Kingu Kongu tai Gojira / King Kong vs. Godzilla (1962) - A Japanese reinterpretation of an early Hollywood classic - 6/10 (21/01/20)

After a dormancy of more than seven years, the Godzilla franchise was revived and to kick things off on a spectacular note, the giant lizard confronts a legend of Hollywood cinema with giant monkey King Kong. The movie was commercially successful and remains one of the most profitable films in the franchise. Without this film, many other movies that followed would have never seen the light of day. Nevertheless, King Kong versus Godzilla is one of the franchise's worst movies and the terribly edited American version is particularly bad.

There are several elements to be criticized here. Godzilla almost only has a side role since the movie largely focuses on King Kong.

The story of the monkey retrieved from an isolated island by a greedy businessman is an almost exact copy of the original King Kong movie and lacks imagination.

The characters in this movie remain superficial and the fact that many actresses and actors overact in a way that recalls the slapstick comedy genre certainly doesn't help.

The edited and inserted scenes in the American version harm the pace of the original movie and leave out several key scenes. The monologues and communications between the additional American actors are bland and boring. They don't add anything to the story. Changing a movie and adding American characters to the plot would rightfully be considered disrespectful and even racist by today's standards. Things were different back then but cinephiles around the globe can consider themselves lucky that things have changed.

Even the monsters in this movie are far from convincing. King Kong looks mildly amusing with his chaotic fur and is seen hammering his fists against his chest in half of his scenes. Godzilla certainly doesn't look as scary as in the first two movies and has clearly taken a more accessible look to appeal to larger audiences.

Still, King Kong versus Godzilla has a few redeeming qualities after all. The scene when Godzilla awakes from an iceberg after a submarine collided with it is truly tense and impressive.

The scenes on Faro Island add an exotic touch to the movie and something new to the franchise overall.

The scenes when King Kong kidnaps a woman and climbs a building with her are obviously copied from the original Hollywood movie but they are nevertheless entertaining and impressive to watch.

The ways the military attempts to stop the monsters are quite diversified and portray the helplessness of mankind quite drastically.

The final fighting scenes between King Kong and Godzilla are certainly very entertaining. This movie might have multiple flaws but it isn't boring and doesn't overstay its welcome.

To conclude, King Kong versus Godzilla is one of the weakest entries into the franchise. The movie is basically a Japanese reinterpretation of the Hollywood movie of the gigantic monkey with a few secondary scenes involving their very own national treasure. Still, the movie is nicely crafted for its time and certainly entertainment that appeals to the whole family. Nowadays, this movie is only recommended to avid fans of both the Godzilla and King Kong franchises. Occasional fans of kaiju films can skip this overall average release without any regrets.