Invasion of Astro-Monster

Well, on Blu ray would be nice but until then this EPIC Japanese classic looks pretty darn good on this DVD. This is my all time favorite 60s Japanese sci-fi movie. Toho got American funding for this one and they spent it well on some excellent special effects, fantastic sets, great matte shots, and beautifully designed miniatures. This is NOT a "guys in rubber suits stomping on Tokyo" movie, nor is it high art; it is rather a well shot and totally fun slice of cheese with some true characters in it, something rare in this genre. Starting with the boys from Planet X and their way-cool attitudes and outfits, the ever fetching and evil Miss Namikawa, Nick Adam's swaggering American tough-guy routine, and a comic-relief Nerdlinger inventor with a GF who is far too cute for him, there is some actual character development. The flight and adventures to and on Planet X are the high points of the film. They are very VERY well done, the effects, sets and miniatures are the best I have ever seen in a Japanese movie from the 60s. It is a little long and loses some punch in the last 30 minutes; 94 minutes is about 20 too long, but that is my only complaint. When you can get DVDs in widescreen, or in the original 4:3 aspect ratio (as opposed to the dreadful "full screen" treatment) and watch them on a modern BD player they can have I would say, scientifically speaking, "pretty good" (LOL) image quality and this is a good example.

This is a personal favorite among Godzilla films despite not actually being the best showing for Godzilla himself (the 1954 original remains in a more-serious class above all others). Godzilla (kind of a showy pugilist in this one), Rodan, and King Ghidorah of course have some fighting to do and later in the film wreck quite a bit of the Japanese countryside. But the real entertainment of Invasion of Astro-Monster (or "Godzilla vs Monster Zero" as I first came to know it) comes from the entertaining sci-fi storyline and actor camaraderie. This is especially the case with Nick Adams as Astronaut Glenn and his spicy interaction with the ever-attractive Kumi Mizuno, playing the mysterious Miss Namikawa. The Planet X aliens are also immensely memorable, designed and acted with a fun 60's sci-fi flamboyance. The DVD package itself is surprisingly well-produced. Nicely presented menus start with a front end offering either the English or Japanese language versions, both of which are agreeable. From there a new menu arrives offering the feature, an informative optional commentary running over the movie, and an art gallery.

Wow! This is one of my favorite old Japanese monster flicks of all time. Toho really brought to life three of the biggies in a fight over their homeland and another land you'll learn all about in the second of the Ghidorah/Monster Zero series. Throw in Godzilla and Rodan and you have a nasty little recipe for an all out war of the prehistoric monsters of the far east. This Godzilla installment also features a nice trip into orbit to a galaxy far far aw...uh well, you get the picture. In the process the big lizard and the huge old wind makin bird of prey get hijacked and taken up to a rock in space that ruled by a three headed ball of fury. The trio ends up back at earth for a whopper of a tag team match featuring Zilla and Ridan vs. Monster Zero!! Throw in a some heavy duty sonic waves, the Japanese army, a semi love story involving clones, and a mean ole group of non earthlings who covet our digs and whahlah..the result is a king sized battle that doesnt necessarily end in death. Have fun watching this great flick of the Japanese monsters at their best.

This is one of the best godzilla movies from the showa era! It is the only godzilla movie to feature an american star that was not put in for the americanization! The story we find Planet X, and we send a spaceship there and they have a problem, King Ghidorah is attacking the planet and they need godzilla and rodan to help, so japan lets them use godzilla and rodan, and they use all three monsters against in an amazing attack sequence! All three monsters get equal destruction! My first copy of this movie was the 1998 simitar one with the crappy made trailers, and cool bonus features, but it had been discontinued until now! This DVD features the japanese verison with the american one, which personally i prefer the japanese versions of all the godzilla movies! Great buy!

