Disappointing but still a good time

Rating: 7/10 (16 May 2014)

***I highlight negatives rather than positives*** SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS
First and foremost then film was entertaining; it followed the Godzilla narrative, opened well and was not lacking in action. However the character development was poor and some concepts were silly.
There are 3 creatures and two sides, Godzilla on one and the mating pair on the other. The viewer is suppose to be in favour of Godzilla, this part i struggled with. I don't see how one threat is greater than the other, both sides just run rampant in the cities stomping on people and knocking over things. Okay, one side was reproducing but these things feed off radiation and they get most of their radiation from the earths core, hence why they burrow. My criticism is not to change the story, but spend more time or better techniques discerning the opposing sides. There was no where near enough differentiation to justify the dubbing of Godzilla as "Savior". Cringe cringe cringe.
Silly things: -When the soldiers visit the Nevada nuclear waste storage facility, they walk through a hallway and check the doors, one has been broken into. There is a massive hole on the side of the hill that would have been recognized before entry. -In the beginning they are at a mine site, they explore this cavern then find a tunnel where a creature has escaped and there is a long line of destruction indicating the path it took. The characters act surprised, like come on how didn't you already know about that... -Again in the mine site, there are hundreds of people just climbing ladders. Literally, not carrying anything just climbing ladders in and out of the pit. Im an engineer, this isn't how things work, painful to watch. I could create a longer list, but this applies to just about any movie.
Lastly, the character development was really disappointing. It introduces Bryan Cranston(Joe)and his family, he is a senior engineer working at a nuclear power plan in Japan.(Fast forward 15 years)He gets cut out of the story ~45min in, you are then passed on to his son a US soldier. You see bit of his family too, similar environment to his upbringing. I did not connect with any of the characters, i could not sympathise or hate them. This includes the creatures. Ultimately there is a very anticlimactic reunion between him and his family. Left with a feeling of "huh, i guess its over".
For me I need films where i can connect to the characters, I need to care about what happens to them. Get an insight into their personality, guess what their thinking etc. I know Godzilla isn't this kind of film and if it didn't have the cultural significance I would give it a 5/10.