Movie Title: King Kong vs. Godzilla (Kingu Kongu tai Gojira)
Genre: Action, Adventure, Fantasy, Sci-Fi,
Director: Ishirô Honda (Japanese Director), Thomas Montgomery (English Director)
Writer: Shin'ichi Sekizawa (English version written by Paul Mason and Bruce Howard)
Starring: Harry Holcombe, Michael Keith, James Yagi, Tadao Takashima, Kenji Sahara, Yû Fujiki, Ichirô Arishima
Review: The two mightiest monsters of all time are ready to rumble! When Godzilla is released from his icy lair a pharmaceutical company captures King Kong and brings him to Japan so that the behemoth beasts can battle for the future of humankind.
King Kong vs. Godzilla is a ridiculous, bad, and ridiculously bad. I must admit, I was so looking forward to seeing this clash of the titans, but it was such a big disappointment. The story is ludicrous beyond belief. There are barely any characters to follow along with and apparently King Kong is our protagonist and Godzilla is the villain even though they both destroy almost everything the come in contact with. Sorry, Japan!
The Godzilla suit is classic. The King Kong suit is pathetic, goofy, and laughable. The miniature sets and model work is passable. The interaction between our lead creatures is very memorable, not in a good way. It's quite befuddling to say the least. It's like two awkward dudes engaging in a slap fight, when they can see each other or are aware that they are within arms reach.
I didn't care too much for King Kong vs. Godzilla. The most shocking thing in the movie was a sequence involving the natives on Kong's island. The natives are actually Japanese actors wearing blackface, so cringe-worthy...and incredibly racist. And if that's not bad enough, when the pharmaceutical company ask the natives if they can have Kong and his brutal force they offer them cigarettes as a peace offering and they give one to a native child, who starts smoking in blackface and a small afro wig. I AM NOT MAKING THIS UP!!! It's shocking!
Stick with the originals and please skip this sad cash grab of a movie. So sad.
Fun Fact: Special effects director Eiji Tsuburaya deliberately gave King Kong a semi-comical personality, because he did not want Kong to frighten young children, and wanted the general audience to root for Kong over the more frightening Godzilla.