Leofwine_draca This is the Toho film that everybody remembers, the one that brought together all of the famous Japanese monsters for a gigantic fight. The film is jam-packed with absurd plot, lots of action and excitement to make it one of the best Godzilla movies ever created, if only the 1998 GODZILLA could have been like this, then I might have enjoyed it a lot more. There are hundreds of things to commend this film. I don't know where to start. Whether it be the great '60s fashions or the fast-paced, happy music, I just can't tell. The cast is well varied, and the actors remain commendably straight-faced, even in some of the more ridiculous moments. As well as the monsters, lots of action is mixed into the proceedings and gun battles keep things moving along swiftly.There are science fiction elements too, with moon travel and laser guns, all in their inimitable '60s trappings. The film is structured like one of the FLASH GORDON serials of the 1930s, and just as much fun. The monsters are all on top form, and the ingenious plot allows them to be both good and bad in one film! The final fight scene is tremendous and the bit where Ghidora gets a sound whipping is a classic moment of the Japanese cinema. It's so crazy! Comedy highlights include a Frenchman narrating the destruction of Paris in a high-pitched voice; a dummy falling from a window and not looking for a moment realistic, and an absurd, rubber giant snake monster crushing a building. There are lots of varied scenes of destruction as to be expected, and the monsters concentrate on world cities, attacking the famous landmarks and monuments and stuff, before moving on to different types of transport and then finally converging upon Tokyo in the final reel (as to be expected).There is so much action and things going on in this film that it truly seems like an epic, and it feels much, much longer than the ninety minutes it runs for. To say anymore about the film would be to ruin it, and let's just say that the '60s influence on the film is clear, with psychedelic visuals, manic battles, and an overwhelming message of goodness and peace when the action dies down at the end. It's fast, furious and a lot of fun, in fact it's one of the best monster films that I've ever seen, Godzilla or otherwise. Which is why it gets a high, well-deserved score. Track it down and view it now, because it will take your mind off doom and gloom and liven things up a bit. If you don't want to watch something depressing and gruesome, instead watch this light, fantastic adventure romp and you'll feel a lot better afterwards.

wbruce714 Destroy all Monsters is an excellent monster movie for the simple reason that it has everything you are expecting out of a 60s Godzilla movie. Cheesy effects, aliens, and a lot of monsters. Godzilla Gorosaurus(one of my personal favorite kaiju) Baragon Manda Minilla King Ghidorah Anguirus Varan Mothra Rodan and Kumonga all make appearances in the movie, some more brief than others which leaves some fans wishing for a bit more. The plot of the movie is very similar to the 1965 Godzilla flick Invasion of Astro Monster where aliens attempt to take over the Earth by using mind control on the monsters and sending them to destroy major cities. Most of the movie is the humans trying to figure out a way to stop the aliens known as the Killaks but monster scenes are thrown in so the movie doesn't completely bore you. There are many great monster scenes like at the beginning where it shows you all the monsters living on monster land(a island where the humans keep the monsters contained. There's also a great destruction scene in Tokyo where Godzilla Manda Rodan and Mothra all appear at once completely obliterating the city. However the best is saved for last. At the end of the movie all the monsters team up to fight King Ghidorah which makes one of the best fight scenes in all of the Godzilla series. It's epic! It makes up for all of the boring in between stuff by being so awesome. Definitely worth the wait. 9 stars out of 10 because of the boring human stuff but the monster scenes are fantastic.

