A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

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.

A couple of moments in "Invasion of Astro-Monster" show great promise. The first comes during the first appearance of King Ghidorah, with a cascade of gravity beams shown on the screen behind the Xien leader as he explains the situation. The second comes when the Xien spacecraft transport Godzilla and Rodan into space. Both of these show the two intended genre elements working in harmony, and had the rest of the movie followed suit this might have been a seminal entry in the series. Unfortunately, the results are too lopsided to work. Complementary genre elements are of little use if they supplant what unique things are brought by the giant monster genre, especially when said elements have been done much better in past films.Simply put, "Invasion of Astro-Monster" does not feel like a Godzilla movie. Too much of the running time is devoted to the human/alien conflict, and while this does lend more substance to the human portion of the narrative, it's still clumsily constructed as in any entry of the series. Various ideas are either truncated or plumb never capitalized on, such as the Xiliens' deception, which is made blatant both to the audience and some of the heroes, and explorations of the Xiliens' culture are mostly limited to throwaway details. The pacing is nothing to emulate. Scenes on Planet X seem to go on forever for the sake of imitating "Forbidden Planet", and the multiple trips between Earth and Planet X seem unnecessary. The point is, "Invasion of Astro-Monster" never gives us an alien invasion plot capable of carrying an entire film on its own, and this issue magnifies the already fundamentally disappointing decision of reduced monster action. If one is to endure the downplaying of the monsters in a monster movie, it's only fair to demand something superb. But, it's difficult to not make comparisons with other alien/space exploration features (e.g. Forbidden Planet, War of the Worlds, Earth vs. the Flying Saucers). The conflict with the Xiliens, with its lack of outstanding qualities, needs the monster element to stand out, and that is unfortunately what the film fails to capitalize on. Treatment of the monsters is, on the whole, poorer than in the previous entry. While their destruction scenes are adequate, if repetitive, these guys always feel like mere appendages to the plot rather than focal points of concern; they're regarded as assets rather than creatures. Say what you will about the incipient goofiness from "Ghidrah, the Three Headed Monster", but at least these guys had an established presence in that movie, with actual signs of personality. Here, they don't even get a proper send-off, instead suffering from that head-scratchingly unceremonious ending. There are some good moments, though. Namikawa's sacrifice is moving, and the self-destruction of the Xiliens is certainly dramatic. Additionally, Akira Ifukube delivers a great new rendition of one of his themes from Godzilla (1954), which can be heard over the opening credits. Even so, as far as I'm concerned, this is a pretty middle of the road effort for the Godzilla timeline spanning the 50's, 60's and 70's. It's strengths elevate it above utterly disposable products, like "Godzilla vs. Megalon" and "Godzilla's Revenge", but time has not been very kind to it; later films would incorporate aliens in more ingenious and entertaining ways.

Silly but extremely fun Godzilla movie, co-produced by an American studio (which is why Nick Adams is in this). The plot has two astronauts (Adams and Akira Takarada) traveling to Planet X. The people of that planet tell them that the three-headed monster King Ghidorah has been wrecking Planet X. They propose a trade -- Earth lets them borrow Godzilla and Rodan and, in exchange, they'll give us a miracle drug that will cure all disease. Well the Earthlings happily agree to this and the two monsters are taken away. But it turns out the people of Planet X aren't what they appear to be and now have issued Earth an ultimatum.This is all just nonsense but very cool. I'll get to the monster stuff but first let me say how much I love the cheesy sci-fi. From the astronaut suits and ship to the Planet X aliens with their stylish sunglasses, hilarious outfits, and cool gadgetry -- it's all so gloriously fanciful and dated. I love it! Now, the selling point of this is naturally big monster fights. Well this one delivers. All three monsters tear crap up before Godzilla and Rodan take on Ghidorah in a wonderful climactic battle. Wait until you see Godzilla boxing and shuffling his feet -- it's priceless! Oh and the best part of the whole movie is when he gives a victory dance. There isn't a word for how awesome that is. Nick Adams' performance is all over the place. For most of the movie he seems like an overgrown Bowery Boy but, late in the film, he decides to overact like he's in Streetcar. Lots of unintentionally funny lines and cheesy moments. It's great escapist entertainment. Probably my favorite Godzilla sequel.

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.