director (this time actually getting credit as such), and with a similar setting and even lower budget, the only miniature buildings he to shoot getting crushed are the fairly small and sparse number of dwellings and buildings at the scientists' base. The optical effects also aren't nearly as good as they have been in previous films, as the matted elements often look noticeably washed out and even a bit fuzzy against everything else in the frame, and there are many

obvious matte lines. And there's a really bad puppet of Saeko used when she walks away from Minya after she feeds him for the first time. I always noticed it on the badly cropped VHS version I had for years, and while it doesn't look so bad when you watch the movie in widescreen, it's still pretty abysmal, regardless. But that doesn't mean there's no good effects work to be found in Son of Godzilla at all. You have all those well-executed puppet effects for the Kamacuras and

Kumonga; what miniature buildings there are are still nicely designed and detailed, and quite large, particularly in the case of the silver iodine towers; miniature sets for the island landscape that are quite nice to look at (although, you can clearly see the lines on the backdrop due in the high-definition transfers); a sequence depicting the radioactive storm's devastation of the island, which involves rushing, boiling water, bending trees, and roaring

winds; well-done effects for when the water around the island is freezing at the end; and monster battles that are well choreographed, entertaining, and even touching at points. And honestly, even the flawed effects work here are better than some we're going to see in the later, much cheaper movies.

The first act goes at a fairly leisurely pace, leading up to the first major scene with the monsters. Beforehand, we have small scenes, like the opening where the plane is lost in the storm due to its malfunctioning equipment and it nearly runs into Godzilla. After that, they see him wading towards Sollgel Island and speculate that something is calling him to it. Following the opening credits sequence, introducing Morio and Furukawa, they hear one of the Kamacuras hissing

in the nearby jungle. Furukawa pulls out his rifle, waiting for it to attack, but it doesn't see them and moves away. That night, after Goro has arrived and is put to work cooking and cleaning, the Kamacuras is heard again, bringing the others running outside. There's an eerie shot of its orange, glowing eyes roaming about in the foliage, and Goro promptly grabs his camera. He manages to snap a shot, as the creature walks about the camp's outskirts. After he takes another picture, Furukawa 

fires at the Kamacuras sending it back into the jungle. Goro actually tries to follow it but is stopped by Fujisaki, who tells him it's too dangerous to go into the jungle at night. Following that, there's the first attempt at the weather control experiment, which goes smoothly, until they send up the radioactive capsule and are hit with the same electronic interference as before. Unable to detonate it properly, the capsule explodes in the atmosphere, generating the devastating radioactive storm (in the Japanese version and both English

dubs, a random narrator, who's never heard before or after, notes the storm's extreme effects). We see palm leaves wilting from the intense heat, the raging winds, and the boiling hot rain that engulfs and ravages the island. Once the storm has settled, Goro and Prof. Kusumi head out into the jungle, where they come upon one of the Kamacuras, now gigantic as a result of the radiation. Though it doesn't see them, another appears behind them, forcing them to take cover at a nearby iodine tower. Kusumi attempts to contact the base with the

tower's phone, but finds it disabled. They both duck within the tower's door, watching as the Kamacuras walks right by them. They then have to take cover again when a third one appears and walks by. Once it's passed, they watch as all three converge on a nearby rocky mound. They start smashing and digging into it with their claws, unearthing Minya's enormous egg.

The editing of the next couple of scenes is a bit confusing. The movie suddenly cuts from the shot of the egg to that night at the base, where the men encounter Saeko when she takes a shirt Goro has on the clothesline, and then, it's daytime again and the Kamacuras have surrounded the egg again. It implies that, after uncovering it, they simply left it there overnight and came back the next day, which doesn't make much sense. Regardless, as Goro and Morio watch, the Kamacuras use their claws to

crack the shell open, and poor Minya flails out of it and onto the ground, completely defenseless. The Kamacuras begin poking at him and knocking him about. Around this same time, Fujisaki chases a deranged Furukawa to the shore, when they see something swimming towards them. Godzilla emerges from the ocean and, as the men rush back, approaches the shore and heads inland, right for the base. Everyone frantically takes cover as Godzilla, clearly not happy about finding humans there,

