Reviews

7 Reviews
Sort by:
Filter by Rating:
7/10
The last good Heisei Godzilla film (Warning: Possible Spoilers)
18 April 2020
Warning: Spoilers
Well, Godzilla vs. Destoroyah is decent. But this is the last Heisei film where they put legitimate effort into it. Particularly the Kaiju fights.

The suitmation and puppet effects can be hokey at times. But I can give the filmmakers credit for at least attempting to have more physical Kaiju fights instead of constant beam-spamming like the films before and after it. Although there is still plenty of beam attacks, but I digress. Godzilla's fight with Rodan is brutal at times and a lot better than when their Showa predecessors duked it out in Ghidorah: the 3-Headed Monster. Godzilla's two fights with Mechagodzilla are also good.

I'm not too fond of some of the writing. Especially the ridiculous "Dinosaurs might make a comeback" speeches. I'm also not that wild about the characters. It would have been better and made a lot more sense for her arc if Miki Saegusa was Baby Godzilla's surrogate mother instead of Azusa Gojo.

The special effects are certainly the movie's biggest flaw. A lot of people like to bash Godzilla vs. Spacegodzilla's terrible effects, but the ones in this film aren't that good either. The Green screen/composite shots are very noticeable and stick out like a sore thumb. There are tons of scaling inconsistencies with Godzilla. Especially when he's next to Baby at the end. The monsters' designs aren't that great either. Godzilla looks alright, but RadoGoji is probably my least favorite Heisei suit. Mechagodzilla looks decent, but not as good as the original design. Rodan is easily the best looking of the bunch. Baby Godzilla looks better than Minya, but that's not saying much.

Flaws aside, what the movie does well, it does really well. The "don't mess with nature" message is very effective. Every attack on a kaiju leads to a comeuppance. Rodan goes wild or comes to aid when Baby is in trouble and Godzilla wrecks Mechagodzilla as his theme song plays triumphantly. Plus, as always, Ifukube's score is awesome. Especially his music for Mechagodzilla which stuns you the first time you hear it.

The Kaiju action looks odd at times, but it's nice to see more effort put into them opposed to the half-assed fights in Godzilla vs. Mothra (1992) - the worst of the Heisei films, IMHO. Godzilla chokes out Rodan, uses his nuclear pulse in a clever way, and throws Mechagodzilla into debris. And that's just a handful of the great fight scenes. Godzilla also has more screen time than any of his other films.

I used to not like this one as much, but it's grown on me recently. There's plenty to nitpick, but there's also a lot to like about it. My 3rd favorite of the Heisei series (behind Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah and Godzilla vs. Biollante).
1 out of 1 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
Dragon Ball GT (1996– )
My Review for an anime that's been butchered.
27 September 2003
Warning: Spoilers
*** WARNING: SPOILERS ***

Why did FUNimation have to butcher Dragon Ball G.T. by refusing to dub the first 16 episodes?! Is it because GT has too much comedy? So what, who cares?! I don't!!! Besides, it's not like Toonami hasn't had a show like that before (i.e.: The Tenchi Trilogy, Dragon Ball [Okay, now they're being hypocrites!], Hamtaro, etc.)! And what makes me cringe about it even more is the fact that GT is the final chapter of the Dragon Ball trilogy! It's like carving "8 Simple Rules for Dating my Teenaged Daughter SUCKED!" into John Ritter's grave!

Anyway, onto my review: This is basically the only Dragon Ball show where I can completely agree that the undubbed version is better. Not only do they get rid of the first 16 episodes, but they also butcher a lot of the dialog. Sure, they did some of that in DBZ. But this time, they butchered the dialog while the characters think! Which means that they don't move their mouths at all! For example, here is what Baby/Bebi says after he absorbs all of the passengers of the airplane from the episode intitled: "Baby Counterattacks!! Sought - After Saiyans!! (a.k.a.: Discovering the Truth)" in both versions:

Undubbed: "I may have lost today... However, just watch me keep growing until I have defeated you in my own way!" - Awesome line.

