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Tuesday, January 23, 2018

Son Of Godzilla (1967)

Starring Tadao Takashima, Akira Kubo, Bibari Maeda, Akihiko Hirata, Yoshio Tsuchiya
Directed by Jun Fukuda
(actor & director credits courtesy IMDB.com)

A reporter follows a team of scientists to an isolated tropical island and learns they are planning an experiment to freeze it, unaware that Godzilla and the egg containing his son are there also.

This may not be a popular opinion, as I've heard several harsh critiques of this film from many sources, but I really liked it.  I understand the criticism, as the light-hearted scenes featuring the baby monster Minilla and Godzilla's attempts to teach and protect it take the series down a far different path that the monster brouhahas that had dominated previous entries.  There still is combat, but greatly diminished, between the Godzillas and a number of radioactively giantized praying mantises, as well as a fearsome enormous spider, which doesn't bring anything we haven't seen from Mothra, but is an impressively constructed special effect from Eiji Tsuburaya and his team.  One scene in particular where the spider's giant claw bursts into a cave where the human scientists have sought shelter is impressively executed.    The scenes between Godzilla and Minilla didn't bother me, but in fact touched my heart, and reminded me of my own relationship with my young son.

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