Purely Joyful Movie!

Excellent, a Must See

I was totally surprised at how great this film.You could feel your paranoia rise as the film went on and as you gradually learned the details of the real situation.

Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

As we all know, Godzilla movies are based on nuclear fission because he was created by it. And through all his movies, he is always trying to get across that all nuclear reactors are too dangerous for man to handle. But the Biollante story crosses into some type of karmic belief, in this case were the scientist's daughter dies and comes back as a flower. For me this is far removed for any Godzilla story as it could possibly get. Originally it was released in Japan and came to US in 1992. The soundtrack in this movie sounded cheesy and combined with a story line that is almost nonexistent makes for the most unusual Godzilla story. In 2012, it came out on blue-ray that seems to be readily found. I don't recommend it, but as a Godzilla fan, I had to take a chance and see it.

There are somethings you watch as a child that can bring in new insights and perceptions on viewing as an older teen or an adult, and then there are some things which just don't add up or present itself that well as before. Biollante is among the latter. I had such fond memories of it as a big monster-loving kid, and heard almost instant praise from others of my same ilk. The day soon came when FINALLY the kaiju gods answered my prayers and released this film in the US on blu-ray and DVD. I bought it on blu-ray, making it my first blu-ray purchase. I giggly skipped to my room to place this bad boy on my PS3, feeling ten years old again! Oh goody goody!!! Sat down, and began to let the fond memories come rolling back to my conscience. About ten minutes in... am I still ten years old inside?? Just as soon as the line "kiss you guys" echoes from the my sound projector, I knew this was NOT a trip down memory lane, rather a stinging sharp bite in the rear from realization and reality.What happened? All that wonder and mysticism this film used to give me is gone. Gone are the days where monster fights and nice music are sadly not going to cut it anymore. Now lets break down the reasons this film is a big mess....The plot - So basically, the film picks up exactly where Return of Godzilla left off. Some factions want to posses Godzilla's cells. One is an American company called Bio-Major, another is some fictional Middle Eastern country called Saradia. Shiragami is a scientist mourning for the loss of his daughter while they were in said country. While the military builds Super X. And there is a psychic girl too. Yes, it sounds like nonsense, cause it is! It seems Toho couldn't decide what kind of plot to go with in this film. An internal drama? A spy film? A military film? A MONSTER film? "I know!!!"; Toho exclaims "Why don't we just forcefully squeeze all four into one without any kind of intelligence or coherency!! Who needs character development!? Lots of explosions and flashy effects will be all the suspense we need!!" The writing - This film just teases you by presenting in something that COULD be of interest and a nice break from the dull blandness that this sad picture is, but oops!! Not this time, its back to drivel again!! Characters that could potentially be interesting and serve the story better, are shoved aside in favor for the generic and boring military personals, who only just seem to be there to spout techno and political babble. I could forgive this film more if they had some actual DEVELOPMENT and were treated like actual characters!! Not just plot forwarding machines. Because of a lack of sensible directing, whatever happens in this movie, is simply just an event that happened. For no other purpose then to just keep the movie going. This film does not allow you the time to take in or appreciate the atmosphere surrounding the "characters". No feelings of accomplishment, no reason to give hope, just nothing at all to care for. No consistency whatsover. Just poorly done subplot after poorly done subplot.The acting - Perhaps the only difference the audience would tell between these "actors" and cardboard boxes with simply drawn facial expressions, would that emotions would be conveyed better with the latter. I know this is a Godzilla film, but they expect us to believe that a reaction to Godzilla approaching would to to simply say " Godzilla is coming", check your watch and calmly walk away? Even Megalon was more believable!! Where these human beings they casted into this movie, and not malfunctioning robots? Not even planks could make a performance this wooden! The special effects - Maybe finally I can say something complementary this decaying draggy bore fest. Of course, this being a Godzilla flick, I don't expect top notch Hollywood style effects, but for 80's Japanese tokusatsu fare, its pretty neat. This might be the only thing improved form the previous "Return of Godzilla" (I haven't seen it for a while, I might reconsider). Godzilla looks great, and so does Biollante, especially her final form, with her vines, numerous sharp teeth, and the ooze that foams from her jaw that gives quite the impression of a savage beast. Model cities seem to be well crafted and designed. At least SOMETHING was given an effort in this movie.The score - Another positive for this movie. The film uses a nice blend of classic Ifukube and a new selection of melodies from the famed composer of the Dragon Quest game series Koichi Sugiyama. I just love the style he brings to this film, more majestic compared to early soundtracks in the series, also conveying horror, mysticism, herosim, and romance. Its too bad such music had to wasted on this soggy mess of cinema. Its like writing a beautiful song or poem about a dried up turd.Overall, Godzilla vs Biollante was a film I REEEEAAALLLLLY wanted to like. Like it as much as I did as naive, stupid, no-nothing child. But I just can't let nostalgia cloud my judgment. It had the potential to be one of the finest entries in the series, but in spite of how good the art direction, the effects (for Godzilla anyway), and the soundtrack might have been. it just can't completely save this film from bad directing, a muggy script, bland "characters" (who are less characters, but more like situation-explaining exposition machines), and just overall, greed, rushness, and, a complete lack of passion. Someone at Toho NEEDS to get fired.