Dubbed: "A paltry meal to say the least, but it seamed to raise my spirit a bit. Besides, it was better than a bag of peanuts!" - Okay, now they're ADDING comedy to the show, does that make any sense?!

And, of course, they can't resist to make fun of the villain's name (Now, they're adding even MORE comedy to the show!) which is "Baby." Oh, come on! It's not like the Japanese knew what that meant. Besides, I really think they should have called him "Bebi." Oh well, the only character that really makes fun of Baby is Pan.

Speaking of Pan, her voice is translated terribly in dub. She almost always sounds like she's a breath away from yawning her lungs out! Another voice that FUNimation ruins is Giru's. He goes from a cute little R2 - D2 to a cross between Stitch (the Disney character) & some pokemon (he constantly says his own name). They could have just left his little "do - do - do - do - do!" noise undubbed.

Speaking of something they should have left undubbed, that's what FUNimation should have done with the music! Almost everything about the undubbed music is awesome! It's even better than music from the two previous (undubbed) shows. Every single piece of the soundtrack fits perfectly into what's going on in the show. The only down side to the music is that sometimes you can barely hear it, because of all of the sound effects going off during the battles. But don't worry, that rarely happens in GT. While the undubbed music, on the other hand, is pretty half - @ssed (pretty much the same music they use in their dubbed movies). It's like watching Godzilla rampage through Tokyo with 50 Cent's "21 Questions" playing in the background.

TO BE CONTINUED...
0 out of 2 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
10/10
I have my own theory on what happened.
18 June 2003
Warning: Spoilers
*** WARNING: SPOILERS ***

A few minutes ago, I typed out a HUGE comment on this movie! But, my finger slipped & I closed the web page, deleting my entire comment! But, I guess I did you people a favor. Most of the comment dragged on about my childhood interest in Godzilla.

Anyway, I saw/bought this movie way back in May of 1998 when I was 11 years old. For nearly two years a question remained in my head: "Who won, King Kong or Godzilla?" "And now I can finally find out!" I thought.

Way back when I was in 5th grade, a couple of my friends started to talk about this movie. They all said that they saw it & they all had outrageous claims about the ending. Some said King Kong won, others said Godzilla won. Heck, one of them even said King Kong beat up Godzilla & started to chew on him! I hope your as baffled as I am. I know it sounds like I'm making this up, but I'm not.

Anyway, back to May of 1998. Of course, I was rooting for Godzilla & I started to get high hopes when the Big G trapped an unconscious King Kong in a huge fire. And then came the lighting, which hit Kong, woke him up & gave him electric powers like some sort of giant Pokemon. The fight then leads to Godzilla & King Kong both falling in the ocean.

Suddenly, out of no where, an earthquake pops up, which causes an avalanche of boulders to fall into the ocean. The earthquake stops, the dust clears, King Kong rises out of the ocean, swims safely out to sea & Godzilla is no where to be seen. THE END (King Kong roars). "Shocking, positively shocking".

I personally don't agree with TOXPISTOSOU. Here is my theory on what happened): King Kong & Godzilla both fall into the ocean, but Godzilla landed on top of King Kong. Being the one on the bottom of the ocean, King Kong begins to feel the ground shake. Being the (ahem) "thinking animal" he is, King Kong realizes that there is an earthquake going on. Although still injured from the fall, King Kong begins to swim away from Godzilla as fast as he possibly can. Godzilla, wondering why King Kong is fleeing from him, begins to swim towards him. But, before Godzilla can catch up to King Kong, he is buried alive by the avalanche of boulders.

All & all, it's a pretty decent Godzilla movie. Here it is again, folks. The pros & cons.....

PROS

(1) It's full of surprises. (2) The fight between King Kong & Oodako (the giant octopus) is pretty good. (3) At first, the ending really makes you wonder what happened when King Kong & Godzilla fell into the ocean (even though I came up with my own theory). (4) Godzilla's first appearance in color. (5) Godzilla has a new & improved roar! (6) The part where King Kong shoves a tree down Godzilla's throat! (7) Well, it's pretty much all about King Kong fighting Godzilla!