marches in and deliberately smashes everything he sees with his feet and tail. Upon hearing Minya's cries, he follows them and comes upon the Kamacuras, as they continue poking and prodding the newborn. He roars a challenge and one Kamacuras responds by putting its foot on top of Minya. Godzilla doesn't like the sight of that and charges at them. Another Kamacuras lunges straight for him and grapples with him, but he manages to make it let go with an elbow-jab to the back, then lifts the mantis up into the air and slams

it down hard. Minya, who managed to crawl away, stops in front of Godzilla and looks up at him, making some baby noises. Godzilla looks down at him momentarily, but then looks back up and roars another challenge to the other Kamacuras. One of them tries to fly away, but he fries it with an atomic blast, sending a burning leg whirling into the jungle and hittting the ground right in front of Goro and Morio, who decided to get away before they got caught up in the battle. The two of them run through the jungle in a panic, when they become separated, and Goro falls through a large hole hidden by the foliage. 

Godzilla kicks a rock at one of the other Kamacuras, which knocks it over to its partner. The other knocks it back and forth on the ground with its claws, and then, as Godzilla watches closely, it knocks the rock back to its partner. The other Kamacuras knocks it back over to its partner, who whacks the rock and sends it hurtling at Minya, hitting him in the face. Godzilla looks down at Minya when he screams, and one Kamacuras takes the opportunity to fly at him but it misses and lands

in the jungle behind them. Minya then begins to crawl forward and Godzilla, groaning in apparent annoyance, grabs his tail and pulls him back a bit. While he's distracted again, the other Kamacuras charges and manages to hit him in the face and knock him onto the ground. This prompts the one that fell behind him to fly at him as well. However, that proves to be a fatal mistake, as Godzilla quickly gets to his feet, grabs the upper part of that Kamacuras (in the wide shot of this action, the camera pulls back and briefly exposes the top of

the miniature set's backdrop), and brutally slams it up and down, knocking off one limb, which then lands right in front of Minya, before torching its broken body. Seeing this, the last Kamacuras realizes it's outmatched and flies away.

Godzilla roars in triumph, then turns, accidentally knocking Minya in the back of the head with his tail, and walks away, leaving the newborn behind. However, Minya isn't alone. Saeko has been watching the battle from off in the jungle, and once Godzilla is out of sight, she gets Minya's attention by calling to him with a loud, and very eerie, wail she somehow emits by putting her hands in front of her mouth and ululating through them (I really have no clue how that creates such an ungodly 

sound). Once he sees her, Saeko chops off a large jungle melon from a tree and offers it to him. His tail wags excitedly and Saeko motions for him to come closer so she can throw it to him. He does so and gets up on his knees, waiting for her to throw it. When she does, he's able to swallow it in one gulp. But then, Godzilla, realizing that Minya isn't following him, comes back and Saeko retreats into the jungle. Minya turns around to face Godzilla, who turns and slams his tail down in

front of him. After standing up for a little bit (I don't know how Minya can do this if he's a newborn), he realizes what Godzilla wants him to do and climbs up onto his tail, riding on it as his father moves off. Following the scene where Goro meets Saeko, then introduces her to the team, the remaining Kamacuras shows up at what's left of the base. Morio, Furukawa, and Ozawa fire upon it, but it doesn't move budge from its position, and even swipes at them with its claw. Kusumi tells them to draw it away by running into the foliage.

They do so, with Fujisaki taking Ozawa's rifle and joining the others in firing upon it (all while Goro takes pictures), and after it tries to get at them again, it gives up and moves off. Once it's gone, Goro suggests they move the undamaged equipment into Saeko's cave.

We then get into some cutesy stuff between Godzilla and Minya. At their lair by the red water, Minya, who's noticeably grown in a short amount of time, is kicking around a rock, while Godzilla's trying to sleep. After he slips on the rock and falls on his butt, he kicks it a little more, then becomes interested in Godzilla's tail, which sways back and forth while he's sleeping. Minya tries to jump over it, but ends up tripping and falling on top of it. Minya looks up with a face that clearly says, "Oh,

no, I'm in trouble," and Godzilla does wake up for a bit and look at him, but then closes his eyes again. Minya gets to his feet and jumps over Godzilla's tail, as it continues swaying. But at one point, he lands right on top of it. He manages to briefly balance himself, but almost immediately loses it and falls backward. Godzilla wakes up again and groans at him, possibly telling him to go play somewhere else, before going back to sleep. Minya gets up and goes off to find something else

