While Destroy All Monsters was meant to be the last film in the series, Toho decided to continue forward. Around this time, rival studio Daiei Film was successful with their Gamera series of monster movies directed towards children. In response, Toho tried to target their films more towards a younger audience, such as with Son of Godzilla. Even then, Toho chose to lean further into appealing to kids by having their next entry centered around child characters. Ishiro Honda returned to direct this entry, which would play at the Toho Champion Festival, a program of children’s content. Unfortunately, the filmmakers resorted to stock footage from previous entries like Ebirah, Horror of the Deep due to budgetary constraints. Also, long-time special effects director Eiji Tsuburaya was in failing health, so Honda had to direct those sequences. In 1969, All Monsters Attack, also known as Godzilla’s Revenge, rampaged into theaters worldwide.
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Synopsis
Young Ichiro Miki (Tomonori Yazaki) isn’t living in the best of circumstances, especially when his parents are away at work. On top of that, a group of schoolchildren led by Sanko Gabara (Junichi Ito) constantly bully him after school. To escape from his struggles, Ichiro dreams about being on Monster Island with Godzilla’s son Minilla (‘Little Man’ Machan). While on Monster Island, Ichiro and Minilla watch Godzilla fight off Ebirah, Kumonga, and three Kamacuras all at once. Meanwhile, bank robbers Sembayashi (Sachio Sakai) and Okuda (Kazuo Suzuki) are running from the law and end up kidnapping Ichiro. Back in the dreams, Ichiro’s bully manifests as a giant monster called Gabara, who attacks him and Minilla. Godzilla tries teaching Minilla to defend himself against Gabara, much like how Ichiro has to stand up to his bullies. In the end, our real-life bullies might be the actual kaiju.
Review
Most Godzilla fans say All Monsters Attack is the worst Showa era film, and it’s easy to see why. While the series never had the most incredible special effects, they could make the most out of very little. The fact that they had to use stock footage from previous entries shows how far they’ve gone downhill. It doesn’t help either that the original monster fights we get are not exciting and involve no city destruction. Once again, Minilla is obnoxious with his loud donkey noises, his exaggerated movements, and his weirdly high-pitched voice. I watched the original version, so I didn’t have to listen to whatever voice he had in the American dub. Thus far, Gabara is one of the weaker monsters than Godzilla’s other rivals, though he has his moments. Anytime he uses his electrocution abilities to shock Minilla, it’s pretty funny.
Supposedly, this was one of Ishiro Honda’s favorite entries, which is hard to believe given his thoughts on previous entries. Considering that he liked mixing serious issues into a monster movie, it’s weird that he’d willingly make something so goofy. Here, it seems he wanted to throw in a message about the importance of family and standing up for yourself. I can see what Honda was going for, but I don’t think the execution worked quite as well. I will say that for a kid’s movie made in the 1960s, it’s not as condescending as many others. Still, I can’t help but feel like this was a major stepdown compared to the dark and grim 1954 Godzilla. Thankfully, the film only clocks in at roughly 70 minutes, but it will feel like the longest 70 minutes ever. Overall, there are worse kaiju films, but All Monsters Attack still isn’t good.
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