CONS

(1) The King King suit looks pretty ridiculous, especially when they show his face up close. My friend says he looks like Homer Simpson! But, he hated this movie, anyway. (2) Why the heck does King Kong look like he's chewing something when he drinks the berry juice?! (3) The Godzilla suit looks pretty ridiculous too. Especially it's head, it looks like a car ran over it! And why the heck does it have 3 toes instead of 4? (4) The Indian-like chant for King Kong seems to drag on for about five minutes. (5) A little kid that want's to smoke, what kind of movie is this?! (6) Mr. Tako is pretty annoying. Godzilla should have squashed him!

My overall rating: 6/10
2 out of 4 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
1/10
Nothing new here.
24 May 2003
OK, since I'm in a library right now & not typing on my own computer, I'll try to keep this short & sweet. This is a great show for kids, but, it's a 30 minute sleeping pill for anyone in the 'over 13' category.

When you get right down to it, there's really nothing new about it. Stupid parents, a super - annoying father with a big nose, secret loves & weird friends are how almost all of the nicktoons are like. Plus, you gotta admit, it is a knock off of Dexter's Lab. The only difference between this & Dexter Lab is fact that everyone knows Jimmy's an inventor/scientist (Gee, where have were have we seen that before on a Nicktoon? *cough* Rugrats *cough*).
22 out of 46 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
The Simpsons (1989– )
*Sigh*
7 February 2003
*** POSSIBLE SPOILERS ***

The new episodes of The Simpsons aren't THAT BAD. The show wasn't #8 in "T.V. Guide's Top 50 Greatest Shows of All Time" for nothing! Yes, compared to all of the other hilarious episodes out their the new ones are just so - so, but they still make me laugh. Though, some of the stuff in the new episodes are pretty ridiculous (e.g. That screaming caterpillar - shudder ). My favorite episode is #72 (9F11): "Selma's Choice" & #106 (2F33): "Another Simpsons Clip Show" is the "worst episode ever."

Here's what I have to say about the new episodes.

The Couch Gags: They're still funny

The Chalkboard Sayings: WHAT!!! They still have Chalkboard Sayings!!!! I haven't seen any from the 14th season. It must have been from all of those sports interruptions. Oh well, now that the Super Bowl is over, I should be seeing some new ones.

Oh, and I have to say one more thing to COMPFUNK2 before I leave. It's about Maude Flanders. Call me crazy but she never really was that much of a character, she was just there. Hey, don't get wrong COMPFUNK2! I was just as shocked about it as the next fan. Her last big role (at least for her) was in #164 (4F08): "The Twisted World of Marge Simpson." She kind of went the way of Van Gogh.
1 out of 2 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
Earthquake in New York (1998 TV Movie)
1/10
THIS IS RIDICULOUS!!!!!
24 October 2002
Warning: Spoilers
*** POSSIBLE SPOILERS ***

Did the Family Family Channel ever hear of the word 'C.G.I. (Let alone I.L.M.)' while they were making this (ahem) movie? WHAT A JOKE!!!!! Special effects were pathetic, the (so called) villain's death scene was pretty ridiculous & characters screamed "Oh My God" every other minute. I guarantee you while they were making this (ahem) movie, the director shouted "OK, LETS SHAKE THE CAMERA FOR ANOTHER FIVE MINUTES!" every time another earthquake came along. Just because this (ahem) movie came out during the Fox Family channel's first year of being on the air, doesn't mean that they can't make better special effects! The only scene in this movie that might be worth watching is the part were the Empire State Building meets its end. That's about it.

Grade: D -
2 out of 3 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
1/10
American Hero ?!
23 October 2002
The name pretty much butchers this (ahem) movie. Look, Michael Jordan is a great Basketball player & a legend to the NBA (let alone the Chicago Bulls). But he was never a soldier in a war or anything like that. So why would Fox Family intitle this (ahem) movie 'An American Hero'.

That Michael Jace character doesn't really look much like M.J.. But the rest of the movie should be at least worth watching. That is, if it's still on T.V. anymore now that the Fox Family channel is dead & gone.
1 out of 9 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

Recently Viewed