User reviews

This is the seventh kaijyu (monster) movie written by Toho's screen writer Shinichi Sekizawa, and the first to portray the monsters in a comical light which would become Toho's style for the following 10 years. The story differs somewhat between the Japanese version and the American version. This commentary is about the Japanese version.

Princess Mars Dourina Salno (Eiko Wakabayashi) of Sergina requests Japanese police to give her protection due to political instability of her country. Detective Shindo (Yosuke Natsuki) is assigned by his boss Okita (Akihiko Hirata) to body guard the princess, but the plane carrying the princess explodes on its way to Japan. Shortly afterward a woman proclaiming to be from Venus appears and prophecies that Rodan and Godzilla will appear in Japan. Thinking that his assignment was over before it got started Shindo goes home, reads about mysterious Venusian woman who's attracting media's attention looks exactly like princess Mars. Convinced that the self proclaimed "Venusian" is princess Mars, he launches his own investigation. His sister Naoko who is a reporter is also on the heel of the Venusian woman. In the mean time a mysterious asteroid falls in the Kurobe area of Japan. Assistant professor Murai (Hiroshi Koizumi) is the team leader that's sent to investigate the asteroid witnesses the asteroid turning into a three headed monster. Naoko finally catches up with the Venusian woman and escorts her to a near by hotel. By this time assassins from Sergina is also on her trail suspecting that the Venusian woman is princess Mars. They converge at the hotel and shooting ensues between the assassins and detective Shindo. Assassins flees and detective Shindo, and Naoko escorts the Venusian to Dr. Tsukamoto's (Takashi Shimura) lab to see if her memories can be revived. In the mean time Rodan and Godzilla is sited and they converge near Mt. Fuji and starts a battle. Vanusian woman tells a story that 5000 years ago Venus was attacked by the monster King Gidora and was turned into a waste land, and that Gidora is now on earth. Mothra is called to Japan to ask Godzilla and Rodan to fight against King Gidora, but the two monsters aren't exactly interested in helping mankind.

The plot of this movie is superbly written with each element supporting the entire flow of the story. Many die hard Godzilla fans might not like the campy flavor of this movie, but so many elements crammed into this movie that runs just over 90 minutes has intricacies and originality never seen in previous Japanese monster movies. This movie by far has the most intricate plot of movies written by Shinichi Sekizawa, but is hidden behind the tong in cheek humor that runs throughout the movie.

In the US released DVD, three men accuses the Venusian woman as "kichigai" (crazy). The broadcast code in Japan has tightened up since this movie was made and this word is no longer allowed to be used in a movie, so the Japanese DVD has this word changed to another dialog, but you will hear it as it was in the US release DVD. Princess Mars' full name Mars, Dourina, Salno is a play on the Japanese phrase "Ma, sudori, nasaruno" (Are you just going to pass me by ?) and is intended to be an injoke.

You'll get much more out of this movie if you catch the details of the movie. It was the first time Gidora was seen on screen. Gidora became a staple of subsequent movies guaranteeing a crowd draw for Toho.

Watch this movie to see if you can catch the details.

...into a mediator! Mothra has many talents, including the ability to be a monster counselor. I love it!

I've been watching all the Godzilla movies sequentially, and this one was surprisingly enjoyable and well done. The human characters are likable and actually have brains. The story is well-written and has a lot of elements in it that help keep your interest. For example, the parts where there are no monsters fighting are interesting. Usually, the human interaction parts are boring. Plus, we get to see FOUR monsters in this one - AWESOME! And last, but not least - The Peanuts. Any movie with the Peanuts has to be good (well, maybe...) And, I love the woman playing the princess/Venusian. She is drop-dead gorgeous. Her face is so beautiful. The story-line concerning her adds much to the film.

All of my comments are about the original Japanese version with English sub-titles. This is a very solid movie and can be enjoyed by people that might not love monster movies. If you love monster movies, you'll be in monster heaven...

When a world ending three headed monster by the name of Ghidorah arrives on earth chaos ensues!

