To me, this movie is perfection.

When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

This film is hilarious. For example, Tatopoulus' line "That's a lot of fish" contains the most basic element of humor: brevity. The movie consistently delivers such intended laughs and never takes itself seriously. All of the characters melded well, and it's puzzling that Maria Pitillo's performance should have been considered sub-par. To this view, she was convincing and engaging. And so what if the movie lacks the "spirit" of Godzilla? It also lacks the ludicrous special effects of the Japanese versions.

I'll never forget the time when I was 13 and there were trailers of a new Godzilla movie and I was so looking forward to it because it looked so cool! I was crushingly disappointed because of how fake the creature looked and how he looked so dark and unidentifiable in some shots, then bright orange in other shots.

Many Godzilla purists rejected this CGI-based reinterpretation of the story (#23 in the series) but it is not a bad kaiju outing in its own right. The Toho release (Godzilla vs. Destoroyah, 1995) preceding Emmerich's version continued the trend toward improbable monsters, new-age subplots, and self-righteous greenery and I found the US version to be a refreshing return to the original concept: humanity vs. a single, destructive monster born of radiation. Typical of Emmerich's unsubtle style, everything is very big (Godzilla) or very numerous (e.g. helicopters) and the human drama of the 1954 original, which treats the monster's destructive rampage more as a tragedy than an adventure, is replaced by light-weight shtick, primarily revolving around the Roger Ebert-lookalike mayor (apparently an Emmerich in-joke). Godzilla itself is (IMO) quite well done with a very different look from the original (reflecting 'iguana' rather than 'dinosaur' origins) and the production has fun with the sheer scale of the monster. The opening credit scenes, which establish Godzilla's genesis, are extremely good and the film builds well from there to the arrival of the monster on the shores of Manhattan Island. The cast is fine: Mathew Broderick's playing the scientist who seems to always guess correctly and Maria Pitillo and Hank Azaria as intrepid reporters (both tropes familiar to anyone who has watched the Japanese films). Jean Reno is great as the French secret-service agent trying to ensure that the role France's nuclear tests in creating the current disaster remains unknown and he (and his team) have best lines in the film, riffing on both Gallic unflappability and the challenges of running a clandestine operation in America. Within the context of the film, a general plausibility is maintained (other than reconciling Godzilla's size and its ability to fit in the New York subway system) until the 'third act', an overdone and ridiculous chase scene that is by far the weakest part of the film. Future Japanese entries in the Godzilla franchise make the occasional amusing dig at Emmerich's fish-eating version of the iconic kaiju, but overall, I thought that the film was a worthy effort at 'Americanising' Toho's famous monster and liked the film more than most viewers (based on IMDB) and certainly more than most Godzilla-philes.

I still remember this movie was among my first Hollywood movies to be seen on television. I always like the sci-fi take (here growth in size of organism due to nuclear activity) in these sorts of movies. The other movie that comes this close to the above description when it comes to me is Jurassic Park.I don't know why it is rated so less.I rate it a point less only because I disliked the ending otherwise it deserves full marks.