All Monsters Attack!

[janradder]

This weekend, I showed both of the boys Godzilla vs. Hedorah (the Smog Monster).  While they both really liked it a lot, Éiden has been absolutely smitten with Godzilla  (continuing  his infatuation with strong green creatures:  the Hulk, Yoda, and now the King of Monsters).  Since seeing the movie on Saturday, he's talked almost non-stop about Godzilla and the Smog Monster, and he's  carried the DVD box around with him nearly everywhere he goes, looking at the pictures and showing them to us us again and again.  He's also re-enacted battles from the movie by telling both haddayr  and I that he is Godzilla and we are the Smog Monster (his re-enactments, by the way, are neither for the faint hearted nor the easily injured).  I told him I have two other Godzilla movies on hold at the library and today, as he stood excitedly by my side, I placed holds on eight more and he could barely contain his delight.  Be warned if you plan to visit -- our house is now officially Monster Island.

Comments

[justinhowe.livejournal.com]

Gotta admit. That one is my favorite too.

[janradder.livejournal.com]

It's a good one. I'm still hoping I can find a Gamera movie somewhere.

[vee-ecks.livejournal.com]

Did you ever see the Giant Majin movies (http://www.stomptokyo.com/badmoviereport/reviews/D/daimajin.html) as a kid? Because I really loved those around the same time I loved Godzilla. (Even though the monster never shows up in them until the last third of the movie.)

I got my son into Godzilla when he was six or seven and all into the remake, and Destroy All Monsters came out on DVD, around the same time. That was a lot of fun, sitting around watching that stuff with him, the next little while.

[snurri.livejournal.com]

Is it weird that it is mainly things like this that make me want to have kids? Not the cute stuff, but the indoctrination into daikaiju fandom.

[justinhowe.livejournal.com]

I own a Gamera movie. They're pretty common for cheap at Best Buy. It has to be one of the most irritating movies I ever watched as an adult. But as a kid... there's just something about a jet-propelled killer dragon turtle.

[janradder.livejournal.com]

The stills look really familiar and considering that, as a kid, I watched anything that was on television, especially if it had to do with monsters or superheroes, there's a good chance I did, though I really can't remember. The only other, non-Godzilla Japanese monster movies I really remember are the Gamera movies, which I loved.

I wasn't sure how much the boys would like Godzilla. I'd talked about him before and shown them pictures but they hadn't shown much interest (which is understandable). They were hooked, though, as soon as Godzilla made his first appearance in the movie.

[vee-ecks.livejournal.com]

Yeah, my son was pretty dubious about them, all caught up in the promotion of the remake as he was, but I got a bootleg of the remake and a copy of Destroy All Monsters and showed him both. He liked the remake, but it didn't engage him the way the old rubber suit movies did.

[janradder.livejournal.com]

One of the high points of having kids is most definitely getting to share with them the things you loved as a kid. Sometimes they can take it or leave it, but when they totally get into it like you did when you were their age, it's pretty awesome.

[vee-ecks.livejournal.com]

I dunno, one of the primary urges behind having kids seems always to have been the opportunity to pass parts of yourself along. I know I've had a blast over the years introducing my kids to all kinds of stuff I'm geeky about.

[janradder.livejournal.com]

That's too bad that it's a lousy movie for adults. I wondered if it would be. You're right about being a kid, though, and a flying turtle being the coolest thing ever. And that he liked kids made it even better. I remember planning my day around watching Gamera if I saw it was on TV.

[janradder.livejournal.com]

I never saw the remake but judging by the trailers, I thought it seemed like Hollywood just didn't get why Godzilla movies are fun. A few years back (maybe it was Godzilla 2000), Toho made a Godzilla movie where Godzilla goes up against an impostor who looks like the Hollywood version. It wasn't as good as the 60's and 70's ones but it was still fun.

[vee-ecks.livejournal.com]

I never saw the remake but judging by the trailers, I thought it seemed like Hollywood just didn't get why Godzilla movies are fun.

It's really not a terrible movie, and kind of fun if you're, say, seven or otherwise not watching it with a total hate-on if nobody in a rubber suit shows up. But as has been said often, it bears more relation to other giant monster movies of the period, and it's pretty clear that the Godzilla property was licensed solely for its sheer marketing power.

[geniusofevil.livejournal.com]

how strange, I'm having godzilla week over at my other blog.

When are you going to show them Godzilla vs Mothra We Totally Ripped this off from Indiana Jones?

[janradder.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure. It's on hold at the library but there are three other people ahead of us so we'll see.