79
Metascore
20 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 100Christian Science MonitorDavid SterrittChristian Science MonitorDavid SterrittNot that Honda's original Godzilla is a message movie first and foremost. It's a horror flick, and an ingenious one at that, with visual effects so vivid that gimmicky spin-offs became an enduring staple of popular film.
- 91Entertainment WeeklyOwen GleibermanEntertainment WeeklyOwen GleibermanGodzilla is still the most awesome of tacky movie monsters.
- 90L.A. WeeklyRobert AbeleL.A. WeeklyRobert AbeleCan now be appreciated not just as a minor classic of tragic destruction, but also as a somber exploration of conflicted postwar emotions.
- 80Village VoiceJ. HobermanVillage VoiceJ. HobermanAs crass as it is visionary, Godzilla belongs with--and might well trump--the art films "Hiroshima Mon Amour" and "Dr. Strangelove" as a daring attempt to fashion a terrible poetry from the mind-melting horror of atomic warfare.
- 80Washington PostDesson ThomsonWashington PostDesson ThomsonThe images are crisp. The story is restored. And there's no sign of Raymond Burr.
- 80Washington PostStephen HunterWashington PostStephen HunterIts images of the destruction of the cities is far more powerful than in American films, where the cities are trashed for the pure pleasure of destruction, without any real sense of human loss.
- 75New York Daily NewsJack MathewsNew York Daily NewsJack MathewsThe monster's mashing of Tokyo looks as Ed Wood-like as ever, but the film's humanity gives it depth.
- 75San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleSan Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleA new restoration takes a flawed bit of monster camp and turns it back into a strong, serious-minded and occasionally moving science-fiction film.
- 63ReelViewsJames BerardinelliReelViewsJames BerardinelliThe arrival of the uncut Godzilla is a great boon to monster movie fans, but will have limited appeal to others.
- 50Film ThreatPhil HallFilm ThreatPhil HallWhile the Raymond Burr sequences and the subsequent clumsy English dubbing of the remaining Japanese footage made the U.S. version an unintentionally funny movie, the complete Japanese version is an unfunny bore.