Godzilla fans - Rank the films!!

OK G-Fans it’s time to rank them. Worst to first or first to worst. Try and give some reasons why some of the titles are your favs and why some are not. I will list mine 1st to worst.


1. Godzilla vs. Mothra 1964 - This is the cream of the crop IMO. Godzilla is just a bad a** in this one. I love the look of the G-suit in this one. It’s all about those angry eyes! This one has a pretty good plot that centers around the monsters and not annoying subplots. I love that the two monsters could not be anymore different. The big angry Godzilla and the gentle Mothra. I love that she and her offspring give G one of his most difficult battles. The effects and acting in this film are top notch. The Dubbing in the american version is actually pretty good also. The film score is fantastic. This G film is By far the best in the series IMO.

2. Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II 1993 - Again the plot focuses more on the monsters, which is always a plus. Lots of monster mayhem in this one. Plenty of action and the return of Rodan makes this one a winner for me. This one has a great score also. Love the Mecha-G theme.

3. Ghidorah, the Three Headed Monster - Godzilla turns good guy. I don’t care I love them both. Yes monster speak is a bit much but this film is a fun time. Top notch effects work again. Ghidorah is done so well. I love the long battle between Godzilla and Rodan also. Love Godzilla laughing at Rodan when mothra sprays him with the silk. Some silly moments but still series in tone.

4. Godzilla, Mothra, King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All Out Attack - BY FAR the best effects in a Godzilla film. Godzilla is so evil in this one. The one thing that keeps this from being perfect is that Mothra and King Ghidorah are in it again It just felt stale. Especially when we got Baragon in the beginning. Because he had not been seen for so long, the film felt fresh. I love the G fight with Baragon. From what I read the director originally wanted Baragon, Varan, and Anguirus in the film but Toho wanted the more familiar monsters. This might be my # 2 fav if the director got his way.

5. Godzilla vs. Destroyah - Godzilla dies. Makes me sad. Lots of monster action with great effects and score. Love the burning Godzilla.

6. Destroy All Monsters - All of the Toho greats come together for one film. How can you go wrong? Great score again and great monster fights. A bit slow at times but still always fun to watch.

7. Son of Godzilla - WHAT!!!!!! Son of Godzilla at #7! Before the ’54 original?? That’s right baby! I still love this one. Yes it’s got by FAR the worst G-Suit but I love the parenting G does with his boy and the insect monster effects are great. If this had the G-suit from ’64 this one might actually be higher on my list. I just find it easy to sit through.

8. King Kong vs. Godzilla - The Japanese version is far better with the original score intact. This one is very campy but I love the G-suit and the fun feel of the film. Yes I hate that kong wins. Lightning, really?? But the good outweighs the bad in this one.

9. Godzilla 1954 - Some are probably wondering why this is so low. I am sure it will be number 1 on many other lists but for me it’s just not easy to sit through. It is by far the most serious and has a great plot. There is just not enough Big G for me and the tone makes this more of a chore for me then a pleasure. I will not argue about the greatness of this film. It’s just does not do it for me like the others.

10. Godzilla vs. Biollante - An underrated and overlooked gem. This film has an original and well rendered G-foe in Biollante. Not the best plot but the Godzilla fighting biollante stuff is great. I also thought this was a big step up from Godzilla 1984.

11. Godzilla vs. The Sea Monster - I love how this one feels and looks like an Elvis movie.

12. Godzilla vs. Mothra 1992 - Much is the same as the original but not nearly as good. The Battra larva is pretty cool and the music again is great. Not bad but not great.

13. Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah - The plot has some interesting ideas but the Terminator 2 rip off stuff makes this one unwatchable at times. Still fun to see the return of Ghidorah after all these years Mecha King Ghidorah was pretty cool also.

14. Godzilla Raids Again - MUCH better than Gigantis the Fire monster. My second fav. G monster shows up. Got to love that scrappy Anguirus

15. Godzilla vs. Hedorah - The Most depressing Godzilla and slightly creepy one. This one scared me as a child because Hedorah was an actual threat to humanity.

16. Invasion of the Astro- Monster - Not enough monster mayhem. Godzilla dancing and boxing takes things a tad far.

17. Godzilla 1984 - The film and Godzilla are very slow. It takes Godzilla forever to move in this film. I must have been hard to move in that suit. Again another fan fav. But just not for me.