to do. He comes across Goro and Saeko, and while Goro panics and tries to run off with Saeko, because he thinks it's Godzilla (again, how in the hell could he think that?), Saeko tells him it's just the young one and that she's friends with him. Minya rubs his stomach, wanting to be fed again, and when Saeko calls to him, he excitedly jumps off the hill he's standing on and squats down nearby, waiting to be tossed some fruit. Saeko cuts loose and throws him another melon, which Minya immediately munches on. But the fun is spoiled

when Godzilla shows up and Goro and Saeko have to flee (somehow, Saeko didn't hear him roar). Minya tries to follow but Godzilla gets in front of him and appears to scold him for interacting with humans. Minya attempts to go past Godzilla but his dad is having none of it and motions for him to go back, which prompts Minya to fall to the ground and throw a tantrum. Godzilla completely ignores his screams and drags him away by the tail.

Later, when Goro and Saeko head for the lake of red water to cure the men of their high fever, and Goro comes dangerously close to awakening Kumonga when he sends some stones tumbling down into his valley, they come upon Godzilla teaching Minya. Well, first Godzilla seems to chew him out a little more for what happened earlier, with Minya putting his head down in terror when Godzilla lets out a loud roar. But then, the teaching commences, with Godzilla first trying to get Minya

to roar. Minya manages to shriek well enough to imitate the demo roar Godzilla gave off, and he nods approvingly. Godzilla then demonstrates his atomic blast, hitting the red water, and Minya runs to him while shrieking, either because he thinks Godzilla hurt himself by doing that or because he's trying to tell him he can't do it. That's when Godzilla raises his hand in a threatening manner and Minya, walking to the edge of the water, reluctantly gives it a try. All that comes out is a

radioactive smoke ring, and Godzilla demonstrates the blast for him again. With his dad's encouragement, Minya tries harder to do the same, and Godzilla gives him a little help by stepping on his tail, resulting in him firing an atomic blast of his own. Minya whines about it, but Godzilla shows him some affection by rubbing his head, before walking off and lying down to go to sleep. Minya attempts the atomic blast again and manages to do it, getting really excited about it. He then goes over and joins his dad, while Goro and Saeko sneak over to the lake and take some of the red water (I don't know if it's safe for the men to drink now, given the number of times it's been blasted with pure radiation).

The next day, Saeko is out in the jungle, picking herbs to help heal the bullet wound Prof. Kusumi received from the delirious Furukawa, when she comes across the last remaining Kamacuras, sleeping in a clearing. She tries to slip away, but the mantis hears her when she bumps against a tree. It turns its head and, when it sees her, immediately goes on the attack, chasing her through the jungle. It chases her over to the rocky hillside beyond the jungle, nearly getting her with its claw when she ducks behind a rocky mound.

She quickly calls for Minya to come and help her, only to get knocked to the ground. Minya shows up just in time and, upon seeing the unconscious Saeko, screeches a challenge at Kamacuras. The insect decides he's not worth the effort, and bends down to devour Saeko. But when Minya burns its face with a hot smoke ring, Kamacuras charges at him. Minya blows another smoke ring but it dissipates in mid-air, and Kamacuras takes the opportunity to knock him to the ground. Shaking it off, Minya gets back on his feet, but when he takes

a step forward, he accidentally sends some rocks tumbling down the slopes and into Kumonga's valley, awakening the giant spider. As Kumonga digs himself out from the dirt, Minya and Kamacuras continue fighting, with Kamacuras whacking Minya and spinning him around like a top. His tail smacks a rock towards Kamacuras, who promptly hits it back at Minya, knocking him right in the head. However, Minya does manage to help save Saeko, as Kamacuras is now so fixated

on fighting him that it's forgotten about her, giving Goro an opportunity to get her to safety when he comes upon the scene. It continuously approaches Minya, backing him away while swiping its claws at him. Minya blows another smoke ring but it, again, proves useless. While Goro and Saeko run for it, Godzilla shows up and blasts Kamacuras right on the head, encouraging it to leave Minya alone. After another blast, the mantis flies away, passing over Goro and Saeko.

