By this point in the series, the Godzilla series started appealing more kid-friendly than the original. In addition, the budgets were getting smaller and smaller, as evidenced in 1966’s Ebirah, Horror of the Deep. While series helmer Ishiro Honda was off working on King Kong Escapes, Jun Fukuda was hired for the next installment. Toho wanted to introduce a baby Godzilla for this installment to appeal to what they considered the “date crowd”. This would add a father-son dynamic that further humanized the monsters, something Honda had opposed in earlier films. ‘Little Man’ Mancha, a fairly popular dwarf wrestler at the time, was hired to portray the diminutive Minilla. Haruo Nakajima, who normally wore the Godzilla suit, only worked for two scenes due to the size of the costume. In December of 1967, Son of Godzilla was released in Japanese cinemas but wasn’t released in the US.
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Rating
Synopsis
On the remote island of Sollgel, a team of researchers is conducting experiments on a weather-controlling system for the UN. One day, a nosy reporter named Maki Goro (Akira Kubo) who’s looking for a new story despite the project’s secrecy. While investigating the island, Goro runs into Saeko Matsumiya (Beverly Maeda), a young woman who’s living there with her father. Her father, unfortunately, passed away, but he left notes about creatures living on the island, including giant mantises and spiders. The mantises, called Kamacuras, uncover an egg that hatches, revealing a baby Godzilla that they try to kill. Fortunately for the baby, Godzilla shows up to defend his son from the Kamacuras and a giant spider called Kumonga. While the researchers continue their work, Godzilla teaches his son how to roar and use his atomic breath. The King of Monsters fights the biggest monster of all: being a father.
Review
Son of Godzilla is considered a very divisive entry in the series, and it’s easy to see why. Your enjoyment of this is going to depend on your tolerance for Minilla or Minya depending on who you ask. Personally, I wasn’t a huge fan of him, but apparently, he’s very popular in Japan, so who knows? For me, whenever he was on screen, it felt like the movie halted to focus on his goofy antics. It’s somewhat jarring going from the series’ darker, more serious origins to the goofier, more kid-friendly direction taken here. Admittedly, it is a nice change of pace to have Godzilla fighting monsters that aren’t just guys in suits. The puppets for the Kamacuras and Kumonga are impressive given the amount of articulation and attention to detail. Then again, it starts taking you out of it when you see the wires operating the puppets.
Despite my issues with Minilla, the movie itself isn’t terrible, but it’s mostly forgettable and fairly run-of-the-mill. The cast all do a decent job, with appearances from veterans Tadao Takashima, Akira Kubo, Akihiko Hirata, and Yoshio Tsuchiya. The story, while original, is pretty dull and the film takes a while for it to get going. Though Godzilla doesn’t show up until roughly 30 minutes in, the inclusion of the giant mantises offers some monster action. When he does show up, he looks noticeably goofy with his cross-eyes and more humanlike appearance, obviously for the kids. At slightly under 90 minutes long, the film does move at a decent pace, though it tends to drag. As I’ve hinted at in this review, this is one I can only recommend to hardcore Godzilla fans. Overall, Son of Godzilla isn’t the worst, but it’s definitely a step down for the series.
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