Day Fifteen: Godzilla vs. Megaguirus (MotM 2020)

Part of me wants to trash this film to kingdom come. Unfortunately, I don’t have a lot of time left in the day, so all I can manage is a spit in its general direction.

Don’t let the introduction fool you: I don’t hate this as much as I simply wish it employed a different method of presentation. Most Godzilla films are dumb, most Godzilla films don’t make sense. What vs. Megaguirus does that soiled a lot of what the plot worked up to was use a lot—a lot—of horrendous CGI.

Nothing brings me out of an immersive state like seeing something onscreen that absolutely does not belong there. An effect of the uncanny ripping the imagination from my skull and bringing me back to reality. Godzilla is my go-to escape material, so when I’m constantly reminded that this is just a joke involving a big lizard that shoots big lasers at big bugs with big evil smirks, I’m irritated. I want epic tones and dramatic moments, bereft of corny cartoon antics, please. This is why I didn’t really care for vs. Megalon.

This is a high asking price considering… well, this franchise. Still, other films have done it well, and with the turn of the century, the use of CGI was inevitable. There was a bit of it in Godzilla 2000: Millennium, too. Here, though, it was just way too much. That’s pretty much the main issue, too, along with the usual issues with these films (recycled plotlines, boring human characters, weird shit). So much bad CGI killed what’s an otherwise… alright picture.

The Millennium era has been a mixed-bag for me thus far. This was a dud, but Tokyo S.O.S. was pretty good and the aforementioned 2000 was also decent. Against Mechagodzilla, which I’ve amazingly watched twice, is on the lower tier of quality Godzilla entertainment. Perhaps Final Wars will be good… I don’t know. This isn’t even about Megaguirus anymore—speaking of which, she looked pretty cool. This film ended abruptly and it was hilarious.

Final Score: 3/10

The rating for all other films can be found at Letterboxd.

For more, check out the March of the Movies Archive!

Thank you for your time. Have a great day.