MARIO GAUCI Even if Leonard Maltin rates this higher than KING KONG ESCAPES (1967) – giving it ** against the latter's BOMB – I seemed to enjoy that one more; mind you, both are essentially dreadful…but, at least, the KONG film had a good deal of campiness going for it – whereas this is merely dull (in spite of megalomaniac aliens and a plethora of monsters)! In a way, the film is a rehash of Honda's own MONSTER ZERO (1965), which I watched some time ago – where you also had an interplanetary attempt at world domination that saw the involvement of a clutch of Toho Studios monsters. Here, however, we get a greater variety of the latter: dinosaurs Anguirus, Baragon, Gorosaurus, Godzilla (along with its annoying baby offspring Minilla) and the flying Rodan, the spider Kumonga, the snake-like Manda and the worm Mothra. Though all these are eventually brainwashed by the aliens to do their evil bidding, destroying several of the world's leading cities in the process, the latter provide their own monster – King Ghidorah – for the grand finale (during which it takes on all comers but, obviously, emerges the loser). That said, only Godzilla Snr. and Rodan receive any decent exposure throughout the film! While it is accompanied by a typically rousing score, the action often comes across as confusing rather than exciting (not to mention unintentionally hilarious during the climactic monster mash). As for the plot, it's all quite dreary – and lazy: all the Earth monsters have conveniently been assembled on an island to be studied (yeah, right – just try to get a blood sample from Godzilla, or Rodan, for that matter)...but, then, the aliens (naturally possessing superior intelligence and frightening assurance – they must have missed MONSTER ZERO, for they're deluded into thinking that the monster ensemble can't hold a candle to King Ghidorah!) manage to fit all of them with a conditioning device behind the ears!! Finally perhaps its most amusing elements to me were the fact that the island personnel (channeling the monsters' individual movements on a monitor) are able to judiciously cross-cut, for suspense purposes, between attacker and prey (a moving train) during a demonstration; the film-makers could have fitted the aliens with make-up or, at least, a mask so as to hide their all-too-obvious Asian countenance (there's no suggestion in the script that that they may have adopted such a disguise in order to go undetected among the Earthlings); also, for a kiddie film, a lot of the human characters are heard cursing the aliens (sure, it's in Japanese, but the implication is unmistakable).

TheUnknown837-1 "Destroy All Monsters"...a monster movie that for a long time I was dying to see, after hearing so much praise of it from other Godzilla fans. All I wanted to see was plenty of monsters, plenty of silly action, the old bad dubbing, and just plain fun. And that's what I got. Still, even today, now that I have grown a little more strict on what I want to see in Godzilla movies, "Destroy All Monsters" still holds out as an entertaining camp classic from the 60s. There are some aspects of it that are too campy to make it a true classic monster movie, for example the alien invaders style and some of the special effects. Yet the action sequences are all fun and entertaining. And what I like about "Destroy All Monsters" is that it has more to offer for action sequences than just monsters fighting each other and trampling cities. Shootouts between the cast and their alien nemeses are all very well done for the 60s. Music was done by Akira Ifukube and his score is absolutely masterful and the movie was directed by the great Ishiro Honda, the director of first "Godzilla", who unfortunately didn't get to direct as many Godzilla films as he should have. The scenes of the monsters destroying cities are naturally fun, sometimes unbelievable such as Rodan flying over buildings and causing them to burst into rubble, but still absolutely fun. And special effects here are better than what they would use is some of the later Godzilla films in the 70s.What I also love about "Destroy All Monsters" is how there are a large number of monsters in the film, eleven if I remember correctly, and yet the story concentrates mostly on a certain number of them. It deals with the monsters like the human cast. There are the main ones and the others are just there for the background to enhance the feeling and atmosphere. So while monsters such as Baragon and Varan literally got only a few seconds worth of screen time, since they were just in the film, it worked out fine. Yes, I would have liked to have seen them perform a bit more on film, especially Varan, but I guess I can understand that since the suits were under poor condition at the time, it was best not to use them too much. The other monsters who don't get a whole lot of screen time, do however, usually have their own particular scene, to enhance the feeling that the world is really under attack by monsters. It's like in a war film, you can't have all of the individual soldiers from the opposite side getting a tremendous amount of development. They just need enough so that you know they're there."Destroy All Monsters" is a movie that is absolutely perfect for the kind of low-budget 60s flick it is. And it certainly ranks above films such as "Son of Godzilla", "Godzilla vs. the Sea Monster", "Godzilla vs. Megalon", and of course the travesty "Godzilla's Revenge." Had this truly been Godzilla's last film as it had been originally intended by Toho (even though I knew they would have made "The Return of Godzilla" soon or later), well, it would have suited me just fine.