By Charles Cassady Jr. , based on child development research. How do we rate?
Giant-monster drama is stiff, dated but still a classic.
Parents need to know that the violence in Godzilla: King of the Monsters! is of a war-scale variety, with ships, islands, trains, planes, and ultimately an entire city, Tokyo, destroyed, with dead and wounded. The culprit is a giant monster, though, rather than an army. While Godzilla was sometimes a good-guy…
Godzilla famously destroys public property. Boats, trains, planes, and automobil
Drinking, Drugs & SmokingA character smokes cigarettes and a pipe.
Products & Purchases Not present Language Not present Sex, Romance & Nudity Not presentUpstanding, stalwart types prevail. Dr. Serizawa deliberately dies to prevent hi
Positive MessagesMany claim the theme is the personification of total war in the form of Godzilla
Godzilla famously destroys public property. Boats, trains, planes, and automobiles are wrecked by the giant reptile. Blood shown on dead and wounded left in the aftermath of a Godzilla attack. There's a scuffle between humans, one of whom dies offscreen in more or less a suicide.
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Upstanding, stalwart types prevail. Dr. Serizawa deliberately dies to prevent his weapon from being misused (though he's also on the losing side in a love triangle, which may have had something to do with his mood).
Many claim the theme is the personification of total war in the form of Godzilla (whose origin, it's theorized, was H-bomb tests), as an uncontrollable, indiscriminating force of pure destruction. Dr. Serizawa has a weapon to stop Godzilla but he fears it will just become an even greater and terrible danger in itself if he uses it, inserting a note of ultimate sacrifice.
Parents need to know that the violence in Godzilla: King of the Monsters! is of a war-scale variety, with ships, islands, trains, planes, and ultimately an entire city, Tokyo, destroyed, with dead and wounded. The culprit is a giant monster, though, rather than an army. While Godzilla was sometimes a good-guy monster and friend to children in later movies, he is just a menace here. Characters smoke cigarettes and cigars. The finale involves a suicide by a key character. Different versions of Godzilla (aka Gojira, in the original Japanese) exist on DVD; the Japanese original was released in 1954, while the edited "American cut" -- which tells the story from the POV of a U.S. reporter -- was released in 1956. Picture quality varies wildly (sometimes even in the same edition!). To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails.
