Dir. Ishirô Honda (1969)
A young boy learns how to deal with bullies through dreams of Godzilla fighting monsters on Monster Island.
Director Ishirô Honda created an amazing legacy for himself with the Godzilla franchise, and he's well deserving of all of the praise he has received. Even the best get lazy sometimes, though, as we see with his next-to-last entry in the franchise, All Monsters Attack. A relatively boring and saccharinely sweet plot mixed with almost entirely rehashed footage from the previous films during the monster sequences, All Monsters Attack is largely considered one of, if not the, worst film in the franchise. And, to be honest, it's not particularly close by this point in the series.
A young latchkey kid fantasizes about traveling to Monster Island, where he can hang out with Minilla (Baby Godzilla) and watch as his hero Godzilla fights with the other kaiju, especially a new monster named Gabara, which is patterned after a bully in the kid's life. His wanderings as he tries to kill time waiting for his parents to come home puts him right in the middle of a subplot with two bank robbers and a police investigation, and he dreams that maybe he will be saved by Minilla and take down the robbers with his new friend.
The parts of All Monsters Attack that aren't just replays of the previous films are largely ridiculous, with the baby Godzilla fighting off the bully character and whining about how scared he is. I get why this could be important for kids to see, and this movie is certainly more aimed towards the younger generation, but from the larger perspective of a non-child moviegoer, it's an absolutely terrible film. The monster design is ok, and Godzilla is just as Godzilla-y as he always is, but the ridiculous Minilla character is just as goofy and dumb as he is in all of his other appearances, and unfortunately this film focuses mostly on him.
All Monsters Attack is also lazy as all hell. It's got copious kaiju footage from the previous films, and while they're great scenes in their original iterations, it's a filmmaking copout that removes almost any reason to actually watch this film. The upbeat, disco-ey soundtrack is incredibly dated and, while fitting with the tone, a terrible choice for a Godzilla movie. After the more serious tone of Honda's previous film, Destroy All Monsters, this one is basically a Saturday morning cartoon. Unfortunately, even Saturday morning cartoons are more entertaining.
Absolutely none of the film's failure falls at the feet of Tomonori Yazaki, the young star of the show. He does a great job, albeit annoying at times, in trying to present a sympathetic character who is in way over his head. Kazuo Suzuki and Sachio Sakai, who play the two bank robbers, are also quite good, and this part of the film is largely entertaining. It's just so out of place in a kaiju film, which is supposed to be about destruction and monster mayhem. A lot of the subplots so far don't fit well with the films that they're in, but there's so much good monster wrestling that it doesn't hurt anything that there's a deeper story underneath.
When the kaiju action is missing, however, everything falls apart. All Monsters Attack is by far the worst film in the series up to this point, and while it has its good elements, none of it makes up for the lackluster effort put forth by the legendary director at the helm. I suppose everyone is allowed at least one stinker, and thankfully Honda returns later in the series to direct the last Shōwa Godzilla film. This one, however, is almost not even worth watching unless you just want to see every film in the series.
Who this movie is for: Kaiju fans, Godzilla completionists, Latchkey kids
Bottom line: All Monsters Attack is not a good film, and it's by far the worst Godzilla film in the series so far. The monster fights are largely recycled, and what isn't is poorly choreographed and kinda annoying. The actors are good, though, and the subplot is not bad for what its worth. For a Godzilla film, it's a huge disappointment. If you're a Godzilla superfan, you'll want to check it out to say you've seen them all. If you're just passingly interested, this is one you can skip.
