FeistyUpper If you don't like this, we can't be friends.

Dotbankey A lot of fun.

Huievest Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.

Lollivan It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

Jason Brenner If you're Godzilla fan, you 100% must see this. It is the one of the best films out of the entire franchise of Godzilla. XD. You have to know that it is purposefully goofy and hilarious. The acting, the plot, the sound effects, the special effects, all of it is so bad it's good. This is a unique kind of terrible. It somehow manages to be an amazing work of art. ·Two cool kaijus are introduced in this one: Megalon and Jet Jaguar. ·KSL (Kaiju Sign Language) is shown with Jet Jaguar and Godzilla communicating with their hands. ·Costumes are actually very well done. Some of the best of the Showa era. ·The sets are beautiful and gigantic. ·Unless you don't possess a sense of humor, you can't not laugh viewing the awesome awfulness. You can easily tell the cast and crew had fun making this. ·If things are bleak in your life and you want some drug-free temporary pure joy, please watch Godzilla vs Megalon. And watch it with a friend or a loved one. Shared laughter can be the best.

Scott LeBrun The people of an undersea kingdom named Seatopia are very angry that repeated nuclear tests on Earth are disrupting their tranquility. So they send a cockroach like monster named Megalon topside to do some major damage. Fortunately, the people of Japan are able to rely on a faithful robot named Jet Jaguar. JJ, by the way, has the means of traveling to a distant isle to ask Godzilla for help. And the antagonists respond by summoning the bird like Gigan.Admittedly, this Kaiju series had definitely become juvenile and cheesy, not to mention overly cute. It's not for fans of the Big Green Guy who crave substance in what they watch. It's just "good" dumb fun for a family audience, complete with an extended final showdown between the two heroes and the two villains. Godzilla himself is just too funny, especially considering some of the gestures that he makes. And one of the villains clearly is thinking "you gotta be kidding me" at one point.Yes, this is a very silly movie but a pretty fun one, directed with some panache by Jun Fukuda. Its main human characters are very likable. Our human villains are an amusing bunch of one dimensional goons. The action scenes are competently done, and there are enough laughs and thrills to make this entertaining fluff. The plentiful special effects, the monster costumes, and the vibrant color and widescreen photography help to keep things visually interesting.A funny and lively diversion for people who just want to put their brains in neutral for 82 minutes.Six out of 10.

MisterWhiplash Don't forget that Seatopia has existed for 3 million years...Godzilla vs. Megalon really should have two separate ratings: one for nine year old Jack and one for 32 year old Jack. The former would probably rate this 9 out of 10 stars, with one star taken off for those moments in the first half where things got a little slow (there's a car chase, largely with two cars going down a steep hill, which is surprisingly dull); the latter has to give it 7 stars, but knows that somewhere deep inside 9 year old Jack still remains. I know this is a bag of Doritos that I got shipped in the mail from Japan, but gosh-darnit, I'll eat the hell out of them! This is a fun movie for kids, and it doesn't get any more complicated than that. And if you're an adult, you're not looking for Robert Bresson or Sergei Parajanov! It's about a couple of guys and their little kid sidekick who create Jetto Jaga (or Jet Jaquar), and how some mad-villainous whoever creates or summons Megalon, a thing that looks like a cockroach and a fly got blended together with two giant drills for arms and hands. Jet and Megalon get to fighting, but with Gigan also in the mix (I just finished the movie and I don't friggin' know exactly how it's summoned, probably I'd know if I saw the other movies it's in), Jet is told, "Hey, we're in Good-Guy Godzilla phase now with these movies, go get him!" So Mr. Jaguar does, and the last 20 minutes are a battle royale.Jet Jaguar was also created as part of a *fan contest* that Toho put on that originally had nothing to do with Godzilla, it was for something else that might or might not involve one of their group of monsters. It was when marketing looked at the numbers and realized a character created by a literal seven year old wouldn't cut the mustard on its own that Godzilla needed to be added in, and one can tell it's kind of an afterthought almost. But to the filmmakers' credit, they end up making amazing use of him, as the actor in the suit has the time of his life doing lots of crazy arm and hand motions, and does most if not all of his signature moves against this warped-quintessential-Godzilla-villain-monster giant insect.It's performed and delivered to its audiences with such sincerity that anyone with a proper conscience can't help but smile and laugh as Godzilla goes into over-drive (with Jaguar's help) and fulfills the dreams of every 6/7/8 year old boy (or girl, let's not be sexist here) who ever wanted to see these things kick the crap out of each other. At the same time I get why this would end up as one of the early entries in Mystery Science Theater 3000's roster (this may be one of those rare times I see the movie as is before I see it riffed too). Don't go in for any deep themes or messages like the original Gojira, which is a completely different tone anyway. If you have a young child this is actually a great place I'd think to start with the franchise, possibly more than the original 54/56 movies. It's bright, colorful, stupid, and features a man in a giant bug costume smashing through a dam. What more do you want?

