Julian R. White This film was supposed to be like, the new beginning for the Godzilla series. Don't get me wrong, it's not that bad of a film, but it wasn't really that impressive to me either. I gotta admit, the UFO, the organics and the overall transformation of Godzilla's foe in this film is pretty interesting. It's something I haven't seen in any Kaiju movie, nor have I seen it in any more recent films. The effects are good, the monster designs are good, but otherwise it just wasn't anything that really stood out for me. Maybe I'm just old fashioned because I prefer the older Godzilla films, but hey, beggers can't be choosers.

JLRVancouver In "Godzilla 2000", the first of the Godzilla 'millennium' series (and 24th overall in the franchise counting the 1998 US version), a redesigned Godzilla faces off against an ancient alien lifeform that resurrects itself after sampling the King of the Monster's tissues. The story is much simpler and streamlined than those of the Heisei era, with fewer subplots and back stories. Yuji Shinoda (Takehiro Murata) and his daughter Io (Mayu Suzuki) are the sole members of The Godzilla Prediction Network (GPN), which monitors Godzilla's whereabouts. The obligatory reporter (Naomi Nishida) joins them for a close encounter, after which Yugi discovers the secret of Godzilla's regenerative abilities. Meanwhile, Mitsuo Katagiri (Hiroshi Abe), the cold-blooded head of Crisis Control Intelligence (CCI), has uncovered a mysterious object in the ocean's depths that, when brought to the surface, turns out to be a 60,000,000 year old alien spaceship. Light 'awakens' the ship, which then travels to Tokyo and begins to absorb data, including data about Godzilla, from the computer network at an alarming rate before spawning an immense alien creature. This sets the stage for the expected monster showdown that comprises the second half of the film. The new Godzilla suit is very good, with a pronounced saurian head and huge rear spines, and the actor within (Tsutomu Kitagawa) carries the weight well forward, resulting in a much more animal-like posture than previous, more upright, versions. The alien creature ('Orga') is also very well done and manages to look less like a person in a suit than most of Godzilla's previous nemeses. I liked the first morph of the creature (which was unlike most of the Kaiju in the series) more than the final version but, as it was CGI, integrating the neo-Ogra into the rest of the film would have been expensive (and many Godzillaphiles dislike virtual monsters). There is also a CGI scene of Godzilla swimming underwater, which was less effective than scenes using suit-mation. Generally the miniatures are great, as are the matte shots used to show Godzilla in the distance, and the final battle scenes are spectacular. The cast is quite good (Yuji's daughter Io is much more appealing (and less annoying) than most of the kids in kaiju films) and the story, although incorporating the typical convenient but nonsensical 'science' characteristic of the series, is interesting. The English dubbed version I watched was OK although some odd turns-of-phrase have been added (e.g. "Gott in Himmel" and "Great Caesar's ghost"), presumably for comic effect. The ending scene is pretty hokey, with the characters speculating why Godzilla helps out when humans are threatened (Yuji's trite answer harkens back to the new-age psychic characters in the previous sub-series). Odd to me that people can still be seeing Godzilla as a friend (or at least a guardian) when he is in the process of wantonly incinerating the city. All in all, a good reboot and return to form for the iconic monster.

Sean Newgent One of the facets I enjoy about the Godzilla franchise is the campy practical effects. Miniatures abound; eventually exploding or crumbling in glorious fashion. In this film, what I recall was meant to be an apology for the American travesty of a film starring Matthew Broderick, JPEGs and green screens clash with terrible CG in one of the ugliest Godzilla productions I've ever seen. Godzilla faces off against a weird UFO very reminiscent of the T-1000 and the battle for Tokyo is pretty unenjoyable purely because of how dumb it looks, even for Godzilla. That doesn't make this a campy delight nonetheless. If only for the shock and schlock value of the special effects should you come to this film. The story is a mess, the villain is unmemorable, and you'll leave it thinking "eh, it was a Godzilla movie".

jacobjohntaylor1 I just saw this last night. I the first time I watched this movie I did not like it. But now I do like this movie. The Godzilla reboot from 1998 is better. I do not like the why people are always underrating that movie but still this is a very good movie. It has a great story line. It has great acting. It also has great special effects. It is part twenty three to the Japan Godzilla series. It is better then the tenth Godzilla movie Godzilla's revenge. This is a very scary movie. It is scary then The silence of the lambs ever could be. Part twenty four to the Godzilla series Godzilla vs Megagurius is better. But still this a great movie. See it.