King Kong vs. Godzilla (1963)

Wonderful character development!

Purely Joyful Movie!

Highly Overrated But Still Good

There is just so much movie here. For some it may be too much. But in the same secretly sarcastic way most telemarketers say the phrase, the title of this one is particularly apt.

I admit it, Kong is a bit big for his own good in this one, but hey, I stand by my statement when I say this is one of the best Showa series Godzilla films there are. I love it! It's able to teeter both the monster battles and the story line perfectly, without having too much of one or the other. I like how they threw in the giant Octopus (some Godzilla fans have dubbed it "Oodaku") to give that sense that Faro Island (the Japanese version of skull island I suppose) is much like it's American counterpart, with prehistoric or unknown creatures living with Kong side by side. The effects are wonderful, and Kong's immaturity and feeble mindedness gives us all a sense of comedic relief. This will remain one of my favorite Godzilla movies of all time, and if you're a fan of Godzilla, it's definitely a must see!

A submarine crashes into an iceberg, freeing Godzilla from its frozen grip; meanwhile, over-sized ape King Kong is captured by a pharmaceutical company and shipped to Japan. When the radioactive lizard heads for Tokyo, smashing all in its path, some bright spark has the idea of using Kong to bring an end to the scaly beast's rampage. Cue even more destruction as the pair duke it out on Mount Fuji.King Kong vs. Godzilla is far from what I would call a great film (quelle surprise), with a preposterous storyline, dreadful performances, and woeful special effects (crappy men-in-suit monsters and lots of miniature model-work, none of which is very convincing). It does, however, mark the only time to date that cinema's mightiest ape and its greatest mutated lizard have gone head to head, which makes it a must for monster movies fans, no matter how manky the creature suits are.In addition its legendary monster smack-down (which includes the unforgettable sight of Godzilla getting a tree shoved down his throat), this silly Japanese/US co-production also offers plenty of (unintentional?) laughs, including Japanese extras blacked up to play natives (who perform a prolonged dance routine to pad out the running time), Kong getting sloshed on berry juice, a giant octopus latching itself onto Kong's head, and the great ape taking a hot air balloon flight.

Here it is: the most gargantuan battle of monsters anybody could come up with. From the west, there's the massive gorilla that was worshiped by natives and went on to climb the Empire State building. From the Far East, the giant fire-breathing lizard spawn from the atomic age that crushes entire cities. This film unites the two iconic titans in a vicious match of pure bestial muscle power.As cool as it all sounds, the film may inspire more absurd laughter than actual thrills. When the two beasts collide, King Kong throws his arms around in a hokey ape-like manner, while Godzilla throws a hissy-fit and flaps his arms erratically. In the confines of gaudy rubber suits, it looks incredibly silly. The actual mass destruction is plentiful, but these scenes seem so few and far-between. By the film's end (after a ridiculous scene where Kong is airlifted by balloons), the conflict just kinda fizzles out with no clear winner or loser. It's a cheap and dated film with horrid special effects and bad costume work; even if you look past that, the execution is so weak that it can't be taken seriously.Of course, if you don't take it seriously (and you probably shouldn't for monster flicks anyway), then it's still pretty fun. Fans should get a kick out of the epic clash, despite all its cheesiness and flaws.The story is pretty standard stuff; most characters exist to simply to provide a human conduit for the audience to follow as the monsters roam around. The plot does take a few stupid turns (seriously, King Kong flying around on balloons? And since when can he grow stronger with electricity?).This film is pretty cheap, featuring okay photography and editing. Acting is pretty cheesy, and is made even worse with terrible English dubbing. Writing is pretty nutty (possibly marred by the changes of the US cut). This production uses some cheap and gaudy sets, props, costumes, model-work, and some horrid-looking compositing effects. Music is okay.This film has had a pretty spotty history. For the US, parts of it have been cut out, and many new footage has been cut in, in a manner similar to Godzilla: King of the Monsters. I don't know what the exact changes are, but the added news reports and exposition feel quite forced, and some of the explanations given seem misinformed, and possibly biased to appeal to Americans. Even in Japan, parts of the film have gone missing (some of which has been restored for home video releases), and the overall condition of the film has been poor. This film is probably best seen for watching the two titular beasts duke it out, in all their cheesy rubber-suit glory. It's not a good film, and the story is pretty dumb (at least for the US version), but if you ever wanted to see two of the biggest and most popular monsters engaged in epic combat, this film has its moments.3/5 (Entertainment: Pretty Good | Story: Marginal | Film: Marginal)

This was a big leap for Kong and Godzilla: first, this movie was both their first in colour. Next, Godzilla was about 50 ft. taller than Kong, which meant Kong would've had to get bigger. 3rd, was getting the copyright for Kong to verse Godzilla. This movie was close to going in the Godzilla Garbage, just like 'Godzilla vs. Frankenstein'. But it ended up being made, and with big success at the time. The story tells of Godzilla attacking Tokyo once more, destroying everything in his path. One man, who owns his a television channel, is sick of Godzilla, and sends some men out to find a beast to take him on. The men return with King Kong, and all hell breaks lose. A great Friday Flick with some friends. It is an ultimate ******* star performance. So, if you like the 'King Kong' and 'Godzilla' series, then I recommend this movie to YOU!