I am a big fan of this movie. The Godzilla fan base is fairly divided on this film, but personally, I love it. It has wonderful cinematography, acting, themes, music, special effects, characters and all around brilliant.The characters are likable and well written, they are believable. The music, while you cannot compare it to the work of Akira Ifukube, is still excellent and goes very well with this film. It is very well shot, with many wonderful scenes with a great atmosphere. The special effects are done, as per usual in this series, with great skill and talent. Suitmation is very underrated and all too often the subject of disdain. This film shows just how excellent suitmation can be, as well as all the other practical effects, which come together to create a believable and stunning world.The themes were well handled, not forced violently down your throat as they were in the 1992 version of Godzilla vs Mothra (which is still a good movie, but the environmental message gets to be rather preachy and forceful at times).The buildup to Godzilla's arrival is excellent, and when he does show up, it is a spectacular sight seeing him rise out of a volcano (however, going back to the 92 Godzilla vs Mothra film, I think the very similar scene from that film does it much better). The film contains two excellent monster battles, in which Godzilla goes up against the very creative monster Biollante, a combination of rose, human and Godzilla DNA. It's an artful movie, and shows that Godzilla movies are not just cheesy crap like most people seem to think they are (I personally think most of the films are good).

Out of the twenty-eight entries in the long-running Japanese Godzilla series, one of the more artistic and welcomingly imaginative ones is the unfortunately overlooked "Godzilla vs. Biollante", a film that is so-so in its story and characters (although that is a standard for most Godzilla movies), but tremendously entertaining in its premise and its visual style. The movie follows the majestic monster movie masterpiece "The Return of Godzilla", in which Godzilla is released from his volcanic prison on Oshima Island and begins to wreck the countryside of Japan again around the same time that a scientist's (Koji Takahashi) experiment to preserve his dead daughter's spirit in an immortal plant species goes awry."The Return of Godzilla" was not only a great Godzilla movie, but one of the finest monster movies, Japanese or otherwise, that I have ever seen and I do like to sometimes pretend that "Godzilla vs. Biollante" and the not-so-special sequels that followed never existed, that it ended with Godzilla falling into Mount Mihara and being imprisoned there forever. But although this movie does kind of ruin that feeling, it's quickly forgiven once its slow beginning departs and its truly majestic middle begins.As I mentioned earlier, this is one of the more artistic Godzilla movies there is. Most entries in the series are formulaic and repetitive. And although this is okay for the fans, it is refreshing to see one that tries something new and original. And "Godzilla vs. Biollante" most certainly is original. Basically everything except the human characters tries something new. The movie boasts a battle between Godzilla and his new monstrosity of an opponent, but it's not all about their clash, it's really more following the spirit of the preceding movie with military trying to eliminate Godzilla. What's more, the movie boasts some incredibly visionary and impressive special effects. Godzilla's appearance is one of his finest yet. There are a few shots where he didn't look very good, such as this one where the way he was positioned reminded me more of a bear than a reptile, but other times the mobility that he had in his jaws and his neck provided some surprisingly convincing movements. The miniatures for the destruction scenes are thoroughly impressive, and the effects used to create Biollante are a pure triumph without a single weak shot.Even the music score is something new. The movie reuses three classic Godzilla themes by Akira Ifukube, but most of the score, as with the first film, is done by a new composer and he does it with a completely new style. Now Koichi Sugiyama's score is not incredible as Reijiro Koroku's was for the preceding movie. There are some weak moments and some parts are recycled too much throughout the movie. In addition, after having reviewed the whole soundtrack on CD form, I discovered that the best of Sugiyama's score was left out. Why Toho opted to do this, I have no idea. But as for what we do here, it's mincemeat of visionary triumph and minor letdowns.I do have some complaints about the movie, however. It does take a while to get started. Whereas "The Return of Godzilla" had great characters and a strong story so that I could stay interested even when Godzilla was not on screen, this movie struggles a little more. And again, some parts of Koichi Sugiyama's dare-deviling soundtrack simply don't work as well as they should have. And the ending of the final battle between Godzilla and Biollante was a flat letdown.However, despite its flaws, "Godzilla vs. Biollante" is a more unique and interesting and certainly enjoyable entry in this deservedly famous long-running motion picture series. Now I don't think Godzilla will ever be considered art by any major organization. But there are three films starring the big lizard that do stand out pretty strongly due to either their strong allegorical content or their tremendous style. This is one of them.