Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack

***Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack***, also known as **GMK** is a 2001 Japanese monster film directed by Shusuke Kaneko. Produced and distributed by Toho Studios, it is the 25th film in the Godzilla franchise and the third film in the franchise's Millennium era, as well as the 25th Godzilla film produced by Toho.

## Why It Rocks

1. It contains a very nice and refreshing take on the Godzilla series as well as the Kaiju genre alone, having three guardian monsters, specifically Baragon, Mothra, and King Ghidorah, being summoned to face off against any danger, that of course being Godzilla, who was revived by to seek revenge on Japan for all of the souls lost during the Pacific War of World War II.
2. It is also one of the most darkest Godzilla films around this time, having disturbing scenes such as when a group of teenagers try to intentionally drown a dog due to it annoying them before the larva Mothra comes up to punish the teenagers by cocooning them, while saving the dog, as well as a suicidal businessman tries to hang himself from a tree at the Aokigahara forest with his tie which ultimately led him to encountering a frozen state of King Ghidorah underground.
3. Very interesting and relatable characters that you care about for once, which is usually rare in a Godzilla and Kaiju film alone such as Yuri Tachibana, Taizo Tachibana, and Teruaki Takeda.
4. There's the mysterious ghost like figure that happens to summon the three guardian monsters to stop Godzilla from destroying Japan, that being Professor Hirotoshi Isayama, while also explaining and warning Yuri and the rest that Godzilla is returning.
5. Godzilla is portrayed at his most evil and malicious manner, going as far as to intentionally attack and murder thousands of the people at Japan, mainly due to it seeking horrible vengeance against Japan for all of the atrocities committed by the nation during World War II. Godzilla is also given a very intimidating appearance, with him having no pupils, a sinister evil-ish grin, as well as being one of the most strongest of the Godzillas by far.
6. The three guardian monsters, despite two of them being kaijus Godzilla has fought in previous movies, are unique in their own, depending on your view, Baragon having a more cutesier dog-like appearance while having the ability to dig is given a new original roar instead of a reused Varan roar like in Frankenstein vs. Baragon, Mothra giving a more bug like intimidating appearance instead of an overly cutesy looking butterfly, as well as giving a new ability that being a shotgun-like burst of projectile stingers fired from her abdomen, with her miniature priestesses, the Shobijin, not making an appearance at all, and lastly King Ghidorah, while made weaker when compared to other incarnations of the kaiju, is now a more heroic mythical creature, and also giving out some other unique presets and so forth.
7. Impressive special effects that were provided by Makoto Kamiya that really make some parts like the kaiju action really great.
8. Absolutely outstanding soundtrack provided by music composer Kow Otani, who really brings out a refreshing emotional while epic and pounding like soundtrack to the series.
9. A nice and unique bond between Yuri and her father Taizo, showing some strengths and flaws within the two, something that is common with real life families.
10. An emotional backstory from Taizo when he was present as a young child as Godzilla raided Tokyo in 1954 where he lost both of his parents in the attack, and is still haunted by the memories of Godzilla and the cries of the monster's victims, as such fears of having another tragedy like that while hoping his daughter and everyone else is safe.
11. Amazing cinematography provided by Masahiro Kishimoto who really executes the mythical feel very well in the film itself.
12. While the movie is pretty dark for the most part, there are some arguably comedic moments here or there such as a scene where a woman that's hospitalized after Godzilla's attack on the Bonin Islands thinking he's walked past her, only for his tail to swing into view and kill her.
13. A neat mockery reference to the mh:awfulmovies:Godzilla (1998) at the near beginning of the film, explaining that the creature that attacked New York City that the people thought was Godzilla turned out to be another monster.
14. A pretty disturbing ending, where Godzilla's disembodied heart begins to beat continuously as Akira Ifukube's Godzilla theme begins playing in the background.

## Bad Qualities

1. Although a lot of the special effects in this movie are really great, some of it can look pretty dated at best.
2. The portrayals of each Kaiju can feel odd for some of the viewers, especially ones that tend to see the other films as the true versions of each kaiju in this movie.
	1. Speaking of which, the fact that King Ghidorah becomes the hero in this film can rather turn some viewers off considering he always depicted as the villian in various media in other films as well as being based on Yamata no Orochi.
3. While the ending was quite disturbing and unique, it does feel somewhat of a cliffhanger.
4. Some people were disappointed that this movie is another reboot that ignores every *Godzilla* movie that came before it besides the first.

## Reception

**Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack** has has a 63% rating from critics, based on 16 reviews with an average score of 5.29/10, as well as a 78% audience rating on Rotten Tomatoes.