Godzilla, Rodan & Mothra are all on the scene but fighting one another. Can Mothra and the martians convince them to work together to fight this seemingly unstoppable force?

So once again we have the grade A cheese, men in monster suits, stop motion animation, ridiculous fight scenes and terrible acting. And yet somehow/someway this is actually the best Toho film I've seen.

It suffers with all the usual tropes and arguably the plot is even worse than usual but it works and makes for a fun monster epic.

The Godzilla films are certainly niche and not for everyone but this is a fun little effort.

The Good:

By this point it's actually starting to feel like a franchise

Builds up to a solid climax

The Bad:

Opening is really daft

Some of the outfits are embarassingly bad

Plot is a tad confuddled

Godzilla moves like a teletubby

Franchise is getting goofy

Things I Learnt From This Movie:

The mini martian ladies are growing on me

Mid battle giant monsters often enjoy games of catch with boulders

Many fans of Japanese monster movies regard the late 50s/early 60s as the Golden Age,and they are generally right.There is a terrific feel to the Toho Studios films made in that period-imaginative,exciting,fun without generally descending into camp,a good stock company of actors,etc.This film,to call it by it's western name Ghidorah the 3 Headed Monster,is a direct sequel to Godzilla Vs Mothra,perhaps the apex of the Godzilla series.It is not as completely satisfying as the previous instalment but it is probably even more entertaining.

The build-up is somewhat muddled and lengthy,but the plot is just about intriguing enough to keep one ticking over until,after perhaps too long a wait,the monsters appear and the film really kicks into high gear.The appearance of Godzilla,the pterosaur-like Rodan,and the three headed dragon Ghidorah {surely Godzilla's greatest foe} are all well staged and effective,while Ghidorah's attack on Tokyo remains impressive and was often 're-used' in later films.The Godzilla/Rodan battle is just funny,as is the bit where Mothra tries to communicate with Godzilla and Rodan and get them to fight Ghidorah,a really wacky scene that could only exist in a Japnese monster movie, but the climactic fight,as the three Earth monsters Godzilla,Rodan and Mothra combine their strength against the alien creature is the most rousing climax of a Godzilla film,aided by Akira Ifikube's fantastic theme music.

As usual,the US version was altered and,once again,for the worst,although not as badly as King Kong Vs Godzilla.Still,scenes were cut and shifted about,tightening the pace of the first half and weakening continuity,and some of the music was replaced.Once again,to get a real appreciation of this tremendously enjoyable and exciting movie,you need to seek out the Japanese version.

One of the best Godzilla sequels. A fun monster rally that introduces the title monster, King Ghidorah, a three-headed dragon from space. There's a lot of silliness in this involving a Martian princess and the two singing fairy twins from the last two Mothra movies. They can communicate with the monsters. They play a big part in the film, convincing Godzilla and Rodan to join forces with Mothra and save Earth from Ghidorah. This would mark Godzilla's official turn to hero for future sequels. The special effects are a lot of fun. If you see the American version you'll get lots of amusing dubbing. As with most of these Godzilla movies, there's a lot of time before any monsters show up. I haven't seen one of the sequels yet that couldn't have benefited from losing 10 or 15 minutes of people standing around talking. At least with the American versions the most boring segments have some cheesy entertainment value from the silly dubbed voices. Anyway, it's all harmless fun with nice visuals and ideas. The selling point, of course, is when Godzilla & co. do their thing. The monster battles are awesome. The rock fight between Godzilla and Rodan is especially goofy. The climactic battle has Godzilla, Rodan, and Mothra versus King Ghidorah -- what's not to love about that?

