A Review From a True Kaiju Film Fan.

Rating: 6/10 (16 May 2014)

Okay, If you don't want any spoilers I'd advise to tread carefully through this review. I'm going to try to avoid spoilers but some things will be impossible to avoid.
This isn't your father's Godzilla. This new Godzilla is the biggest he's ever been but it's also the lightest he's ever been, meaning that the allegories and the pathos are either gone or diluted to the point in which you don't really care. The fear of nuclear war and the blame on human kind for their destruction of the Earth is virtually gone.
What is here is a monster you want to see win. A monster you want to root for! In this movie Godzilla is the Guardian of Earth! The movie goes the route of the 1970's Godzilla movies in which he is a hero but it isn't as ridiculous as those films. It is the first Godzilla movie to play him as a realistic (as real as a kaiju film can be) good guy and not some Ultra Man wrestling match (not that there is anything wrong with that).
The grim horror and futility of the situation that was so clearly portrayed in the trailers is also gone. Gone are the scenes of crushed trains and dead bodies littering the countryside. The movie takes a considerably more palatable approach and aims for the largest possible audience it can get. From the get go you like Godzilla and your love for him grows as the movie goes on. By the end you're cheering for him. The final monster throwdown is EPIC! The only question really worth asking is: Is it better than the 1998 film of the same title? My answer is a resounding YES!!! Just be prepared for it to not be the movie you think it is. The trailers were misleading and it is nothing like any previous Godzilla film. All the actors do a very good job and the plot is solid.
The film takes a big page from the GAMERA TRILOGY. If you have no idea what I'm referring to then read on. The Gamera Trilogy ( a trio of Japanese Kaiju films made in the mid 1990's) is highly regarded as the best giant monster films ever made. They are the best model for as crazy a concept as Kaiju being successful and overall blow your socks off AWESOMENESS!! I LOVE THE GAMERA TRILOGY!!!! This movie is pound for pound a remake of the Gamera Trilogy. You could swap Godzilla for Gamera in this new Godzilla film, change nothing else about it, and the film would function perfectly as GAMERA 4.
When you watch this movie you'll come out loving Godzilla... albeit for different reason than those you loved about him before. Overall, not the movie I was expecting but definitely a good kaiju film. Will it do well at the box office? I hope so. Should you all go see it? For the reasons I said above, I think you all will like it.
Just know that this is not the Japanese Godzilla. This is the NEW American Godzilla. A hero, not a symbol of the mistakes of mankind and the punishment we all deserve, which is what Godzilla REALLY is.
Essentially Gareth Edwards did to Godzilla what J.J. Abrams did to Star Trek: Made it accessible to all audiences.