Godzilla contre Hedorah

When the Godzilla series entered the 1970s, a retro and hippie feeling could be seen in this movie. This film starts off with a singer, played by Keiko Mari, singing a song titled "Save the Earth." Like 1964's Godzilla vs. Mothra, this film delivers a message of environmental danger. The story's about heavy pollution problems occurring in Japan. When an alien spore from outer space enters Earth and lands on a pile of toxic waste in the sea, a towering monster of sludge, crap, smog, and goo attacks Japan. This is the first Godzilla (Gojira) film in many years that depicts numerous human casualties. Scenes of humans deforming are a gruesome sight and echo elements in the original Gojira film. Like a viewer said, the fish tank scene is a similar scene of the fish tank in the original Gojira film.

The central character in this movie is a boy, played by Hiroyuki Kawase, who idolizes Godzilla. Godzilla, by this time, is portrayed as a "defender of Earth," rather than a destructive force. Mostly, there are no hints of fears from the people upon Godzilla's appearances. The line "Get'em Godzilla!" is a real charmer, making the monster look more and more like a hero and defender of Japan.

Yoshimitsu Banno did a good job directing and assembling the cast out, staging them in places like nightclubs, hills and amusement parks. The retro feel could be seen in the nightclub scene, where the singer sings the title song as blobs of retro paint move in a movie screen behind her. Also, the scene of the teenagers "celebrating" on a hill like a woodstock is also a retro feel.

Takeshi Kimura gave us a dark and scientific story, but some lighthearted scenes can be seen, like the scene where Godzilla flies (I think this is the only time we see Godzilla fly). Teruyoshi Nakano's special effects were believable; plenty of monster battles, albeit slow in some parts. Some of the problems I have with the monster battles is the part where Godzilla and Hedorah virtually move towards each other, staring at each other for several minutes. The movie's cinematography lacks a little spirit and color, making this movie look a little dull, and the overall momentum of the film was a little slow. And, this film lacks an effective music score. The music is not really harmonic or melodic and lacks charm to it. Riichiro Manabe composed a theme for Godzilla-a theme played by overblown trumpets. Though somewhat wacky, this theme sounds heroic for Godzilla.

Overall, a somewhat slow but an interesting Godzilla movie, returning you to the darker and more serious themes of the series.

Grade C+

This psychedelic Goji entry features a very formidable opponent in Hedorah and some very memorable trippy imagery. It has an environmental message and is truly unlike any Goji film.

Hedorah has a certain special aura about it, very memorable moments and a great soundtrack that makes this one of the Showa era's finest.

8 Smog Clouds out of 10!

Godzilla vs Hedora (AKA The Smog Monster) is less slick than many of the later productions. It is also somewhat less serious, and features a Godzilla who is more mythic than consistent with his earlier and later portrayals. The Godzilla in this film is a force of nature in more than just a figurative sense. She is also highly intelligent and a defender of the earth and, to some extent, its people.

Even from the title, its easy enough to figure out what this film is about. Tadpoles mutate because of the mutagenic properties of pollution in Tokyo Bay (interestingly, this somewhat silly idea is far less absurd than most of the latter pseudoscience used in Godzilla scripts - almost as bad as Star Trek Voyager sometimes was). The mutant tadpoles fuse at the cellular level and grow into a giant tadpole which then mutates three or four times, spewing out its own toxic pollutants, first as terrestrial and eventually as air pollution. The visuals are good, but the special effects are admittedly below even Toho's usual standards.

Created in the early 1970s, this film is metaphorical and symbolic, although it is still, at heart, a Godzilla film. Hedora is an unsubtle metaphor for the ecological state of the world, and is, in that sense, a monster of our own making. Godzilla is an embodiment of nature, and is to be viewed as a positive force for all life on earth. These symbols are particularly apparent in the use of cartoons as transitional devices from one plot point to another.