Ghidorah, the Three Headed Monster has been considered a classic by many kaiju fans, and for good reason: introducing Godzilla's arch nemesis, the titular monster King Ghidorah. And while it is overall an entertaining flick, it does have it's flaws. The story is rather simple: Godzilla, Rodan, and Ghidorah all show up at the same time, and Mothra has to convince Godzilla and Rodan to fight Ghidorah with her. It's pretty simple stuff and works effectively. One of the categories where it faults, though, is the characters. While they're likable enough that you're not bored, they're not really particularly memorable or interesting either. They're one-dimensional but the plot happening with them is interesting enough that it keeps you invested during the human scenes. King Ghidorah looks great, Mothra Larva is an improvement over her previous appearance, and Godzilla looks good too, but Rodan's design is a downgrade from his debut film, but he still looks fine, and the overly dopey look has yet to come. Godzilla's character ark occurs here, where he goes from destroyer to defender, though the reason why he decides to help against Ghidorah after refusing several times is questionable. He just sees Mothra get blasted and suddenly decides to help. The same is true for Rodan, and even more questionable, is what exactly this Rodan is. In the original Rodan, there were two: a male and a female. Both were killed. Then one Rodan comes out of the same mountain in this movie, and it's supposedly a male. Did the male regenerate? Did the male actually not die? Is this they're unknown offspring? It's unknown even to this very day, not even official Toho books ever really clarify. While it's nice to see Rodan appear in a Godzilla movie, this is rather jarring. The special effects, while quite a bit looks impressive considering the especially big time constraints, it does falter quite a bit during the Godzilla and Rodan fight, especially with the cringey puppetry. Despite this, the fights are entertaining, with Godzilla and Rodan's fight still being a joy to watch, and having quite a few memorable moments. And of course, the final battle with all four monsters is also quite entertaining, even more so, and the special effects in that scene are a big improvement, and everywhere else they are consistently well-done. Akira Ifukube once again delivers the goods with this film's soundtrack; his music sours. It's no wonder many of it is still used and remembered today. Overall, Ghidorah, the Three Headed Monster is a flawed movie, but it's positives outweigh the negatives and is an enjoyable and memorable entry in the franchise. It's not one of the best, but it's far, far from the worst.

Despite the fact that the Monsters Godzilla, Rodan and Mothra look and act a little goofy in this one, it doesn't change the fact that this film is loads of fun to watch.

When a new monster named Ghidrah (who doesn't love seeing this three-headed beastie?) threatens to destroy the world, our only hope is Mothra. However Mothra is still much too young to possibly have any chance in a battle with Ghidrah and so seeks the unlikely aid of both Godzilla and Rodan, who prove most stubborn yet in the end neither it seems can resist a good fight.

The film has some great lines (here's one example: "these Monsters are as bad as human beings!") and some fun subplots (a police Inspector trying to protect a Princess who claims she's really a Martian from assassination attempts, the involvement of Mothra twin fairy protectors). All around great Kaiju fun!

Yes it's goofy but damn it's awesome! I keep wondering how the creatures/effects were made back then. Sometimes hard to keep up with the subtitles too, but still nice to enjoy occasionally - I'm not judging. Japanese uniqueness can be quite a wonderful thing!

Other than introducing "Ghidorah", perhaps the second most popular monster in Toho's bestiary, "Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster" (1964) has little to recommend it*. The fifth entry into the Godzilla canon opens with an unnecessary background story involving a missing princess who inexplicitly survives the in-flight destruction of her airplane after hearing voices. She resurfaces as a self-proclaimed Venusian oracle who predicts a number of kaiju-based disasters in involving Rodan, Godzilla and the space monster who was responsible for the destruction of Venusian culture. All of this comes true, as Rodan frees himself from entombing lava, Godzilla wades ashore, and Ghidorah materialises from a mysterious meteorite. While secret agents continue to attempt to kill the princess/Venusian (James Bond films having become very popular), the miniature twins from Infant Island appear and recruit Mothra to fight Ghidorah. This leads to the climatic brawl on the slopes of Mt. Fuji, with the three 'Earth's monsters' squaring off against Ghidorah (the first of many external existential threats our planet). The movie marks the beginning of the 'Godzilla as a hero' trend that continued into the '70s. The overall story is relatively dark, but the monsters are almost comic, and the fight includes lots of rocks being batted back and forth, and child pleasers such as Godzilla scampering around after being burned on the butt by one of Ghidorah's lasers. Rodan, who was almost majestic in his debut movie ("Rodan",1956), is now a bit bug-eyed and, as suit-mation doesn't really work well for bird-like kaiju, unconvincing when not in flight. Another revision to the canon is the obvious sentiency of the monsters as Mothra (in her larval form) argues with Godzilla and Rodan (translated by the twins) about the ethical and pragmatic pros and cons of helping mankind defend the Earth. The debate includes odd statements from the monsters, such as Godzilla's complaint that he was bullied by mankind. Like many of the later entries in the "Showa" era films, "Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster" is the kind of silly fun that most "westerners' expect from Godzilla films. Although there is a bit of blood spilled as the assassin stalks the princess and some of the language in the subtitles is more adult that the story calls for, the movie is essentially for the kids, with heroic monsters cooperating to take on a three-headed bully and a simple 'why can't we all get along' message. (*note: this review refers to a subtitled Japanese version).

