Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II
Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II | |||||
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Japanese name | |||||
Katakana | ゴジラvsメカゴジラ | ||||
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Directed by | Toho Pictures | ||||
Distributed by | Toho | ||||
Release date |
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Running time | 107 minutes | ||||
Country | Japan | ||||
Languages | Japanese English | ||||
Budget | ¥1 billion ($9.5 million)[1] | ||||
Box office | $36 million[2] |
Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II (ゴジラvsメカゴジラ, Gojira tai Mekagojira, released in Japan as Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla), is a 1993 Japanese kaiju film directed by Takao Okawara, with special effects by Kōichi Kawakita. Distributed by Toho and produced under their subsidiary Toho Pictures, it is the 20th film in the Godzilla franchise, as well as the fifth film to be released during the franchise's Heisei era. The film features the fictional monster character Godzilla, along with Baby Godzilla, Rodan and the mecha character Mechagodzilla. Despite its English title, the film is not a sequel to the 1974 film Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla.
Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II was released theatrically in Japan on December 11, 1993, to generally positive reviews from critics. The film was a commercial success, generating a combined $194,000,000 (equivalent to $409,000,000 in 2023) from the box office, book sales and merchandise sales by 1994.[2] It was the first Japanese film to use Dolby Digital sound format. It was released directly to pay-per-view satellite television in the United States in 1998 by Sony Pictures Television. The film was promoted as the last film in the franchise's Heisei series, and was also promoted by a children's television program called Adventure! Godzilland 2. Although Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II was not the final entry in the Heisei series, as it was followed by Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla in 1994, Toho producers initially wished to avoid competing with TriStar's then-upcoming Godzilla reboot.[3]
Plot
In 1992, following the events of Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah, the United Nations establishes the United Nations Godzilla Countermeasures Center (UNGCC) to stop Godzilla. Their military branch, G-Force, salvages Mecha-King Ghidorah's remains and reverse engineers them to build two anti-Godzilla machines: an aerial gunship called Garuda and a mecha modeled after Godzilla called Mechagodzilla.
Two years later, while on a mission to Adona Island, a Japanese team comes across what they assume is a large
Tests on the baby reveal that it has a
In response, they send Mechagodzilla and Garuda after Rodan instead, which mortally wound it. Godzilla arrives soon after and attacks Mechagodzilla. The fight is evenly matched until Mechagodzilla combines with Garuda to become Super-Mechagodzilla and successfully paralyzes Godzilla. Suddenly, the dying Rodan, revived by Baby's call, begins flying towards it, but is shot down by Super-Mechagodzilla, crashing atop Godzilla. Rodan's life force regenerates Godzilla's second brain and supercharges the monster. Now more powerful than before, Godzilla attacks and destroys Super-Mechagodzilla with a high-powered, spiral-shaped atomic ray.
Godzilla locates Baby, who is initially afraid of the giant. Miki telepathically communicates with Baby, convincing it to go with Godzilla. The two monsters head out to the ocean together.
Cast
- Masahiro Takashima as Kazuma Aoki
- Ryoko Sano as Azusa Gojo
- Megumi Odaka as Miki Saegusa
- Yûsuke Kawazuas Professor Ohmae
- Akira Nakao as General Aso
- Kenji Sahara as Segawa
- Tadao Takashima as Chief Hosono
- Daijiro Harada as Takuya Sasaki
- Koichi Ueda as General Hyodo
- Leo Meneghetti as Dr. Asimov
- Andrew Smith as Andrew Johnson
- Shelley Sweeney as Catherine Berger
- Kenpachiro Satsuma as Godzilla
- Wataru Fukuda as Mechagodzilla
- Hurricane Ryu as Baby Godzilla
Production
The fifth film in the
Producers
Toho promoted the film as Akira Ifukube's last performance as composer, and aired the children's program Adventure Godzilla-land, which portrayed Godzilla and Mechagodzilla as rival news anchors reporting on the events of the upcoming movie, as well as featuring the dance routine "Be like Godzilla". Shortly after the movie was released, Toho further promoted the film's merchandise by opening a Godzilla-themed simulation ride in Sanrio Puroland called "Monster Planet of Godzilla", which featured Megumi Odaka as the captain of a spacecraft which lands on a planet inhabited by Godzilla, Rodan, and Mothra, who are then accidentally transported to contemporary Tokyo.[3]
Kawakita made more extensive use of
Release
English versions
This article needs additional citations for verification. (August 2017) |
After the film was released in Japan, Toho commissioned a Hong Kong company to dub the film into English. In this international version of the movie, an English title card was superimposed over the Japanese title, as had been done with the previous 1990s Godzilla films.