18. Godzilla vs. Space Godzilla - one of G’s worst villains IMO. I love the G suit in this one but the problem with these 90’s G films is that most of the action is laser and atomic breath action. Very little hand to hand combat. It was OK in the first few but this one really relies on it. Very boring IMO.

19, 20, 21, and 22. Godzilla 2000, Godzilla vs. Megaguirus, Godzilla against Mechagodzilla and Godzilla Tokyo SOS - These films don’t really move me either way. They are not bad enough to hate and not good enough to love. I mean it’s Godzilla so I can sit through them but I would rather watch one of the classics.

23. Godzilla vs. Gigan - Gigan is a pretty cool monster but all the reused footage from the other G films and cheap effects make this one a struggle to watch. The return of Anguirus save this film from being a total waste of time for me.

24 and 25. Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla and Terror of MechaGodzilla - The films returned to more serious roots but these have never been favs of mine. I think it’s the whole 70’s era thing. Not a fan of the g suit either.

26. Godzilla vs. Megalon - Godzilla’s suit comes very close to looking like a cartoon in this one. MST3K makes fun of this one for good reason

27. All Monsters Attack - Toho should be ashamed of themselves for trying to pass this off as a real movie with all the footage used from other films. Not a bad one for very young kids and still better than

28. Godzilla Final Wars - One would think that this was a can’t miss. Another Destroy all monsters type with a bunch or Toho creatures showing up for fun. Again how could it go wrong?? Well it sure did. The Overacting villain, hyper direction, awful kung fu fights, average effects and all around boring feel of the film is not as bad as the biggest crime of all - The Monsters felt like and looked like Actors in costumes. Sure that’s all any of the Godzilla films are but you could always get lost in the fantasy of it. Godzilla and friends felt real. They were giant living breathing monsters. Most of the creatures, including Godzilla himself, have the worst suit acting of any of the Godzilla films. The Movements, they way they are filmed, the way the action is done, and the thinner tighter suits all help to destroy the illusion. And Godzilla trying to block an Anguirus ball - Soccer style - If one of the worst things in any G film. I really hate this one. Probably the only G film I hate and it all comes down to ruining that illusion of making the monsters real.



Now I don’t really count the American Godzilla film because as we all know, that just is not Godzilla. But it was the most disappointing film I had ever seen in theaters.

Anyways there you go. Your Turn.

JAWS said:

7. Son of Godzilla - WHAT!!!!!! Son of Godzilla at #7! Before the ’54 original?? That’s right baby! I still love this one. Yes it’s got by FAR the worst G-Suit but I love the parenting G does with his boy and the insect monster effects are great. If this had the G-suit from ’64 this one might actually be higher on my list. I just find it easy to sit through.

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Wow.

I'll see if I can throw a list together tonight.

Godzilla vs Hedorah (smog monster) is #1 for me.

It was the first one i ever saw and remains my favorite. It just seemed to have the most at stake and it was such a disturbing film in and of itself. That first underwater scene scared the crap out of me as a kid and kept me out of the water moreso than Jaws but i love the design of the smog monster and Hedorah is my favorite g-monster.

Ill try to rank the others later

I need to revisit these films as an adult... When I was a kid they all just mashed together into one big blob... Godzilla v. King Kong was always a favorite.

I can't muster up the effort to put together a full list, but I know that my preferences tend to lean toward the 1990's Heisei era of Gojira movies. My favorite G suit design is from that era.

The newer G movies from the last decade were pretty weak though, and if I had a list, most of them would pad out the bottom.

Well for starters, taking Plasmid's lead, I want to rank the era's, because I think that's an interesting aspect as well, especially for me where my favorites bounce all around the eras but I'm pretty solid on which eras I like more.

1. 1954-1975

For me, by far the best Godzilla movies out of the entire body, they hit a high note and never quite reached it again. Most of the films featured the awesome music of Akira Ifikube and for me, the best villains ever, and the best designs for them, came out of this period, best Ghidorah, Rodan, Mothra and Mechagodzilla.

