the audience applauded

it is finally so absorbing because it plays like a lyrical road odyssey that’s also a detective story.

Funny, strange, confrontational and subversive, this is one of the most interesting experiences you'll have at the cinema this year.

The first must-see film of the year.

It's at this movie where we truly get the sense of an actual Universe being created with the Godzilla characters. This movie features Godzilla, Rodan, and Mothra teaming up for the first time against Ghidorah. He ended up being the most recurring foe in the Toho Universe, or whatever it's called. What's also great is that we get some great scenes with the human characters too. They are really into it in this movie as we see them actively fighting and even using guns. Granted, I still won't remember their names, but it's something. The closest this series has to recurring human characters so far are those two fairies.The best part of the movie is easily when the fairies are translating what the monsters are saying. We're informed that Mothra is trying to get Godzilla and Rodan to team up to stop Ghidorah and Mothra bravely tries to do it herself. It's great to see such energy from the little guy. It's weird to see how Ghidorah has no arms. Well, I guess with three heads and two tails, he has enough appendages already. The dubbing is fairly well done even if the voices are a bit too cutesy at times. ***

This one has some of Earth's best and most patriotic monsters teaming up to defeat a new creation from the Japanese film makers. Ghidorah is a three headed Cerberus like creature who spits fire from each head. He already destroyed the planet Venus or Mars depending on which version you watch. A princess from a small Himalayan country has been possessed by the spirit of the now dead world and is trying to warn of Ghidorah's coming and his powers. There's a subplot in this involving an attempted kidnapping of the princess.In the end it's Mothra and his two fairy companions who persuade Godzilla and Rodan to team up and the three of them face Ghidorah in a handicap match and combine their skills to defeat the really alien dude. You have to admire the way Rodan and Mothra worked together on this with Godzilla providing a finishing move with some foreign objects.These films are so cheesy, but they're lots of fun.

A meteorite from space lands in Japan. At about the same time Godzilla and Rodan also awaken to wreak some havoc. It soon transpires that the asteroid is Ghidrah, destroyer of planets, and a missing princess has had her body taken over by one of the last remaining Venusians. Eventually the humans must call on Mothra to convince Rodan and Godzilla to stop kicking rocks at each other and help save the planet. Same, same, but packs less of a punch. The main reason may be due to Ghidrah's origins. His three foes are all products of humanities mistakes regarding nuclear weaponry. Ghidrah is just a planet destroyer from space. You will enjoy this if you've seen the other films, and Godzilla and Rodan's quarreling is brilliantly comical. There's certainly more life in Godzilla's face than there has been before. Monster smack down time!

A group searching for flying saucers spot a series of meteorites falling to earth. At the same time above them a princess from a small country is flying into Japan but is suddenly possessed by the spirit of a woman from Venus, forcing her to jump from the plane just before it explodes. She next turns up in a busy area of the city, warning of a threat to earth from outer space. Despite being seen as a kook raving at people passing by, she makes front page news around Japan and alerts the would-be assassins to the fact that their target is alive (albeit seemingly insane). The "threat" she speaks of is meanwhile being observed by a group of scientists – a large meteorite in the bas of a crater that has strange properties and appears to be growing. Unrelated, as predicted by the Venusian, Rodan emerges to attack while at the same time Godzilla emerges from the sea for another spate of destruction. As if these two battling each other was not enough, the meteorite turns out to be holding the space monster King Ghidorah, who also attacks. Fortunately a pair of tiny priestesses from Infant Island happen to be on the mainland for a TV show in which they telepathically let a pair of young boys get their wish of "seeing" Mothra; they are able to summon Mothra to help with the aim of convincing Godzilla and Rodan to stop their battle and team up to defeat Ghidorah.Considering this film is about several rubber monsters bashing each other around, there is a whole heck of a lot of plot and characters going on – my summary above doesn't even mention the journalist and her cop brother who are involved in proceedings or the fact that the film makes time for the Mothra priestesses to do their song not once but twice! And this is my problem with the film because it is at is "best" whenever it is being silly rubber monster fun – for example with Mothra spraying her web to stop a fight between Godzilla and Rodan; a fight which it must be said is essentially Godzilla kicking rocks at a giant turkey while that turkey flaps its wings to keep the rocks at bay. This I found silly and fun but it must be said that the monster part of this monster movie is actually pretty small, mainly because all this plotting and characters takes up so much space.Most of it is clunky and unnecessary as well, although if I'm honest some of it is comically convoluted or just silly so, although played straight there are some cruel laughs to be had at its expense because of how basic or dated it is but it is not enough to really make it enjoyable as that. It is a shame because Ghidorah appeared to be cool trash to me when I looked at it; or part of this is me coming to the name of MF Doom's King Geedorah, but still, the film does advertise something it doesn't deliver. One of the many alternative titles (and the one I had on my copy) was "Big Three Monsters – Greatest Decisive Battle on Earth" but when it comes to it the monsters have very little time on-screen and certainly the big battle is very short and simple – not particularly destructive, exciting or funny. Fans of the genre may like it but for the casual viewer looking for monster fun this is a simple matter of too much jaw and not enough war.