All Monsters Attack (aka Godzilla's Revenge)

All Monsters Attack (aka Godzilla's Revenge) Review

This is the Godzilla movie I remember best from when I was a kid. Who can forget the latch-key kid, bullied by a gang of meanies, then abducted by gangsters and dreaming of Monster Island? There's no plot in sight once we're in the dream sequences, and it hardly matters. Godzilla simply takes on one opponent after another as they fight for no reason in dreamland, the point seemingly being that the little boy is learning by observation to stand up for himself and fight once in awhile. This proves valuable with both his captors and the gang of bullies later on!

English-dubbed version is marred by the Barney Fife-like voice of Godzilla's son--Warning: Mayberry and Tokyo don't mix! I would recommend watching the Japanese version in which Miniya has a normal child's voice.

Most of the monster-fights are recycled from older G-movies. What saves "All Monsters Attack" from being pure rehash is the one and only appearance of GABARA, the green Cat-Dragon who's roar is a taunting laugh!! Definitely one of the coolest and most memorable of all Godzilla's foes. I wish they'd brought him back for other movies. I haven't seen any of these flicks since I was a kid and Mothra and Gabara were the only two G-opponents I could remember until i started buying these great DVD's.

I should have bought the box set as I've spent more than it costs already just to get 4 titles individually. If you only want the very best of 60's era Godzilla however, I strongly recommend "Ghidorah" and "Mothra" as the two you should own, and maybe this one, if only for that devil Gabara!! Ichiro is a latch-key kid in the late 1960s Japan, a country drowning in urban blight and big, nasty bullies. He escapes his dreary life by dreaming of Monster Island, a fantasy world where Godzilla rules and Ichiro is befriended by Godzill'a son, Minilla, who's experiencing his own troubles with a bull monster, Gabara. When Ichiro is kidnapped by crooks, the lessons learned from his monster pals help him stand up for himself and fight back.