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Son of Godzilla

Play trailer Poster for Son of Godzilla PG Released Dec 16, 1967 1h 26m Sci-Fi Play Trailer Watchlist
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63% Tomatometer 16 Reviews 31% Popcornmeter 5,000+ Ratings
In this Japanese monster movie, the massive Godzilla comes to the aid of his newborn son, who hatches from an egg on a remote island where scientists are conducting experiments with radioactivity. Revealing a surprising paternal streak, Godzilla tries to teach his much smaller progeny how to use his powers. The father/son team must then battle giant insects, including praying mantises and a formidable spider. Can Godzilla protect his curious tike from the gargantuan bugs?
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Son of Godzilla

Critics Reviews

View All (16) Critics Reviews
Adrian Turner Time Out The energy level is high, the technology ridiculous, and the subtext bang up to date. Jun 24, 2006 Full Review Paul Lê Bloody Disgusting As easy as it is to beat up on Son of Godzilla, there is a loveliness about it that gets buried underneath all the criticisms (valid as they may be). Rated: 3.5/5 Dec 1, 2023 Full Review Bob Chipman Escapist Magazine A lot of fans detest Minilla (it's pronounced "Min-Yah") but I always liked him. May 23, 2019 Full Review Witney Seibold Nerdist Minilla is a weird, weird addition to the Toho canon. May 21, 2019 Full Review Leo Goldsmith Not Coming to a Theater Near You This showdown, a father-and-son team up held amid a blizzard orchestrated in a last ditch effort by the experimental meteorologists, is the film's true highlight, a curious denouement to an already odd film. May 13, 2019 Full Review Alan Jones Radio Times The eighth in the Toho monster series is an inept juvenile adventure with comical episodes spliced into the miniature special effects mayhem. Rated: 2/5 May 13, 2019 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

View All (230) audience reviews
josh d They tried something different, and some of it worked. Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 06/09/24 Full Review Rich A Loved this as a kid my inner child still enjoys! Rated 5 out of 5 stars 04/22/24 Full Review Chanr3y k Son of Godzilla is when the franchise turns fully kiddie, but despite that, It actually has some fun characters to follow through the real problem is Manilla, he's so hideous and ugly, I wish he would die. Rated 2 out of 5 stars 04/15/24 Full Review Gorptholemew T 🍅 6.0/10 Why does he sound like a donkey? Way Overheated in my opinion like yeah minilla is a bit annoying at times but he's fine. I mostly like the stetting and Godzilla, having much more screen time even if it's mostly just his son. But fun enough 👍. Grade B Rated 3 out of 5 stars 04/10/24 Full Review Mason V you had the franchise so cool, why ruin it? Rated 2 out of 5 stars 03/29/24 Full Review Matthew D Godzilla must learn to be a single father to protect his cute adopted boy. Director Jun Fukuda's Japanese kaiju sci-fi horror comedy Son of Godzilla (1967) has clever science-fiction commentary of heated climate change causing deadly giant praying mantis, all while Godzilla must raise a smaller kaiju to survive against said praying mantis monsters. It's very funny, strange, and creative. The puppets for the massive bugs are cleverly layered and all the Godzilla action in the man suits are delightful. Writers Shinichi Sekizawa and Kazue Shiba craft a neat sci-fi story with the scientists and journalist. Having the heat rapidly evolve from the extra heat simulated. The freeze experiment is an interesting solution to the lack of food and land for future fears of humanity getting wiped out without nutrition and an ever increasing population. They even say there will be a scarcity of food in 100 years and that's coming up as we still have fears for food supplies and population control. I love all the silly scenarios with Godzilla having to protect or teach his adopted son to survive. Parenthood is integral as a theme as Godzilla feels like a metaphor for the scientists trying to impose their imperialist ideas on the world due to their freezing weather experiments to control the population. Akira Kubo is amusing and sincere as the funny and concerned journalist Maki Goro, who travels to this island with scientists. He feels actually worried about the girl and the consequences of the scientists' experiments. Tadao Takashima is super serious as Professor Kusumi with his desire to control weather to change the population and food supply problems. He's arrogant and reckless with few ethics. Seeing his cold trials turn to heated chaos, you can tell the writers were thinking about climate change already. Bibari Maeda is pretty and charming as the stranded girl Saeko Matsumiya. Akihiko Hirata is good as the other scientist Fujisaki. Yoshio Tsuchiya is fantastic as the stern and angry Furukawa, who is already sick of the island. Hiroshi Sekita, Seiji Onaka, and Haruo Nakajima are very expressive inside the Godzilla suit, making frustrated faces as Godzilla is a dad. Editor Ryôhei Fujii carefully splices together the mantis, human, and Godzilla footage into tight playful action. Cinematographer plays around with perspectives for the massive mantis monsters and Godzilla versus the tiny baby Godzilla creature. The suits and puppets look great like all the miniature bases and matte paintings in the background. Production designer Takeo Kita's science base and island sets look excellent like the detailed Godzilla suit. The mantis puppets are super creepy and fun. Visual effects artist Eiji Tsuburaya does some wild fire and Atomic Breath blasts from Godzilla. Composer Masaru Satō made a cute film score for Godzilla playing with his son or attacking the mantis creatures. It's a very simple and cute 86 minutes. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 03/21/24 Full Review Read all reviews
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Movie Info

Synopsis In this Japanese monster movie, the massive Godzilla comes to the aid of his newborn son, who hatches from an egg on a remote island where scientists are conducting experiments with radioactivity. Revealing a surprising paternal streak, Godzilla tries to teach his much smaller progeny how to use his powers. The father/son team must then battle giant insects, including praying mantises and a formidable spider. Can Godzilla protect his curious tike from the gargantuan bugs?
Director
Fukuda Jun
Producer
Tomoyuki Tanaka
Screenwriter
Shin'ichi Sekizawa
Production Co
Toho Company
Rating
PG (Sci-Fi Monster Violence)
Genre
Sci-Fi
Original Language
Japanese
Release Date (Theaters)
Dec 16, 1967, Original
Release Date (Streaming)
Feb 25, 2010
Runtime
1h 26m
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