There is just so much movie here. For some it may be too much. But in the same secretly sarcastic way most telemarketers say the phrase, the title of this one is particularly apt.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

The movie really just wants to entertain people.

There are times when Godzilla vs the Sea Monster looks to be one of the more compelling and entertaining 'Zilla' movies from the 60's, this despite the fact that the big green guy doesn't show up until 55 minutes(!) into the proceedings. I think what I responded to most positively were two things, and one of these could have been something of a negative but it isn't: first is that it isn't about monsters fighting over a city, and it doesn't involve those aliens or other beings that popped up in the few entries before this one (i.e. Monster Zero), and would show up later again in things like Mecha-Godzilla.But the other thing, and this may be an aspect viewers won't fully appreciate amid the "B-movie" adventureness of it, is that Godzilla vs the Sea Monster is the first one in the series since, well, could it be the first one(?) that deals with the issue of nuclear energy. The enemies of the film are scientists from some rogue organization - are they affiliated with the government, or more of a Dr. Evil rogue thing, I'm still not sure, the story is only clear enough to get the main beats across that they're using an island to test out their ready-made disastrous weapons - and they make for good foils for our heroes, who make up stowaways and a thief and one guy on the look out for his brother, who is actually on Infant Island.Does it necessarily mean that director Jun Fukada and writer Senichi Sekizawa are out to make some profound *statement* about nuclear weapons and such? Maybe not. But I liked that finally we get the return of actual human beings - and sure, one of them has an eye-patch so that, you know, we know he's EVIL - and though they may be easily swayed away when, for example, trying to shine a spotlight at night on our main characters sneaking up to the nuclear weapon lab and they don't see anything despite the fairly bright lights Toho gives to even their night sets, they make for decent villains. The best? Also maybe not. But it is more about their story, how they're using and abusing the natives on the island as slaves, and that they don't know a literal sleeping giant is in their midst under some rocks.I forget how exactly Godzilla wound up there after the last entry, but no matter: using lighting (what is he, Frankenstein's monster? Actually, this was meant to be a Toho-produced Frankenstein movie, or a King Kong one, either makes sense), Godzilla is resurrected, and fights Ebirah, a giant crab monster. In a way the crab monster isn't even the real threat of the movie, despite that it attacks some people on a boat and fights Godzilla a couple of times. It's more about Godzilla being awoken to make trouble for the nuclear-testing villains, and they become his main targets. There's also a sub plot, kinda, sorta, where the natives on Infant Island keep doing their wondrous chants to Mothra, and it's only in the last ten minutes (barely) that she wakes up to join the fight... against Godzilla this time (?)I didn't like how they introduced Mothra here and spent so much time on the natives doing their prayer rituals. It was a lot of fun in the past, but here it seemed to be here more-so to take up some screen time. Of course it's always fun to see them at work, but by the time Mothra actually gets into action it's too little/too late sort of thing. And while Godzilla does get some fun screen time when he shows up, that also comes a little late into the movie which otherwise features this 'Sea Monster' of the title that is little more than a very slightly upgraded version of what Roger Corman cooked up in the 1957 quickie ATTACK OF THE CRAB MONSTERS. It's enjoyable to look at Ebirah. For a minute. And then he/she/it wears out its welcome.But there are things to recommend this movie for, even as it's not the strongest of the 60's movies. I liked the actors playing the stowaways on the boat with the thief who end up becoming the heroes of their own story, they had believable deliveries and made the characters interesting enough (far as a Toho Godzilla movie of the period allows), and I especially loved the music that plays during some of the fights - in particular, during one of those "oh, they're doing THIS again?" moments when planes come around to fire at Godzilla, surf-Rockabilly grooves come up and it makes it... well, is *good* the word I'm looking for? Actually, yes, it's better than good, it makes for some iconic moments as far as a movie that is squarely in its time in 1966 and the surf music makes it unique.If only the rest of the movie was that way. But problems and all, Fukuda made a mostly entertaining entry, with some changes (on an island, so the lack of usual stakes made it something else as an adventure-action spectacle), just with some issues that were hard to overlook. 6.5/10

Yes. I'll admit it . This is a bad movie. A bad movie that I've watched over and over and over and over again! It is weird how much I like this movie. You could say I like it ironically, but not really, because I believe it has a type of charm that I find intentional. The monster fights are fun, and I like the plot. I totally understand people that hate this entry in the series, but I find it to be one of the most fun Godzilla movies out there!On my Top 10 Godzilla Films list, it is actually included. Here's the list: 1.Gojira 2.Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla 3.Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah 4.Godzilla: Final Wars 5.Mothra vs. Godzilla 6.Godzilla vs. Destroyah 7.Godzilla vs. Spacegodzilla 8.Godzilla, Mothra, and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All Out Attack 9.Ghidorah: The Three-Headed Monster 10.(this film.)

I've watched "Godzilla vs. the Sea Monster" twice today- once with the Mystery Science Theater 3000 crew ripping it apart in a veru good but not great episode (the only great bit being the 'Godzilla bop' skit, one of the best skits in the show's early years), and the second time in all its unedited, pure horror. While there's no denying there's a lot of crap bits in even the better Godzilla films, there's no excuse for this gigantic mess known as "Godzilla vs. the Sea Monster". It's terrible, simple as.Providing absolutely nothing of interest in the entirety of its running time, "Godzilla vs. The Sea Monster" is one of those films where you wonder why they bothered. Of course, with this particular effort the answer is 'money' but you really do wonder if they couldn't have come up with a slightly more enjoyable plot, slightly better characters, and a decent way to get the (poorly-realized) monsters together. Moreover, the once-interesting Mothra-summoning scenes drag on and on and on and on...It's boring. There's just nothing else to say about it, and there's maybe about 10 minutes of it that are actually interesting and worth watching. Settle for the MST3k version, it's got good riffs and Crow finally says what all of us have been thinking about the two twin girls, at least in close-up.Boring, boring, boring. Poorly-paced, poorly-made, and with truly embarrassing special effects, "Godzilla vs. the Sea Monster" is a disaster.2/10

Godzilla vs. the Sea Monster (1966) * (out of 4) Japanese versionGodzilla and Mothra team up to fight a huge lobster with bad breathe. "God-these films are really bad-zilla is the only half way interesting thing in this mess but the director and screenwriter decides to keep him and the other monsters off the screen for the majority of the time. The stupid side plot about the island and nuclear weapons is just downright boring and I've seen better acting in Elementary School plays.