Godzilla Vs Hedora walks a very thin line between giant-monster violence and a kid-oriented film. As somebody who has since his early teens, been interested in the environment and as somebody who always liked Japanese Monster films, I developed a sentimental attachment to this film very early on. In fact, this is my all-time favorite Godzilla film, and more than any other film, it is the reason why I consider myself a fan of the big green lizard. This is the film which establishes Godzilla as an environmentalist and a friend to young people - his two best roles.

Following the child-focused "All Monsters Attack" (1969), Godzilla returns as an ally of man in the battle against pollution, as personified (kaijufied?) by Hedorah (the Smog Monster)*. There are a number of stylistic changes from previous movies in the franchise, including James Bond-like opening credits, surreal psychedelic interludes (the fish-headed people at the 'go-go' club are memorable) and a number of odd animated inserts reminiscent of early 70's public service cartoons. The musical score, much of which sounds like background music for slapstick comedy or uplifting marches similar to the grating (but catchy) Gamera theme, is horrible. The franchise is still targeting younger audiences, so the central human character is a little kid (Ken Yano, played by Hiroyuki Kawase) who, among other things, comes up with the name for the new monster (Hedorah) as well as a method to destroy it. He also seems to have a psychic bond with Godzilla, and the last scenes of the film are straight out of "Shane" (1953, except that Shane is now a giant mutated dinosaur). Despite being a child-oriented film, "Godzilla vs. Hedorah" is much grimmer than any of the previous sequels, with human body counts after the monsters clash, on-camera 'deaths' of individuals (such as the gamblers or the driver of the truck crushed by Hedorah), and most jarringly, the 'melting' of people exposed to Hedorah's noxious exhalent (Ken encounters the gruesome partially-dissolved bodies of a number of these victims). Hedorah itself is so improbable looking that it might as well be accepted as a metaphor rather than a monster, but the titular fights are pretty good. The anthropomorphisation of Godzilla, who now constantly uses human-like gestures (almost rolling his eyes at mankind's ineffectual attempts to stop Hedorah), continues (although one delirious surprise in the film is the revelation that Godzilla can fly (!), a ridiculous-looking skill that would have come in handy in previous outings). All in all, "Godzilla vs. Hedorah" (the eleventh film in the franchise) while not a great kaiju film, is eccentric, imaginative and entertaining: a deviation from the downward slide that leads to the next two entries in the series (the woeful "G. vs Gigan" and "G. vs Megalon"). (*these comments pertain to an English subtitled version of the film).

Okay, so.... Godzilla vs Hedorah! It's been said that this is a Godzilla movie you either love or hate, so it's either a 10 or a 0. For me personally, this movie is a 5; right smack dab in the middle! It's not a shining gem or a smouldering turd, it's just kinda "eh" *gesture where you shake your hand with all the fingers flat out*

So, the premise; rampant water and air pollution has spawned Hedorah, a sentient monster made of pollution that is like a mix of the Blob and a garbage dump! Hedorah is able to melt people to bones! The only hope for humanity, as always, is GODZILLAAAAA~!!!!

Hedorah is a notable monster as he is the last monster of the Showa era that is acting on his own will, he isn't obeying anyone or under mind control, unlike Ghidorah, Gigan, Megalon, Mechagodzilla, and Titanosaurus of the succeeding Showa films.

This movie is different; there's bizarre animation, trippy montages, and drug innuendos a-plenty!!! Now, the animation shown isn't anime, it's just some bizarre animation straight out of Uncanny Valley. Hedorah is shown sucking on a smokestack from a factory and exhaling the smoke before showing his bloodshot eyes, a blatant reference to taking a bong hit.

As someone who has taken a few bong hits before, I found this to be a clever little thing. The drug innuendos can be excused because this movie was made in 1971; weed culture was still in it's very huge first run!

There are two or three POV shots from Hedorah's perspective.

Also, no review of Godzilla vs Hedorah would be complete without mentioning the bizarre scene where Godzilla FLIES. This was a total WTF moment.

All in all, if you watch this movie with a sober mind like I did, you'll either hate it or it'll just be "eh". If you watch it after smoking some weed or ingesting an edible, it'll be the best damn Godzilla movie you've ever seen!