For the first melee kaiju film there really isn't enough melee in it. Also the ending is a bit disappointing. There is not enough city smashing. The story is pretty crazy and engaging but there simply isn't enough giant monster action. Ghidorah is my favourite so I certainly enjoyed the movie and the expansion of the universe to include aliens is appreciated. There were some really funny and goofy moments and it is enjoyable enough but probably slightly, very slightly, less entertaining than King Kong vs. Godzilla (1962) but it's fairly close. The evolution of the franchise is interesting but slow.

A giant meteor crashes on the Earth's surface in Japan(where else?). Out from this comes a monster from Mars that destroyed the Martian race and now wants to destroy humankind. The monster is none other than Ghidrah(Ghidorah), perhaps the greatest enemy faced by Godzilla in any of his films. Ghidrah is a neat monster with his three heads and tails. He spews electrical currents from his mouths. Is mankind's existence to be forever extinguished? No. With the help of Mothra's fairies who just happen to be visiting Japan during this "global" crisis, Mothra is sent to Godzilla and Rodan to try and convince them to help the people of the world and fight Ghidrah. The twin fairies, probably fatigued from singing a couple fine songs, translate what the mosters say. Rodan and Godzilla are wary of helping mankind, and would rather beat on each other, making one Japanese spectator remark, "These monsters are as stupid as human beings!" This is a fun film. The monsters look as you would expect. Rodan, for whatever reasons, looks particularly cheesy and fake, but Godzilla is fitted with a neat rubber suit. Yep, miniature towns are destroyed in this one too. The acting all around is very good for a film like this. The story is pretty good too. You cannot go wrong with a giant lizard, a giant reptillian prehistoric bird, and a giant caterpillar duking it out with a three-headed space monster. Throw in two charming, musically-inclined island fairies and an assasination plot of a princess into the mix as well... not to mention the directing skill of Inshiro Honda and the fabulous music of Akira Ifukube and you just cannot miss!

After a meteorite unleashes a three-headed beast upon Tokyo, Mothra tries to unite with Godzilla and Rodan to battle the extraterrestrial threat.

This film has pretty decent effects, particularly during the "birth" of Ghidorah. It also happens to be pretty much the dividing point between the earlier, more serious films, and the later, more fun (and sometimes campy) versions of the monster that would become an international pop culture icon (if he had not already).

As with other Godzilla releases, the David Kalat commentary is worth the price of the film. Not only is he informed, but he speaks fast, meaning you get about 180 minutes of information packed into 90 minutes of film. He also makes a good case for dubbing, while still expressing the preference for subtitles when critically analyzing a film.

This film has received acclaim among many Godzilla fans and is considered to be one of the best Godzilla films of the Showa era. Reviewing the American version, Leonard Maltin gives the film two and a half stars, calling it "one of the better Toho monster rallies".

Well, at least in MY top ten. I love this Godzilla film, it really does have everything you want in a giant monster film. Plenty of monster action to balance out all the human drama. The effects ad quality are pretty great when you take all the Godzilla films into account, so it makes it just as much better. Its definitely one you should see if you have even slight interest in the film series.

