Friday, June 29, 2018

Tohope And Change - All Monsters Attack!


There was a time when I rather hated All Monsters Attack or as I knew it Godzilla's Revenge. It's the small story of a boy who is an outsider, who has a few friends, but who mostly is on his own as his parents work shifts which cause the youngster to be in the care of a good-hearted neighbor (played ironcally I've learned by the same actor who was the nefarious and deadly Doctor Who in King Kong Escapes). This "lactch-key kid" lives in a city which is filled with traffic and pollution, not a place where one would ideally wish to raise a child. But he's a kid with a vivid imagination and he often goes in his head to Monster Island and where he finds a friend, Godzilla's son Minilla.


There's a delightful Alice in Wonderland quality to the whole flick, one which was lost on me as a younger viewer, but which I find fetching in these times. The youngster fends off bullies, and finds himself in the clutches of some rather inept thieves. In fact some of the movie is a lot like Home Alone, but long before that McCauley Culkin vehicle hit the screen. At the end we find a boy who has learned some valuable lessons but not a boy who lives an ideal life yet. It's a charming movie with a muted ending and rather smart for a mere monster movie.

More to come.

Rip Off

2 comments:

  1. Godzilla’s Revenge is the Godzilla movie I’ve seen more than any other – just because they used to show it locally a lot as I was growing up. He does that ridiculous cross-legged-bound-into-the-air dance in this one.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. This one played a lot on TV in my area too. The little jump you describe actually was in Monster Zero, but it might've been replayed in this one since so much of it was old material from vintage comics. I don't immediately remember.

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TTwH5nqRvOo

      Rip Off

      Delete