The two of them assume that they're now safe, but find that they're very wrong when they look down the slope they're standing on and see Kumonga extricating himself. The two of them make a run for it, as the spider fully uncovers himself and starts up the slope after them. Kumonga shoots his webbing, ensnaring them amongst some rocks. Goro tries in vain to cut the webbing with a knife, but then remember that heat is the only thing that can and pulls out his lighter (which is shaped like a little handgun, I might add). After burning

themselves free, the two run for cover in a large but very narrow crevice in the side of the hill, and are immediately trapped in there. Kumonga stretches one of his long legs inside to try to dig them out, and when that doesn't work, he sprays them with more webbing to ensure they can't escape. Burning themselves free again, they realize their only way out is to climb up onto the rocks. Barely avoiding more strands of webbing as they climb, they make it to the top and quietly slip away, with Kumonga

continuing to spray inside the crevice, unaware that his prey has eluded him. They make their way back into the jungle, coming upon Kusumi attempting to repair the phone at one of the silver iodine towers. They stop to talk with him for a little bit, when Saeko hears something and runs around to the opposite side of the tower to see Kumonga approaching. She yells for them to take cover and they all duck down as the giant spider passes by.

Later, back in the cave, as Goro announces that dinner will be ready soon, Morio wanders up to the entrance, only to immediately come running back down. He tells them that Kumonga is spinning a web right outside. They go out to investigate, and as soon as he sees them, Kumonga lunges at them, forcing them to retreat back inside. He sticks his leg down through the opening and manages to trap one guy underneath the hook at the end. Morio and Fujisaki fire at the leg, and Ozawa stabs at it, while the others manage to pull the man out from under

the hook. After losing his would-be victim, Kumonga sticks his leg deeper into the cave, forcing everyone back up against the wall, fending him off with torches. After failing to snag someone, Kumonga pulls his leg back outside, lying in wait for them to come out. Fujisaki manages to fix the radio, and Goro and Saeko use the cave's underwater entrance to reach the shoreline in order to set up an exterior antenna. While doing so, Minya sees them and approaches, expecting to be fed again. However, as they don't

have time to deal with him, they yell at him to stay back. Once they've activated the antenna, they head back into the cave through the underwater tunnel. Feeling dejected, Minya wanders into the jungle. When he looks over a treeline, he stumbles across Kumonga. Seeing him as a potential meal, the spider goes on the attack. Minya tries to run, but Kumonga stops him in his tracks by spraying him with webbing. Minya's frantic stomping causes the roof of Saeko's cave to begin falling in. When it

briefly stops, Morio heads to the entrance to see what's going on, and is nearly crushed by some more rocks. Managing to look outside, he runs back and tells the others what's going on. Realizing they'll be buried alive for sure if it keeps up, Kusumi decides the experiment is their best bet to get off the island and reach a rescue ship that's already on its way. 

Preparations are then made for the experiment, with Kusumi and Fujisaki remaining in the cave to monitor its progress, while everyone else heads out to the parts of the base that are still intact. As Goro and Saeko prepare an inflatable raft for their escape down by the beach, Minya has been completely webbed up and, even though he's now able to fire his own atomic blast every time, it doesn't do any good against Kumonga. The spider approaches the completely helpless baby kaiju, as he lies on the ground, unable to move, but is then distracted

when Kamacuras stumbles upon the scene. Seeing another meal, Kumonga sprays the mantis with his webbing as well. Kamacuras tries to fly away, but the webbing gums up its wings and it crashes to the ground. With a minute left before the experiment commences, Kumonga continues spraying, as Kamacuras attempts to fly off again but is now definitely unable to. The experiment then begins and the freezing unit is sent up into the sky, while Kumonga continues webbing up Kamacuras. At 700 meters, the unit is detonated, and the explosion

appears to awaken Godzilla, who's been sleeping this whole time. He gets up and walks off to find Minya, while the two towers shoot the silver iodine up into the clouds. Back at the battle, Kumonga approaches the now completely helpless Kamacuras and stabs it with his venomous barb, killing it instantly. As the radioactive capsule is released up into the sky, Kumonga turns around and begins crawling towards Minya, who calls for his dad. Like before, this causes interference with

the capsule's control unit, although it goes away after a little bit. Kumonga is now almost on top of Minya, shooting his barb back and forth in a threatening manner. But Godzilla then arrives and whacks Kumonga in the head with a large rock, sending him falling backwards. Godzilla walks over to Minya and begins pulling the webbing off, but Kumonga manages to right himself and starts spraying him. Godzilla fires his atomic blast in retaliation, but Kumonga isn't affected by this.

