60's Ishirō Honda Horror Part Five

KING KONG ESCAPES

(1967)

Overall: MEH

 

The second and last Toho production to feature King Kong, King Kong Escapes, (Kingu Kongu no Gyakushū, King Kong's Counterattack, King-Kong, Frankensteins Sohn, La Revanche de King Kong, King Kong il gigante della foresta, Canavarlarin Gazabi, El Regreso de King Kong, King Kong kauhun saarella, King Kong på skräckens ö), serves as one long build-up to the title guerilla squaring-off against his robot doppelgänger Mechani-Kong.  Unfortunately, (or fortunately depending on one's tastes for comic strip goofiness), the trek to get there also throws in a campy super villain scheme where someone who looks like a mad scientist while acting like a James Bond bad guy hatches a diabolical plan to to use Kong to help him mine Element X which will make him conquer the world or something stupid.  Rhodes Reason and Linda Joe Miller fulfill the Caucasian hero quota while the former has the charisma of a park bench while the latter cries "Kooooong" about twelve hundred times throughout, all while getting picked up and put down again by the giant ape many times over.  The plotting is repetitive and takes a substantial pacing dive in the second act, but as always, the ridiculous suitmation sequences are a highlight.

DESTROY ALL MONSTERS

(1968)

Overall: MEH

 

With the gas clearly running out of the tank for the Godzilla series, Toho went for broke with Destroy All Monsters, (Kaijū Sōshingeki, Monster Total Advancement), by throwing eleven giant sized creatures into the mix.  Allegedly, the studio was contemplating putting a lid on their now nine-movie-deep franchise before this hail Mary attempt was concocted, with regular Godzilla screenwriter Shinichi Sekizawa stepping down so that Takeshi Kimura and director Ishirō Honda could handle the script.  What they come up with barely puts enough excuses together to get all of the monsters on the screen together and it is pure pulp sci-fi nonsense involving an alien race with goofy costumes who want to take over the world by way of mind control devises and whatnot.  The story also introduces the concept of Monster Island where in the future, Godzilla, Rodan, Mothra, Gorgosaurus, Baragon, Anguirus, baby Godzilla, Kumonga, and Manda all live in inexplicable harmony with each other while humans supply them with cloned fish after having attained world peace.  The formula still consists of hilarious suitmation/toy model sequences with yawn-inducing board room meetings and spaceship scenes that drag everything to a standstill.  It is certainly a joy for devout kaiju fans, but as always, a mere highlight reel of the good bits will suffice.

ALL MONSTERS ATTACK

(1969)

Overall: WOOF

 

Toho wrapped up their 60's output of Godzilla films with their tenth overall, the almost universally unloved All Monsters Attack, (Gojira Minira Gabara Ōru Kaijū Daishingeki, Godzilla, Minilla, and Gabara: All Monsters Attack, Godzilla's Revenge).  Never before had the emphasis been so family friendly as this one focuses on a child protagonist who merely fantasizes about frolicking around Monster Island with Baby Godzilla who can now talk and ergo add even more syrupy cuteness to the proceedings.  These movies had always been inherently silly so the tonal shift is not as jarring as one would assume, especially considering the fact that there is still a side-plot involving criminals on the run who little Tomonori Yazaki has to "fight his own battles" against.  The coming-of-age story line is harmless as well as undeniably unique for the series, so at the very least, it deserves some credit for not being yet another case of "boring human characters talking about their giant monster problem" while we wait for the fifteen or so minutes of actual suitmation hijinks.  Sadly, Yazaki's character is more annoying than adorable and the heavy use of stock footage makes this a noticeably cheap affair.  That said, the theme song is delightfully absurd and at least the whole thing is wrapped up in a mere sixty-nine minutes.