Destroy All Monsters – Blu-ray Review

The Film:

Toho has, and will always be famous for creating the long-running Godzilla franchise. However, the studio has also created a variety of other Kaiju and Science Fiction films, such as Atragon, Varan, Mothra, and Rodan. With Godzilla now set as a franchise, Toho decided to bring nearly every monster they created, and put them into one film. The product of that is Ishiro Honda’s Destroy All Monsters (Charge of the Monsters as its known in Japan).

Destroy All Monsters is set in the 20th Century with the UNSC (United Nations Science Committee) capturing Earth’s monsters on Monsterland (Monster Island as it will be known in future installments). After an unknown accident, the monsters are then set free and begin destroying the cities around the world with the exception of Tokyo. It’s soon discovered by Captain Katsuo Yamabe (Akira Kubo)  and his crew the monsters are being controlled by aliens from the planet Kilaak, who want to enslave humanity and rule Earth. The UNSC then atttempts to bring the monsters back under control, and destroy the Kilaak for good.

The story for Destroy All Monsters isn’t anything, and features a plot device that will come to be too familiar within the rest of the Showa era Godzilla films. Fans are all too familiar with Toho’s use of aliens and their attempts to takover Earth throughout the 1970s. It started with Invasion of the Astro Monster in 1965, but its this film where that plot device began to takeover. But unlike the aliens in the other Godzilla films in 1970s, the Killaak actually come off as a threat. And they should as they have an army of Kaiju that includes the King of the Monsters Godzilla, Rodan, Mothra, and several others. The idea of capturing Earth’s monsters on one island does sound rather silly, especially when you consider that Godzilla alone has shown to be perfectly capable of leveling the entire island in the previous films.

But with the exception of Ishiro Honda’s Gojira, the Godzilla series hasn’t been known for its complex story telling. What fans are really interested in are the monsters, and this film certainly gives fans what they want in terms of monster action. Destroy All Monsters features a total of 11 mosnters from Toho’s library, and it wasn’t until 2004′s Godzilla: Final Wars (which happens to be a remake of this film) is that number surpased. But with soo many monsters cramped into a 90-minute film, some fan=favorites are sure to be shorthanded. One monster that only gets a brief cameo is Baragon, but that was all due to the monster being used for the current Ultraman series. However, seeing Godzilla, Mothra, Manda, and Rodan all attack Tokyo at once was nice treat for Kaiju fans, and who could forget that epic final battle with all the monsters taking on King Ghidorah?

Another thing Destroy All Monsters is famous is being the last Godzilla film in which VFX Legend Eiji Tsuburaya was directly involved in. And the VFX in the film are nothing short of great. The minatures are very well done, especially when we see the destruction of Tokyo and other cities by the monsters. The effects done for Godzilla’s fire breathe and that of “The Fire Dragon” are very well done. Unfortunately, the film also introduces my least favorite Godzilla suit and the King Ghidorah suit doesn’t compare to the one used in Ghidorah, the Three Headed Monster, but the design of the rest of the monsters look just fine.

Overall, Destroy All Monsters is far from the greatest Godzilla film, but is very entertaining to say the least.

The Blu-ray:

Audio: The audio is presented in DTS-HD 2.0 for both English and Japanese languages. You are given the option of two different versions of the English dub, but now that the original Japanese audio track has been released, fans will likely want to listen to the original dialogue. The subtitles featured in the release are also accurate according to the language, and aren’t what fans call “dubtitles”.

Video: Tokyo Shock has done a magnificent job at restoring the picture of the film for a Blu-ray release. The last time we saw a Blu-ray release for a Godzilla title was with Classic Media releasing Ishiro Honda’s Gojira on Blu-ray, which was met with numorous negative feedback from fans. However, Tokyo Shock was able to fully restore Destroy All Monsters in 1080p full HD, and gave the film a clear, clean look.

While Tokyo Shock has always been good at restoring Toho’s titles, a problem their releases always have had are amount of special features provided. This release is no different featuring only an Image Gallary, Production Art and Storyboards, Promo Reels, an English Commentary by Godzilla scholars Steve Ryfle and Ed Godziszewski, and Trailers for their upcoming release including Godzilla vs. Megalon. Perhaps the most interesting of them all is a sample of 8mm prints of certain scenes.

Tokyo Shock/Media Blasters has been famous for giving their Toho titles good releases, and they once again deliver with Destroy All Monsters.

The Film: Rating:

The Blu-ray: Rating:

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