After pausing for a bit, he resumes spraying, while Minya manages to get up and take cover behind Godzilla, who fires at the spider again. While that also doesn't hurt Kumonga, it seems like he realizes his webbing isn't doing much against Godzilla and he attempts to crawl away. Godzilla, naturally, isn't going to allow him to escape and starts after him, with Minya following close behind.

After chasing Kumonga into a field, Godzilla blasts him again, getting him right in the face. The spider retaliates by firing his webbing again, and he's now close enough to where it has more of an effect. It overwhelms and causes Godzilla to fall, while Minya looks on helplessly. The radioactive capsule is then detonated at 1,000 meters, and the temperature begins falling rapidly. Godzilla, meanwhile, is still getting webbed up, as Minya does what he can to help. First, he tries to help Godzilla get to his feet, then shoots the webbing

with his own atomic blast, managing to stop it in mid-air. Feeling that Godzilla no longer poses a threat, Kumonga moves in for the kill, while Minya still tries to help. Kumonga, however, made the mistake of not webbing up Godzilla's head, and he blasts the spider back, forcing him into a protective position, with his legs tucked under his body. With the temperature now below freezing, the humans head to the beach. By now, Godzilla has managed to get to his feet, and he stomps over to and kicks the apparently comatose Kumonga flat on his back.

Realizing he might not be dead, however, Godzilla doesn't allow Minya to get too close, as he inspects the spider's body. Godzilla watches his mandibles move back and forth, but seemingly sticks his head too close, prompting Kumonga to stab him in the right eye with his barb. Temporarily blinded and dazed, Godzilla stumbles backwards, holding his eye, as Kumonga flips himself right-side up. Snow begins to fall on the island, as the fight resumes. Godzilla heads right for Kumonga, who stands

straight up on the tips of his legs to reach his level. After a little bit of grappling, Godzilla, who still isn't able to see well, falls backwards, with Kumonga on top of him. Godzilla struggles to get the spider off, when Minya hits him with his atomic blast, forcing him to jump. Kumonga shoots his webbing at Godzilla after he gets to his feet but he manages to stop it in mid-air with his ray. Godzilla's vision is still blurred but it's good enough to where he can see Kumonga coming and

hits him again, this time causing his body to smoke. Now that he's weakened and vulnerable, Godzilla and Minya both finish him off with simultaneous atomic blasts, setting him on fire. Godzilla then regains complete vision in his right eye and roars in triumph, and Minya joins his dad in doing so. The two of them head back, leaving the spider's burning corpse behind.

The island continues freezing, with the snow coming down harder and the water near the shoreline icing over. Weakened by the cold, Minya is unable to keep up with Godzilla and falls down in the snow. He gets back up and attempts to follow, only to fall again. Godzilla is oblivious to this at first, and it even seems like he's going to walk off and leave Minya again. However, he soon realizes Minya can't keep up or even get to his feet now due to the cold. He walks over to him, helps him up, and then holds onto him for shared bodily

warmth. Godzilla seems to be getting weak from the cold as well, and needs Minya's body heat just as much as Minya needs his. The two of them sit in the snow and continue holding each other, with Godzilla standing up at one point to roar, before they begin to hibernate. The humans are picked up by the rescue ship, which turns out to be a submarine, and nearly scares them to death when it gets right on top of them before it surfaces. The film ends with Goro and Saeko watching the island from the submarine's deck, as Goro explains that Godzilla and Minya will live on that island in peace after it unfreezes, and Saeko says a final, soft goodbye to them.