TheUnknown837-1 "Godzilla vs. Megalon" is one of the most insultingly bad movies of its genre. It is an almost entirely joyless and unexciting exercise, one that fails to be either kitschy fun or stir up nostalgic fondness from the people who tend to have a soft spot for the Japanese monster movie. It was clearly constructed with children in mind and (save for some swear words to be found in both the Japanese and English language versions of the film) is suitable. Keep in mind, 'suitable' means that it won't traumatize or disturb youngsters, not that it is necessarily a good thing for them to watch. But even with all its would-be razzle-dazzle and its cast consisting of four giant monsters, "Godzilla vs. Megalon" is an absolute chore to endure. Up until recently, I hadn't seen the movie in years. I was willing to give it another chance, now that I had the Japanese print in my hands. Sometimes, awful dubbing can break a movie. "Godzilla vs. Hedorah" was one of those cases for me. But this film is just as horrible no matter what language pops from the soundtrack.It's a shame, since there is some premise to go along with the dreck-elements. One of the titular monsters, Megalon, is a terrific premise for a monster: a biped resembling a stag beetle and featuring drill-like appendages for hands, which he can use to burrow through the earth or batter an adversary with. And the special effects used to create Megalon are fairly good. The suit has some good flexibility and yet some sturdiness: it appropriately does not move like a human being. Whenever he's not flying (where his wings are plainly not moving), Megalon is a visual triumph. He has a comrade to back him up. Gigan, the cyborg from the previous entry, "Godzilla vs. Gigan," makes a speedy return for reasons little more than budgetary. Gigan is a fascinating design; it's a shame that of his three appearances in the Godzilla franchise, one was a lopsided guilty pleasure and the others were two of the worst Japanese movies I've ever seen.But these two villainous monsters play second-fiddle to some obnoxious human characters and some even more obnoxious 'good monsters.' Godzilla has so little importance in the film; it's obvious he was thrown in for marketing purposes. But this is the absolute worst the fire-breathing behemoth has ever had it. Godzilla's come full circle as a hero, but not in a charming way as in the two "MechaGodzilla" pictures. Godzilla walks with a dancing sort of rhythm, beats his chest like King Kong, and plays charades with Jet Jaguar, the humanoid robot who is the real monster star. Jet Jaguar is not an attractive creature; in fact, with his narrowed glass eyes and permanent, mechanical grin, he looks rather creepy. Few things are more painful than seeing a disgustingly humanoid Godzilla holding hands with an annoyingly humanoid robot. The battle sequences with these four monsters are surprisingly dull. Only a handful of moments (such as Megalon blasting Jet Jaguar as he tries to fly away) stand out.The other big fault of the picture is its insistence on sticking with the human characters. Apart from being bland and completely uninteresting, they are rather obnoxious. Katsuhiko Sasaki has proved in two later Godzilla movies that he is a competent actor, but he's no more than a stone-faced bore here. I didn't mind Yutaka Hayashi as his, I'm assuming, best friend, but could not stand the performance of Hiroyuki Kawase as the kid brother. Mr. Kawase gave a much better performance in "Godzilla vs. Hedorah," as opposed to blubbering and whining throughout the entire picture as he does here. There are a lot of Meanwhile-in-Tokyo scenes involving these three principle characters as they attempt to fend off some secret agents from an underground kingdom, none of which are the least bit interesting.But perhaps the thing that turned me off the most about "Godzilla vs. Megalon," apart from the heroic monsters, was the unfathomably dreadful music score by Riichiro Manabe, a composer who I am thankful to report only spoiled the audio tracks for one other Godzilla movie. The music is amateurish and surprisingly unpleasant. The main theme, utilizing horns to the maximum, screams and deafens the soundtrack, occasionally mixed with irritating string plucks from what sounds like a Jew's harp. And just when Mr. Manabe's theme for Jet Jaguar seems it cannot get more irritating, it becomes louder and is accompanied by an obnoxious song. The only silver lining is we don't hear it until the end.Now, to be entirely honest, there were some things I did like. Most of them being visual tricks. I've already commented on Gigan and Megalon. I also really enjoyed the art direction used for a sequence where one of the monsters destroys a giant dam. The detail here is astonishing: the dam looks real, there are cars parked in the lots, the walls have detail, dust flies when the walls are broken, and the water pours with such velocity that the scene almost seems stolen from another movie entirely. Also, Godzilla's heat-ray looks glorious here, having been given a neon tint. It just leaves me to wonder how he can breathe these flames right after being too afraid to wander through a ring of fire before. Apart from that, I did enjoy a mid-movie car chase—the one scene where comedy is utilized effectively.This is the lowest part of the Godzilla spectrum. "Godzilla vs. Megalon" fails on all levels. And as a kid movie, it continues to flounder. A good movie for children can be examined by adults capable of remembering their youth. I like to think of myself as a young-at-heart person, but looking at this utter fiasco, I could not remember the joys of being a child. And besides, as far as I am concerned, the more 'violent' Godzilla movies are perfectly suitable for the youngsters.