Princess Selina Salno facing assassination threat is on a plane to Japan. There is a meteor shower of UFOs. She is drawn to open the plane's door when a meteor destroys the plane. She miraculously reappears in Japan claiming to be from Venus and warning of the rise of King Ghidorah from space. She also predicts the reappearance of Rodan and Godzilla. The Shobijin twins call upon Mothra who is only in its larva stage to save the world. Mothra tries to recruit Rodan and Godzilla but they don't have any reason to save humanity.

There is a good bit of camp in this one and the movie knows it. First of all, the princess story is unnecessarily complicate. It would have been fine for her to simply be an alien from Venus warning about Ghidorah. The movie adds layers where layers are wasting time and space. I like the twins. There's no reason why I wouldn't like an alien in a ball gown. This movie has some fun with the fighting starting with Rodan and Godzilla playing tennis for awhile. That's the moment when it becomes obvious that the filmmaker is having a bit of fun. Instead of the hullabaloo with the princess, the movie could use the twins more and find xenophobic villains looking to kill an alien princess.

A meteorite from space lands in Japan. At about the same time Godzilla and Rodan also awaken to wreak some havoc. It soon transpires that the asteroid is Ghidrah, destroyer of planets, and a missing princess has had her body taken over by one of the last remaining Venusians. Eventually the humans must call on Mothra to convince Rodan and Godzilla to stop kicking rocks at each other and help save the planet. Same, same, but packs less of a punch. The main reason may be due to Ghidrah's origins. His three foes are all products of humanities mistakes regarding nuclear weaponry. Ghidrah is just a planet destroyer from space. You will enjoy this if you've seen the other films, and Godzilla and Rodan's quarreling is brilliantly comical. There's certainly more life in Godzilla's face than there has been before. Monster smack down time!

Wow! Certainly one of the best of the Godzilla series (and my personal favorite). This movie introduces Godzilla's most popular villain, King Ghidorah! With Ghidorah threatening to destroy Earth, it requires the combined strength of Godzilla, Rodan, and Mothra to stop him. By the way, this is the first movie that Godzilla journeys into as "the good guy." While Godzilla and Rodan weren't too happy to meet each other, it was actually Mothra who urged the two monsters to cooperate to battle Ghidorah and help mankind. And, this movie has a whole lot- towering monsters, a Martian, a princess, detectives, doctors, reporters, and, of course, Mothra's tiny twin fairy priestesses, who once again did their little song and dance and chat in unison. Honda's solid directing, Sekizawa's terrific script, and Ifukube's fantastic music score permeated the movie's success. There may be a lot more "human" scenes than "monster" scenes but since the plot is so solid, it made each human scene interesting and inspiring. Would this actually happen to Mars (Venus in the Japanese version) one day as stated in the movie? Go figure...........

Grade A

When a meteor crashes into Japan, strange magnetic disturbances begin emanating from it prompting investigation. Meanwhile as the Princess Mas Dorina Salno of a country in the Hymalias comes to Japan an assassination attempt is foiled by an alien force which takes possession of her and tells the citizens of Japan she is Martian who has come to warn them of their imminent destruction. As Detective Shindo (Yosuke Natsuki) and his journalist sister Naoko cross paths with the princess and protect her from the assassin Malmess (Hisaya Ito) monsters Godzilla and Rodan begin fighting as the three headed dragon Ghidorah emerges from the meteor and wreaks havoc upon Japan. With every other option exhausted, our heroes contact the faeries from Infant Island (Emi and Yumi Ito "The Peanuts") for help from the still infant second Mothra who may not be enough to defeat Ghidorah alone necessitating trying to team-up with Godzilla and Rodan.

