Some things I liked some I did not.

Most undeservingly overhyped movie of all time??

The movie is wonderful and true, an act of love in all its contradictions and complexity

The tone of this movie is interesting -- the stakes are both dramatic and high, but it's balanced with a lot of fun, tongue and cheek dialogue.

I can only take these Japanese monster films in small doses, which is to say about every six months to a year so as not to get permanently loopy. The same thing with Seventies martial arts flicks. But I stick with them for the amusement factor because that's basically what I see as their mission. I see that most of the reviews for this movie are hugely positive, and that's fine, but even so, I don't get the rationale for rating pictures like this a '10' because even if you're a fan, you have to have seen "Star Wars" or "Alien" by way of comparison. I merely shake my head.At least the bonus for this viewer was the inclusion of Nick Adams in the cast. He proved he really was a rebel to take on this assignment, appearing in the cast credits as Nikku Adamusu. But the odd thing was that his name in the story was Glenn, without noting whether that was the character's first or last name. His astronaut partner on the space mission went by the last name of Fuji (Akira Takarada), which led me to question why everyone simply called him Glenn, no matter the context. The cast credit here on IMDb states Adam's character as Glenn Amer, but one wouldn't know that from watching the picture. Maybe Amer was short for American.Say, I had to laugh when Spaceship P-1 landed on Planet X, and the hatch door used to leave the ship actually had dents in it. Still, that was a whole lot better than the spaceship used in the 1959 flick "Teenagers From Outer Space". In that one, you can see the futuristic technology of space age hammer and nails at work. So you can actually measure the progress of sci-fi special effects used in this film compared to the one that came out six years earlier.The best and funniest moment in this picture occurred when Godzilla and Rodan defeated King Ghidorah on Planet X. Right after, Godzilla went into this goofy looking dance number that had me baffled. That simply reminded me that these Toho films were primarily put together for a pre-teen audience, so with that in mind, it seemed rather logical. What's not logical is why I still watch this stuff. But rest assured I'll be back in another six months or so. Or wait, maybe sooner, because I just happened to come across a copy of "Mothra vs. Godzilla".

Yes, this is the movie where Godzilla does his little dance of joy, completing his anthropomorphic change from mindless instrument of destruction to sentient hero. The sixth entry into the series also marks a shift from 'horror' to 'science fiction', as "Invasion of Astro-Monster" opens with some nonsensical 'space talk' while a rocketship carrying two astronauts (Glenn and Fuji; Nick Adams and Akira Takarada respectively) travel to a newly discovered moon of Jupitar (christened 'Planet X'), only to find it populated by 'Xians' and besieged by Ghidorah. The Xians offer a cure for cancer in exchange for permission to 'borrow' Rodan and Godzilla, whom they plan to use to eliminate the Ghidorah threat, or so they claim. Suspicious events are occurring on Earth and the astronauts sense that there might be something malignant behind the Xians benign offer. In this film, the now sentient saurian is a full-fledged hero - recruited by the Xians to fight an evil monster and later defending the Earth itself. His original transgressions seems to have been forgiven or forgotten (Fuji, who feels sorry for leaving the Earth monsters on Planet X, comments that Godzilla and Rodan "cause troubles sometimes" - a considerable understatement, considering that, over the years, they have destroyed the cities of Fukuoka, Osaka and Tokyo, presumably at the costs of thousands of lives and billions of Yen). Notwithstanding Godzilla's infamous victory jig after his initial routing of Ghidorah, the film* is not played for laughs as much as was "King Kong vs. Godzilla" but remains a pretty juvenile outing, with a 'good guys vs. bad guys' plot, simplistic characters, an inconsistent (and at times nonsensical) storyline, a silly script, and lots of monster fights. The decline in the series' budget is apparent as most of the brawls are on the desolate Planet X or in unpopulated parts of Japan rather than in the complex (and expensive) city sets that were common in the earlier films and gave some sense of verisimilitude to the inherently unrealistic suit-mated monsters. There are some good parts - I like the spaceships, the alien 'airlift' of the monsters, the almost surreal scenes on Planet X with Jupitar looming in the sky, and as always, Ghidorah makes for an entertaining foe. Overall, very watchable by fans of the genre but pretty much what most non-fans would expect to see if invited to join in: another goofy Japanese monster movie. *This review refers to the subtitled Japanese version; however, as the film was an American-Japanese coproduction (hence American co-star Nick Adams), there is little difference between the subtitled and English dubbed versions.

Invasion of the Astro Monster (a.k.a Monster Zero, a.k.a Godzilla vs. Monster Zero) is one of the most colorful and delightfully campy entries in the long-running Godzilla series. Aliens from planet X (located just behind Jupiter) borrow Godzilla and Rodan to combat Ghidorah, the three-headed dragon. Mothra is nowhere to be seen this time around. Unfortunately, Toho did not have the budget to throw Mothra into the mix.This film marks the end of an era in the Showa series. Despite having to use a little stock footage from Rodan (1956) and Mothra (1961), it still appears to be the last entry in the Showa era to have a fairly decent budget. Sure, Destroy All Monsters features an all-star cast of monsters, but the miniature effects are arguably inferior. The economic strains of the time soon became apparent in the next 2 installments - Godzilla vs. the Sea Monster and Son of Godzilla - where the action is regulated to a tropical island. This flick is a sci fi blast from the past and one of my favorites.

Godzilla vs. Monster Zero (1965) ** 1/2 (out of 4) A couple astronauts (one played by Nick Adams) travel to Planet X where they are shocked to find an alien race asking for their help. Apparently King Ghidorah is holding them hostage so they ask for the help of Godzilla and Rodan. The astronauts agree to help since the aliens promise to tell them the cure for cancer but sure enough there's a twist, which has all three monsters threatening to destroy Earth. This is a pretty fun film from start to finish, although I'd argue it runs about ten minutes too long. With some editing down of the talking scenes this here would have played much better but as it is the movie remains one of the better ones I've watched from the series. As with many others, the budget is obvious very, very low and this is clear in how many things look incredibly fake but this has a certain charm here because it all looks rather unique. The outer space sequences have a surreal nature to them and the aliens are somewhat enjoyable even though they look just like any other human except for the weird clothes. Adams is fun to watch in the film as is the supporting cast, which is something I haven't said too often while viewing these movies. The final battle sequences are a lot of fun with Godzilla getting to do some boxing and Rodan doing his thing. AKA: INVASION OF THE ASTRO MONSTER