Day two of Godzilla Week is here and we are on the second film from the millennium series of Godzilla films: Godzilla Vs. Megaguirus.  The movie starts off with a brief history of Godzilla and Japanese power stations that starts all the way back in the 1950's and ends in the year 1996.  Flash-forward to the year 2001 where we see Godzilla running wild allover Osaka.  Instead of Japan retaliating with tanks and helechopters or a monster of their own they send out an elite division of soldiers called The G-Graspers, if you're anything like me you'd be mistakenly calling them the Grasshoppers.  The G-Graspers attack Godzilla by hiding in-between buildings and fire rockets while he isn't looking.  Godzilla eventually spots them and chases the G-Graspers out of town.  The following day we have the G-Graspers evacuate a small village so they can test out a whole new weapon that produces miniature black holes.  The test was successful but they did have a witness but it's okay as he was only a little kid and was easily convinced to keep the whole test a secret.  They also find something really cool amongst the wreckage and that thing was a wormhole. 

Later that night the little boy hears a weird noise coming from outside so he goes to look out his window.  What the boy sees is simply amazing with a big giant dragonfly coming out of the wormhole to drop off something and then return back into the hole.  The boy goes outside to check out what was dropped off and what he finds is an egg.  The boy has moved into the city and decides to toss the egg down the sewer due to it being too wet (I don't like where this is going).  The egg hatches in the sewer followed by a hilarious scene of the baby dragonfly spewing on people and them eating them in what looks like a mild case of tentacle sexual assault mixed with chilidog making.  Next day we see Osaka flooded and the baby dragonfly dead floating in the ocean from losing a fight against Godzilla.  The G-Graspers go out to check the carcass in their very awesome aircraft.  Once they get there they get attacked by Godzilla but they manage to get away.  Unfortunately for them the dragonfly had laid several eggs under the water and they are getting ready to hatch (save us Aquaman).  (Click "Read More" to read the full review).

As you can tell there is a lot of stuff going on in this Godzilla film but is this a bad thing?  Not at all as it's done really well with an easy to follow story that will keep you at the edge of your seats and a great cast of characters.  This is also one of the longer Godzilla films running at around two hours and boy did this film just flyby with no boring crap whatsoever.  I watched the English dub and I was pleasantly surprised with it as it didn't sound half bad and they tried their best to actually sync up the dub with the mouth movements for once although not everything matched up (that's to be expected though).  Special effects are pretty neat with some good uses of green screen between the rubber suits and the actors although it has aged and you will notice that in some scenes.

I liked how they kept 3D animation to a bare minimum with them only using the effect when they have to rather than using it because they can.  The rubber suits and puppets look really good adding a nice vintage feeling and I'm very surprised they made Megaguirus a puppet instead of a 3D model and I give the director a round of applause for that as 3D in these Godzilla films haven't aged well.  Out of all the things I have to complain about this film it is the battle between Godzilla and Megaguirus itself.  The battle wasn't terrible per-se but it was defiantly one of the weaker fights in the history of Godzilla battles as it was mainly a bite-fest that dragged on for just a little too long.  Not to say it was all bad as it did have some good moments and the way those moments were shot are very well done.  Another thing I have to complain about the film is the ending itself as it forces you to watch the credits before you get to see how it truly ends.

Only one item in the special features and that is the theatrical trailer that aired in Japanese cinemas.  It's not a bad trailer and it was more than what I was expecting there to be as I wasn't expecting any special features at all.  Overall this was a great Godzilla film and is one of those rare films in the series where the story was worth watching for the story rather than the battle.  Recommended viewing.

Day two of Godzilla week has gone and passed but don't worry as I'll be back tomorrow with another review from the Millennium Series.  Next film is titled "Godzilla, Mothera and King Ghidora: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack!".  Perfect movie title for a day nicknamed "Humpday".  James Kaiser out.

Title: Godzilla Vs. Megaguirus
Director: Masaaki Tezuka
Starring: Godzilla, Megaguirus
Genre: Action, Science Fiction
Running Time: 105 minutes
Distributor: Madman Entertainment/ Eastern Eye (www.madman.com.au)
Rating: PG (Mild violence, Infrequent mild coarse language)
Price: $39.95 (as part of the "Godzilla - Millennium Series" box set)
Recommended: Yes