Ghidorah, The Three-Headed Monster is the fifth Godzilla movie that sees the original team behind the last four movies return once again in what marks something of a turning point for the series. With the series' ongoing success with the crossovers of King Kong vs. Godzilla and Mothra vs. Godzilla, producer Tomoyuki Tanaka took the next logical step by having a threeway crossover and a new monster to keep the momentum going. Going into more outlandish science-fiction territory (allegedly because writer Shinichi Sekizawa grew tired of nuclear origins or ancient indigenous gods as monster origins), Ghidorah the Three-Headed Monster is notable for not only introducing Godzilla's arch nemesis but also many of the more outlandish elements of the Showa era. While the series hasn't quite transitioned to full camp as there's still heavy elements of the plot (such as the assassination sideplot) at the behest of effects artist Eiji Tsubaraya and Toho Studios the film saw the monsters become more anthropomorphized much to Ishiro Honda's disapproval. The film saw the continued success of the series and is an enjoyably silly entry in the series.

While the film features a seemingly heavy plot point involving the assassination of a princess, whatever seriousness attempted from that is counterbalanced by the presence of vaguely defined "saucer men" and the more over the top Kaiju battles which take front and center this time around complete with an opening credits that features a teaser of the monster battles. While some have pointed to Ghidorah as being allegorical of the emerging threat of a nuclear capable China and you could probably draw parallels between the "Martian" Princess Mas Dorina Salno and the Greek figure Cassandra whose words of prophecy were ignored, the movie lacks the quasi-serious attempts at commentary that even the very silly King Kong vs. Godzilla had and makes it clear the foremost priority is to showcase larger scale monster battles. King Ghidorah has become one of the most popular villains of the series for good reason (a gold three-headed space dragon? What's not to love?) and Tsubaraya's effects work is no less charming here than the prior installments. While I can understand the move in making Godzilla a "superhero" as it plays more to marketability, we do see seeds of camp starting to sprout that have the feeling of something pandering to children. From the TV show setpiece involving two school children making requests of the faeries to the scene where Mothra, Rodan, and Godzilla "converse" with translation by the faeries you can feel the series slowly starting to skew downward in age. We're not quite "there" yet as we still have the surprisingly tense and heavy assassination plotline, but we can feel the series inching in that direction.

Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster sees the Godzilla series move towards camp, but still is quite fun and enjoyable if you're in the right mindset. While the trend set by the film lead to some questionable results, you can't dispute its importance in the franchise or canon.

I loved this one. I especially liked Ifukube's score. This is definitely the best in its original Japanese form. A three headed horror named King Ghidorah from the stars arrives and begins a destruction spree. Ghidora looks definitely the best in this film, the scenes of him flying in and out of Tokyo and demolishing landmarks with his lightning breath look incredible. Mothra (larval) tries to ask Godzilla and Rodan (who are still evil) to help her fight Ghidorah. They refuse until they see King Ghidorah destroy a town and brutally attack poor Mothra and then they leap into action and the battle for Earth begins. This is a great creature feature film, it has everything a creature feature film should: the four most famous monsters, missing princesses, martians, killers, scientists. The effects by Eiji Tsuburaya are dazzling and the Godzilla and King Ghidorah suits look the best they've ever looked while unfortunately Mothra looks like a living poop and Rodan looks like a chicken. I recommend this to kids and adults alike!

There's so much going on here with the human side of the story itself, that it could have been the entire film without the monster fights and it would've been as good. The alien mind control, international political assassination and the curious people in the middle of it all with four kaiju monsters! The monster fights were silly coming from a pretty serious human side. The wrestling of humans in rubber suits and the communication being translated by Peanuts were quite funny. But the way it kept the themes from the previous movie even if it ends up as a team-up movie against an alien monster is surprisingly made to work. I just wish they'd have used the original Mothra song instead of this new one, not as catchy as the one used in the previous two movies. Best in the Franchise since the first Godzilla and Mothra.

Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster is one of the best of the Godzilla series. Who couldn't be impressed by a three-headed dragon who makes his entrance spitting lightning? And Mothra's solo attack against Ghidorah is one of the surprisingly poignant moments that come along occasionally in Gojira's films. Be warned, though: the Alienas' talking to Godzilla and Rodan, as if they were human, is a harbinger of the campier movies to come in the series (anyone who's seen Godzilla v. Gigan remembers the "conversation" between Godzilla and Anguirus; well, here's where that bad idea got started).