In past English releases, including dubbed films and video game titles, Rodan's name was pronounced "roh-dan." In Japan, however, his name has always been pronounced (and spelled in katakana) as "rah-dohn"(ラドン). In the English version of this film, the producers changed his name back to Radon, as it is in Japan.
The original version of the international dub is not known to have ever been released on video in its complete form. The only evidence of its existence is in the Hindi theatrical version. The Hindi dubbing company lacked a clean music and effects track and only had access to a copy of the original English version. Therefore, English dialog was muted and replaced with library tracks and music from other parts of the film itself, but occasionally the English source track was left intact.[7]
An anamorphic widescreen transfer of the "new" English version was later released on DVD by TriStar in February 2005 with the option to listen to the original Japanese audio.
Box office
The film sold 3.8 million tickets in Japan, earning ¥1.87 billion (roughly $18 million) in
Critical response
The film received mostly positive reviews. On Rotten Tomatoes, an approval rating of 83% based on 6 reviews, with a rating average of 7.2/10."[9]
Monster Zero said that "some critical flaws exist" but felt overall that "of all the films of the [Heisei era], Godzilla vs MechaGodzilla II represents Toho's most technically and artistically successful effort," adding that "the action sequences in this film are impeccable... excitingly staged, logical, and quite dramatic."[10] American Kaiju said the film "stumbles in the areas of both story and special effects" but concluded it to be "a good, solid entry in the Godzilla series," saying that "the battles between Godzilla and Mechagodilla entertain" and "Akira Ifukube's music score soars."[11] Japan Hero said "the story was interesting," "the soundtrack is plain gorgeous," and "the costume designs are just as great," concluding: "While this is not my top favorite movie [of the Heisei series], it is definitely one of the best."[12]
Home media
The film has been released twice on home media. The first release, by Columbia/Tristar Home Entertainment, was released on February 8, 2005. The subtitles for the Japanese track are really "dubtitles" (the subtitles are actually the captions for the English track). The video transfer is a 1.78:1 widescreen version of TriStar's print. This means the Toho logos and end credits have been cut and all the onscreen, optical text from Toho's international version has been removed or replaced by video-generated text.
The second release was by Sony on Blu-ray as part of The Toho Godzilla Collection and was released on May 6, 2014, in a two-disc double feature with Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla.[13]
Merchandise
In addition to its box office gross, the film generated a further $158,000,000 (equivalent to $333,000,000 in 2023) from sales of books and merchandise by 1994, for a combined $194,000,000 (equivalent to $409,000,000 in 2023) generated from the box office, book sales and merchandise sales, making it the most profitable non-
Accolades
Year | Award | Category | Recipient(s) | Result |
---|---|---|---|---|
1994 | 17th Japan Academy Film Prize | Best Sound | Kazuo Miyauchi | Nominated |
References
- ^ a b "Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II". Toho Kingdom. Retrieved April 7, 2022.
- ^ NewspaperArchive.
Toho Co., the producer of the films, says as many as 82 million people have bought tickets to Godzilla movies since they began appearing in 1954. Recent versions, according to Toho, have been the most profitable non-animated films in Japan. Last year's Godzilla vs. Mecha-Godzilla brought in $36 million at the box office and generated another $158 million in related sales of books and merchandise — huge numbers for the Japanese entertainment industry.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-7864-47-49-7.
- ISBN 1550223488.
- ^ Lost Projects: Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II (Early Draft), Toho Kingdom (accessed February 16, 2016)
- ^ Robert Biondi, "The Evolution of Godzilla – G-Suit Variations Throughout the Monster King’s Twenty One Films", G-FAN #16 (July/August 1995)
- ^ "Godzilla vs Mechagodzilla" (worse quality segments are from the Hindi version). dailymotion.com
- ^ "『ゴジラVSメカゴジラ』の詳細情報". Eiga Ranking. Retrieved February 18, 2019.
- ^ "Godzilla vs Mechagodzilla II (1993)". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango. Retrieved September 19, 2023.
- ^ "Godzilla vs Mechagodzilla". monsterzero.us Archived June 23, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "American Kaiju: Mike Bogue's Articles and Reviews: Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla 2". Americankaiju.kaijuphile.com. December 11, 1993. Retrieved July 30, 2015.
- ^ "Godzilla vs Mechagodzilla". japanhero.com Archived May 9, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
- Dvdtalk.com. Retrieved July 30, 2015.
External links
- "ゴジラvsメカゴジラ (Gojira tai MekaGojira)" (in Japanese). Japanese Movie Database. Retrieved July 19, 2007.
- Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II at IMDb
- Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II at AllMovie
- Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II at Rotten Tomatoes