King Kong vs. Godzilla
(1962)
Page 2
But it did happen. The movie does exist. It's just a bit underwhelming compared to what it's reputation would imply. I don't find King Kong vs. Godzilla to be a particularly great Godzilla movie. In fact, I find it one of the lesser offerings from my giant green hero, for various reasons.
King Kong's first movie way back in 1933 was a rousing adventure and both of Godzilla's previous offerings in the 50s were somber horror movies, so something has to be sacrificed in order for the pairing to work. In this case, it's Godzilla's horror, which makes sense when you look at the big picture. The original Kong died at the end of his big screen debut, meaning that this film, in essence, had to be a remake instead of a sequel. Many of the 1933 films plot points play out here: team goes to island, run into natives, giant monkey crashes through giant gate, giant monkey gets taken to mainland where he runs amuck. If the original did occur in the timeline, then you would think we would learn from our previous mistakes.
Not to mention that Kong needed to upscale. The original Kong would have only come up to Godzilla's knee, if that. And then there's the whole "electricity makes him stonger" angle, which is an obvious attempt to keep him at Godzilla's match. This is the first and only time this idea was used for Kong. It doesn't even return in Kong's other Toho outing, King Kong Escapes.
Most of this is acceptable enough, however. What really bogs the movie down are the human characters, who never become anything more than an annoyance. I heard the Japanese original is an improvment in this department, but having only seen the American dub (complete with American actors inserted into the movie, spoon feeding the plot to us), I honestly can't tell you anything about it. Maybe if Universal wasn't so cheap with this Peter Jackson cash in DVD, we could have gotten the original version of the movie.
The film also provides a slight, bothersome gap in continuity, in which Godzilla has trouble getting through electrical wires and decides to just walk away. I don't know if the screenwriters even bothered to check the original Godzilla film, but he had no trouble tearing through the electrical towers in that flick.
The monster suits aren't terribly impressive either. In fact, these are some of the worst I've seen from Toho. Godzilla's is decent from a side angle, but head on it's wide, ugly, and baggy. Although I like the slightly more reptilian look they gave him. Toho never had much luck with Kong. Both the suit featured here and the one they offered in King Kong Escapes had highlights about them, but neither was very good. The one in King Kong vs. Godzilla looks best when they didn't try to extend his arms to make him look more ape-like. This made the suit look positivly repulsive.
But the movie does shine with the monster sequences themselves. Despite a lack of decent monster costumes, the afore mention novelty of the idea scores big time in watching these two giants clash. Director Ishiro Honda (director of the original Godzilla, King of the Monsters, returning to the director's chair) knows how to deliver a good match up, with relentless energy and a whole lot of action.
I also cannot deny the significance of the film in the Godzilla universe. Godzilla had been gone for 7 years after only 2 movies, it's hard to tell how far he would have made it had he not fought a powerhouse like King Kong, especially so early in his run. Box office-wise, King Kong vs. Godzilla is not only the most successful Godzilla movie to date, it's one of Japan's most successful movies of all time. The film also provides a few landmarks by being the first movie to bring both monsters to the screen in color, and it's also the premier of Godzilla's lighter, more famous roar. Why the filmmakers decided to change G's roar is beyond me, perhaps they thought it might have sounded odd coming from the new suit design or maybe it just was too much of a loud, intimidating bellow for what is, in all actuality, a lighter movie.
But as I look at King Kong vs. Godzilla as a whole, it's worthy enough for the fans to add to their collection, but novelty can only be taken so far.
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