Godzilla - Attack all monsters (1969)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 1969
	Director: Ishirô Honda
	Actors: Tomonori Yazaki, Hideyo Amamoto
	Country: J
	Genre: Adventure, Drama
	Conditions of visioning: 23.01.2018, VOD, German version
Synopsis: Ichirô (Yazaki) is a highly imaginative and lonely boy growing up in an industrial suburb of Tokyo. Every day he comes home to the empty apartment he shares with his railroad worker father and his restaurant hostess mother. His only friends are a toy maker name Shinpei Inami (Amamoto) and a little girl named Sachicko. The other kids bully him. To escape his loneliness, Ichiro imagines that he is on Monster Island where he befriends Minira, the son of Godzilla. It is through his daydreams that he watches Godzilla and Minira fight other monsters, including one named Gabara who is just a bully as the one that is tormenting Ichirô.
Review: After having discovered that it was possible to see some movies in youtube when it is sometimes impossible to find it anywhere as Bluray, DVD, I decided to look for some Godzilla movies I read about in my Godzilla bible The Kaiju film (A critical study of cinema's biggest monsters) by Jason Barr.  The story is not the classical Godzilla as symbol of destruction, nuclear weapon, military destruction or so. Godzilla is a mentor for both Minira and Ichirô, so that they learn to fight back and face their fears. These lessons also help Ichirô to get rid of two bank robbers and to stand up to Gabara and his gang. It is for this reason really a movie for children, but well done.  The special effects are the common Godzilla rubber monsters with monsters and objects really flying around. It depicts also a very patriarchal society where the boys should learn to fight to get self-confidence. By luck the uncle Shinpei is a weirdo fan of electronic and builds his own toys and electronic games. Amazing for the end of 60s! Don't even think about it in the Western countries! The character of Shinpei contrasts with the two bank robbers. He believes in the goodness of the people, gives his confidence to anyone, and goes lucky through life. He finds himself his stolen car. On the opposite the two robbers do not trust anyone, look for violence and have the fate against them. As if once Ichirô would learn to fight to gain self-confidence, he should stop fighting and trust people to have a happy life.  The acting is typical Japanese and is here at a especially secondary level because a good part is showing fights between monsters, being an allegory of the fights that Ichirô wants to do and finally manages.  It is not a movie for fans of violent Kaiju films but rather for fans of Kaiju films in general. If you want to introduce these cool monsters and Japanese culture to your children, watch it with kids! You can watch the movie here.
Rating: 5 /10