Classic Media presents another first-class release with Invasion of the Astro Monster (Kaiju Daisenso), a.k.a. Monster Zero, its 1970 U.S. theatrical release title (in fact, the U.S. version on this DVD retains the Monster Zero title), a.k.a. Godzilla vs. Monster Zero, its U.S. television/video release title. When I was a youngster, I caught the double-feature release of War of the Gargantuas/Monster Zero at our local theater, and the pair made a more powerful impression on me than just about any other film experience to that time. Perhaps strangely, given my special fondness for Godzilla, I then preferred War of the Gargantuas--and still do, for that matter. Like all of Toho's fantasy-oriented daikaiju films of the 1960s, Monster Zero is quite silly, and ever since childhood, I've preferred my monsters played straight, as in the original 1954 Godzilla. But Monster Zero is undeniably a colorful, action-packed, superbly crafted monster flick that features some of Eiji Tsuburaya's most accomplished special effects work (if also, sadly, some of his least). Much as its predecessor (Ghidrah, the Three-Headed Monster), the greater part of the movie revolves around its people scenes, which can be highly disheartening for a young monster enthusiast; fortunately, in both films, the human story plays out as fun and engaging--even more so in Monster Zero than in Ghidrah. In the same way that Ghidrah maintained some direct continuity with its predecessor (Mothra vs. Godzilla), Monster Zero's script, by veteran screenwriter Shinichi Sekizawa, builds on some of the dramatic cues from Ghidrah, such as the Godzilla-Rodan tag team that previously defeated Ghidrah--though there's no mention of Mothra, who played a pivotal monster role in the earlier film. Although Toho had already used the space-aliens-invade-Earth theme in prior films, such as The Mysterians and Battle in Outer Space, Monster Zero is the first (of soon-to-be many) that directly involve Godzilla. When Monster Zero came to the theater in 1970, I had already seen Destroy All Monsters, and with its similar but somewhat grimmer storyline and distinctly superior depictions of the monsters--Godzilla in particular--I naturally felt Monster Zero rather lacking in comparison. In retrospect, however, Monster Zero contains many finer elements, particularly the great chemistry between Nick Adams as Mister Astronaut Glenn and Akira Takarada as Astronaut Fuji. Although Monster Zero boasts fewer special effects scenes than in Destroy All Monsters, the monsters' rampages, particularly King Ghidorah's, stand out as among Toho's all-time best. In Ghidrah, the Three-Headed Monster, the monster battles were played for laughs to a greater extent than in any previous Toho daikaiju film, with the possible exception of King Kong vs. Godzilla. Monster Zero continues the trend of anthropomorphizing the terrestrial monsters, though the humorous moments tend to be somewhat more palatable here than in Ghidrah--particularly since the monster interactions contain a few more "straight" moments. Design-wise, the Godzilla suit constructed for Monster Zero doesn't fare as well as the "Mosu-Goji" costume used in Mothra vs. Godzilla and Ghidrah, but the Rodan suit looks somewhat better, especially when shown in the distance and in flight. In the audio commentary of Classic Media's Ghidrah release, author David Kalat posits that the original, "demonic"-looking Rodan suit from 1957's Rodan, the Flying Monster would have been out of place in such a light-hearted fantasy, and there may be something to this; however, if it were up to me, I would have happily seen the original Rodan costume duplicated for these films. Then again, they didn't ask me (possibly because I was very young at the time and didn't work for Toho). The lighter tone for these films was established by screenwriter Sekizawa and effects director Tsuburaya, whose penchant for entertaining young people was, by this point in their careers, firmly cemented so that it essentially became Toho policy. Yet director Ishiro Honda felt--as I always have--that the monsters should have maintained the dignity of their great stature. He was pained by scenes of Godzilla acting a clown and bouncing ludicrously in a "shie" dance after overcoming King Ghidorah on Planet X. Would that Honda's attitude might have prevailed. Although the Japanese and American versions of Monster Zero are almost identical, the Japanese version is arguably superior (with a couple of possible exceptions). In the U.S. version Akira Ifukube's opening theme--a rousing military march based on the depth charge attack motif from the original Godzilla--has been replaced by the far more ominous-sounding track, titled "The Electromagnetic Capsule," from later in the film, to much better effect. And during Godzilla's aforementioned "shie" jig, the roars and booming sound effects in the American version offer at least some slight improvement to the otherwise ridiculous and utterly useless scene. However, a handful of special effects scenes--good ones--were excised from the American cut, and, more significantly, a number of lines in "X-ian" language, improvised by Yoshio Tsuchiya as the Controller of Planet X, were also cut. Both the U.S. and Japanese prints on the Classic Media DVD are of very good quality, far better than the one used on the Simitar release of Godzilla vs. Monster Zero from 1998. As for extra features, the most noteworthy is kaiju authority Stuart Galbraith's informative commentary on the U.S. version. Additionally, the bio documentary of Tomoyuki Tanaka, narrated by Mr. Ed Godziszewski, is highly enjoyable. For Godzilla fans, this release of Monster Zero is a necessity, and I imagine that even more casual monster movie viewers will really have a good time with this one.

All is good

When I was a child i only had my parents' word as to whether or not certain films were worth watching. Godzilla, the original b&w classic, was apparently my mother's favorite. i watched it with certain degrees of enthusiasm. Later my enthusiasm grew when one of the local stations in my town started showing these classic films on Saturday afternoons. With my dad watching them with me, talking for the monsters so that I knew what they were saying (and believe me they were very foul mouthed towards each other), I fell in love with these. As i got older, I learned more of the histories behind these classics, and soon became a huge fan wanting not only the movies, but the chance to watch them in their original japanese to see what differences there were. All I can say is that another American made it into this film to star along with the Japanese. The villains are poorly dressed, have Elton John sized sunglasses, all look the same, and are hell bent on making sure that they never really get around to telling the truth. It involves Rodan, Godzilla, Ghidorah, and of course, mind control. I won't reveal plots, talk about acting, glorify the use of minatures, because you need to see these movies in order to appreciate them fully. I paid a miniscule price for a lifetime of fond memories and highly reccommend adding this movie to your collection.

This was a very interesting film. There were many different stories going on in the movie which kept my interest. I watched the Japanese language version of the film which I prefer to do because I feel that sometimes the dubbed versions of the films are cut and you lose some of the important aspects of the film. Also, the voices do not match the faces of the actors and the voices have a very unreal quality. I enjoyed seeing Nick Adams in the film and his relationship with his Japanese co-stars is very congenial. Because the story has so many different plot twists, it is very interesting and will be good to see again.