As he did with Godzilla vs. The Sea Monster, Jun Fukuda brought in his pal Masaru Sato for the music; also like before, Sato provides a score that's as memorable as and, at the same time, very different from anything Akira Ifukube would compose. The music keeps with the tone very well, often coming off as light-hearted, exciting, and fun, and no theme exemplifies this better than the silly, upbeat bit of music that plays over the opening credits, which later becomes Minya's leitmotif. Sometimes it's slowed down, like when he's playing with Godzilla's tail, or given a downtrodden feel for when he walks away dejected after Goro and Saeko tell him to go away. Another upbeat and much more adventurous-sounding piece is heard during the latter part of the opening credits and plays whenever something significant is happening, like when they're first preparing to attempt the experiment and during the climax, when they prepare to do it again, while Minya is fighting with Kumonga. Speaking of which, the Kamacuras and Kumonga have their own motifs. The Kamacuras' theme starts out with a constant, rapid beat, and moves into some loud horns that, instead of sounding threatening, soound exciting and thrilling. There's nothing fun about Kumonga's theme, however. It's an eerie, creeping, even otherworldly piece of music that fits nicely with the idea of a giant spider. Weirdly enough, Godzilla himself doesn't have a distinctive motif here. The music that does accompany him, like when he first appears and when he comes after Minya is pretty generic monster movie music and not memorable in the slightest. Despite the movie's silly nature, Sato does create some music for the more serious moments, including a theme that has a rather eerie feel to it, which you hear when the movie first starts and when Godzilla helps Minya with the last Kamacuras, and a very unnerving, shivering string theme when the radioactive capsule is released into the sky during both experiments. The film ends with two very memorable bits of score. One is an usual-sounding but effectively rousing fight theme for the climactic battle (this music would be reused for the initial battle between Mechagodzilla and King Caesar in Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla), and the other starts out rather sad and touching, when Godzilla cuddles Minya in the snow, then swells to a much more upbeat, happy sound after Goro tells Saeko that they're going to be alright. It ends the movie on a perfect note, as the humans are picked up by the submarine and Godzilla and Minya begin to hibernate, waiting for the island to unfreeze so they can spend the rest of their days in peace.

Another connection between Godzilla vs. The Sea Monster and Son of Godzilla is that it was also picked up for American distribution by the Walter Reade Organization and sold directly to American television. This American version, which premiered in 1969, was, again, dubbed by Titra Studios, with Peter Fernandez writing and directing the dub script, as well as voicing Goro (Jack Curtis, who voiced Pops Racer, as well as acted as the narrator of Speed Racer, is heard briefly as the random narrator). As with The Sea Monster, this dub was quite good, with voices that sounded natural and fit their characters very well, especially Fujisaki and Prof. Kusumi. Also like the previous film, there were some minor alterations made but, otherwise, it's virtually as is. Save for the shot of Godzilla walking towards the camera, the entire opening scene with the airplane was completely removed; instead, this version immediately starts up with a generic title card, then transitions into the latter part of the original opening music. Until I saw the uncut version on DVD many years later, I didn't know there was anything missing. The opening credits are also removed but the shots of the island that accompanied them are still present, albeit shortened a little. Some names were also changed. Not only is Saeko renamed Reiko (pronounced "ree-ko") but the Kamacuras are called Gimantises (for giant mantises, which is so corny) and Kumonga is called Spiga (pronounced "spee-gah"), which really confused me as a young kid, since the original Japanese names were used in the Godzilla Compendium, which I had by that point. More so, because they referred to the latter as "a Spiga" a couple of times, I thought the name was "Aspika," pronounced "aah-spee-kah," so I was all mixed up. 

Son of Godzilla was another Showa-era film brought to American DVD for the first time in 2005. Unfortunately, once again, the American dub was replaced by Toho's international dub by Frontier Enterprises. While this one isn't nearly as bad, it's still nowhere near as good or natural as Titra's dub. The voices here are, at best, passable, and at worst, either flat and emotionless or horridly over the top (the voice given to Morio is a really bad example of the latter). What's worse is that there are points where Saeko comes of more like a guy trying to sound like a woman than an actual woman, and she sporadically has the typical primitive speech pattern of referring to herself in the third person. Speaking of which, this version uses the same altered names as the American dub, but some are pronounced differently: Raeko is pronounced "ray-ko" and Spiga is "spy-gah." The Criterion Collection must've also felt that this international dub was an improvement over the previous one, as it's included in their Blu-Ray set. But, again, it's a shame that this is now the only English version you can legitimately buy or stream in this country.

Son of Godzilla is definitely one of the silliest entries in the series, no question, but I also think it's one of the most fun. It moves at a very good pace, the tropical island setting is even more appealing than before, the scenes between Godzilla and Minya are cute and charming, the monster fights are very entertaining, and the music score is upbeat, memorable, and fits it perfectly. There are some major flaws, such as a lot of the human characters being very bland, Godzilla himself looking absolutely atrocious, and some of the special effects coming across as a little wonky, but for me, the good vastly outweighs the bad. It is what it is and, if you come at it with the mindset of a Godzilla purist who only enjoys the serious stuff, you'll absolutely despise it. But if you're willing to turn your brain off and enjoy a silly, entertaining monster flick, then you'll have fun with it the way I do.