2. 1984-1995

While a number of these films featured the music of I___ube, I feel like he maybe lost a step or maybe the films just didn't suit his style from the first series, but often there was a sort of childish quality to the music. At times, I feel like the sets and creatures in these films looked more fake than they did in the early years, which is a bit surprising as you would expect things to advance in quality with time. Another factor I hold against the series is the Godzilla roar, from 1992 on, it was this weird variation of his 60's style roar, where the roar in '84, '89 and '91 was great in my book, powerful, felt fitting for a creature of his size, I really liked it, and to go backwards sucked to me.

It's not all hate though, the '89/'91 suit is one of my favorites in all of Godzilla, particularly the format of his spikes, with the huge one at the back of his shoulders and going smaller as they move down to the tail. I don't like the '93/'94 suit's spikes though, but the '95 brought the style back and is just a beast and really cool. Another highlight in this era is 2 great finales. The 1984 film really plays like a one shot deal, they worked Biollanted to be a sequel, but you're kind of left to think Godzilla is gone at the end, with a really cool closing scene with a great mix of music and imagery as he's swallowed into the volcano. The '95 finale is just as great, beautiful music and a wonderfully crafted demise for the big guy that makes you feel for him, capped with one of the coolest shots in all of Godzilla movies with Junior emerging from the smoke mutated into an adult.

3. 1999-2004

The downward spiral of Godzilla film quality continues, and in my opnion, peaks in this time frame.

One of the biggest things to hurt this period is the constant changing of plotlines. Millennium feels like the other films never happened, but never really touches on that, then Megaquirus implies that the Godzilla in these two films showed up 2 times, once in the 50's and then in the 60's and never again for some reason. Then GMK seems to toss that out and start over, and that didn't seem to work, and Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla starts yet again. The constant rebooting after a couple movies really hurt thigns I think, at least the other 2 periods all had a consistent storyline of sorts and didn't reboot.

Another thing I think hurts this series is the stories. For me, the whole effort at promoting the idea of women being strong and having a place in the military and all had no place in this film series. I support it as a notion, but I feel like some of the things they did to push the idea hurt the stories and at times made the human parts unbearable for me. I also didn't care much for the mythological aspects of GMK and Tokyo S.O.S., while it's not something new to the Godzilla franchise, it feels too strong and prominent in these too to me. It also hurts this series to have it's closing film be as weak as it was. The music was also pretty lacking, no real standout pieces, the only real good cues were the recycled I___ube classics.

Sadly, I find a positive in this series, and that's the Godzilla designs. I like the GMK, 2002/2003 and 2004 suits, really cool designs, but sadly, they're used in crappy films to me, and I feel that's a shame.

The second godzilla movie and the first movie, Then it will have to be Godzilla vs Ghidorah. The old one not the new one.

Easy list for me.

1- GOJIRA, 1954 Simply, amazing film. A true classic.
2- Destroy All Monsters (AIP version) 1968 Was my first ever G, and remains a favorite til this day. BEST score of the lot to me also!
3- Godzilla vs. MechaGodzilla (II) 1993 Damn skippy!
4- Godzilla, King of the Monsters, (US version) 1956 Just mention this one separate as it is a different experience for me. Older and more known to me than the Japanese original, but different.
5- Godzilla vs. Destroyah, 1995
6- Godzilla/Return of Godzilla, 1984
7- Monster Zero/ Invasion of the Astro Monster, 1966
8- Mothra vs. Godzilla 1964 (US version w/beach battle also)
9- Godzilla vs. Megaguiras 2001
10- Godzilla vs. MechaGodzilla 2002
11- Godzilla vs. Biollante 1989
12- Godzilla, Mothra, King Ghidorah(GMK) 2002
13- Godzilla Raids Again, 1955
14- Godzilla Tokyo S.O.S. 2003
15- Godzilla vs. Hedorah (Smog Monster) 1971
16- Godzilla vs. Ghidrah, the Three Headed Monster, 1965
17- Godzilla 2000
18- Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah 1991
19- Godzilla vs. the Sea Monster 1966
20- King Kong vs. Godzilla, 1962
21- Godzilla vs. Mothra 1992
22- Terror of MechaGodzilla, 1975
23- Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla 1994
24- Son of Godzilla, 1967
25- Godzilla’s Revenge, 1969
26- Godzilla vs. Gigan, 1972
27- Godzilla vs. MechaGodzilla, 1974
28- Godzilla vs. Megalon, 1973
28- Godzilla (US) 1998 Blech!
29- Godzilla Final Wars 2004 Just, can't stand this crap!

