People are voting emotionally.

Fantastic!

Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

A film of deceptively outspoken contemporary relevance, this is cinema at its most alert, alarming and alive.

In the first appearance of the popular 'MechaGodzilla' character, sneaky ape-aliens from "Black Hole Planet 3" disguised as humans build a giant robotic MechaGodzilla and send it out on a rampage disguised as Godzilla (the reason for which is never explained). Godzilla's off-again, on-again buddy "Anguirus" senses that something is wrong and in the course of the resulting battle, a chunk of the disguise is knocked off revealing shiny 'space titanium'. At this point, the real thing arrives on the scene only to have his kaiju-butt kicked by MechaGodzilla, who sheds his disguise. A sub-plot involving an Interpol agent and an ancient statue ultimately leads to the release of the film's fourth monster, King Caesar, who teams up with Godzilla in the final showdown against the mechanical menace while the intrepid Interpol agent deals with the space-simians. Generally, while "Godzilla vs MechaGodzilla" is better than the preceding "Godzilla vs. Megalon" (faint praise indeed), number 15 in the series is a pretty lackluster outing. The story does not bear close scrutiny (especially the pseudo-spiritual prophecy and the statue theft sub-plot) and relies on convenient gimmicks like the professor's trick pipe or Godzilla's sudden ability to become magnetic. The MechaGodzilla outfit is not bad (although the metal clearly bends when the robot is moving) but looks ridiculous when flying. As a new addition to Toho's kaiju farm, King Caesar is unimpressive: a vaguely leonid lizard with immense ears and patches of ratty-looking fur. The Godzilla suit has the standard 1970's look with a reduced snout, bigger eyes and a pronounced brow, giving him a much more benign appearance than his original saurian profile. The trend to anthropomorphise his behaviour continues to the extent that at one point the monster seems to be doing a Bruce Lee impression. I watched an adequately dubbed version that was typical of the era - voices that didn't really match the characters, odd pauses and expressions, and the usual mismatch between what you see and what you hear when a character speaks. Although some of Akira Ikufube's original themes are heard, the film's 'jazzy' soundtrack did nothing for me, and dates the film even more so then the 1970's styles. This was the penultimate film in the Showa-era series, and while an improvement over the preceding two films, likely did little to help keep the franchise viable. Definitely one for fans or students of the genre (and maybe undiscerning kids not too spoiled by CGI mega-pics).

Released in 1974, Gojira tai Mekagojira is a very nice break from the garbage that was 1973's Gojira tai Megaro (Godzilla Against Megalon). Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla was made to commemorate Godzilla's 20th anniversary. Toho hired veteran composer Masaru Sato for the music, Teruyoshi Nakano was brought back for special effects, and Jun Fukuda returned to direct. After Godzilla vs. Megalon, Fukuda does a 180 and gives us an exciting, original, well- paced film

14th Godzilla picture once again(!) brings in more aliens(intelligent apes disguised as humans, seemingly inspired by the "Planet Of The Apes" films...) who plan to take over the world by building a giant robot version of Godzilla called MechaGodzilla to fight and destroy the real one. Meanwhile, a local legend about a giant lion-like monster called King Caesar seems to be coming true, which is good news for Godzilla, who needs all the help he can get. A bit of imagination here, and nice change of locale, but otherwise this is still quite ridiculous and uninspired, not to mention tacky. Poor Godzilla had seen much better days!

Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla brings back a more serious tone. Well, as serious as you can be with the Godzilla movies (not including the original). Here we have an alien race of ape-men, creating their own Godzilla. Meanwhile a prophecy speaks of the resurrection of King Caesar. It's a big old monster mash-up with everything I love about these films. It was also well-shot, and stands apart in the sometimes boring human sections. Here, the intrigue is just as exciting as monsters fighting. We also see a rather horrific jaw breaking scene, and the wonders of wakening a monster with a four minute song. Mechagodzilla is a joy, as he doesn't look as ridiculous as some of the monster creations from the past.