Maul Fan - I pretty much agree with you. I like how you did your list. My overall fav are is the 60's Godzilla films.

What did you think of Godzilla Final Wars? I promise I wont throw anything at you if you liked it.

Oh I still plan to pick apart the individual films like you did, that was just for starters. I have favorites from every era, and dislikes, yet, despite dislikes being in the 54-75 era, I still consider it the best overall. The way I see it, even with some bombs, a period of G films can still be found to be overall better than the others, so I thought I'd add that perspective to the mix. I think once you see my ranking of all the movies, you'll understand.

To quickly comment, Final Wars was a bomb to me, on many levels, but I have more to say on it and will.

Ya know, I think we could actually split the first Gojira film and rank the two versions individually due to each version having somewhat disparate tones and feeling. I'd also like to hear how you guys feel about the two different cuts.

The American version with the reshot scenes featuring Raymond Burr is practically a different film altogether, in my eyes. If the original Japanese film was a dark meditation on the horrors of nuclear warfare, the American version was a dark giant monster flick without as much subtext.

Still, I'd rank the American version of '54 Godzilla fairly highly, because it's the one I saw first as a kid (just not as highly as the original).

Also, shameful confession: I thought Final Wars was cheesy fun. I laughed intentionally, and that's worth something.

While 54 and 84 are the most altered between Japanese and American versions, you really could compare that way for most of the 54-75 era movies, deleted footage and altered/cut music can be found in all of them.

I think much of how I rank them is not only what I enjoy as an adult now but what I Loved as a child and what I enjoy now as a father watching them with my children. Ten years ago well before I had children my list would have looked a bit different. I would of had the more serious films all ranked higher and the child friendly ones lower. But now I get such a thrill watching them with my children that I am back to loving the kid friendly ones as I watch it through their eyes.

So while I know Godzilla '54 is a way better film the Son of Godzilla, I can't help but sit back and enjoy "Son" because my kids get such a kick out of it. Just like I did when I was a child.

Tokyo S.O.S., GMK: All Out Attack, and Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla (the first one) were my faves. Pretty good action and plots in all three. Godzilla vs. Destroyah is also pretty good. Very creepy, made almost like a horror flick in some scenes.

I've tried to compile a list a couple times, but I fail every time. I really enjoyed the latest ones. GMK is probably my favorite of all the recents.

I do have a real soft spot for the new vs. Mechagodzilla, Tokyo SOS, and Final Wars because my kid simply *LOVES* them. I like 'em too, but I understand why G-Fans get annoyed by them.

MaulFan said:

While 54 and 84 are the most altered between Japanese and American versions, you really could compare that way for most of the 54-75 era movies, deleted footage and altered/cut music can be found in all of them.

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I don't know about that. It is true that a lot of Gojira movies were edited before finding their way to the U.S. and other regions, I think the '54 film was the only one in which a western actor was edited into the film and whose presence significantly altered the flow of the narrative.

Man, talking about these films makes me want to pop in one of my old VHS tapes. Gotta find them first though...

Correct, the '54 and '84 films were the only 2 to have the American releases actually make an effort to create a new movie from the Japanese material, but I just don't see that as any different from cutting out music, adding new themes, or deleting footage. In the end, it's two versions of the same base film, just variations of how they differ.

But they added a completely new protagonist that didn't exist in the original cut of the film! I think that's more impactful than just cutting in/out music or existing footage. Right?

I guess it's just how I view the movies, I don't really see the overall film being different between the versions, just that there's parts missing or added between them. I really feel like they're like theatrical and director's cut type differences, same overall story, just different scenes or takes on scenes for telling the story.

Not going to throw together a list, just will say that GOJIRA from 1954 remains the be all, end all Godzilla/Gojira film ever made. Watching it to this day it holds up as a classic. Great effects, great cinematography, and absolutely great story. Black and white makes all the difference here. There are shots in that film that give me chills. A true horror/science fiction masterpiece. And the Raymond Burr version that came after it is an absolute abomination which sanitizes and outright censors the film's entire thematic. The Burr film is nothing but a castration for US audiences.