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[tab title="Movie Review"]

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Gareth Edwards’ Godzilla tears into theaters this coming May so why not the tie-ins into stores and shelves, too?! Originally released in 1963 here in the United States, King Kong vs. Godzilla is simply a must-own for any fan of either monster. This co-production between Universal Studios and Toho Company is – to date – the most commercially successful of all the Godzilla movies.

I’ll let the fact soak in for a bit.

For the record, the first few minutes of King Kong vs. Godzilla are better than Roland Emmerich’s entire 1998 Godzilla-sized A-bomb. This film is cheesy and full of hokey special effects and silly acting, yet it is simply wonderful as a monster movie. Emmerich’s film was just stupid for the sake of a quick buck.

This is the first of two solid King Kong co-productions that Toho was involved with. Directed by Ishirō Honda, the movie opens with the head of Pacific Pharmaceuticals, Mr. Tako (Ichiro Arishima), frustrated by the silly television shows he is sponsoring. He wants something interesting; something worthy of his product and his money. Enter a team to capture the rumored King Kong of Faro Island and put him on television.

Now, if you will recall the ending of Godzilla Raids Again, the sequel to the original Godzilla film, the last we saw of the King of the Monsters was a whole lot of freezing. Buried inside a massive iceberg, Godzilla hasn’t been a threat since 1955. Unfortunately, the American submarine Seahawk is about to change all that by accidentally breaking the iceberg apart when their submarine gets stuck.

The two monsters are on a collision course in Japan. They just don’t know it yet. But first, Kong must battle a giant octopus on Faro Island. Yes, on the actual surface of the island. The scene, in which Kong plays kissy-face with a huge red-tentacled creature, is simply awesome. Creepy and quite effective, it is only one of the many sharp special effects moments between two men in oversized costumes smashing through miniatures with tons of explosions blowing up around them.

Written by Shinichi Sekizawa (who takes some liberties with the Kong legend), King Kong vs. Godzilla is everything you want it to be. It’s your typical poorly dubbed and stoically acted popcorn flick and yet – somewhere within it – is a nasty gem of monstrous proportions. This is a fun monster picture with all the cheese and adventures you expect.

The shriek of Godzilla fills the nighttime air as he makes landfall and starts destroying everything and Kong, brought to Japan for the sake of television ratings, is the only creature to stop him. And when these two giants of the screen meet, sparks literally fly.

Miniature sets, toy vehicles, crazy explosions, and men wrestling around in terrible rubber suits. Costumed craziness rarely gets this cool.

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[tab title="Film Details"]

MPAA Rating: Not rated.
Runtime: 91 mins
Director: Ishirô Honda
Writer: Bruce Howard
Cast: Tadao Takashima, Kenji Sahara, Yû Fujiki
Genre: Action | Adventure | Horror
Tagline: Mighty King Kong! Mighty Godzilla!
Memorable Movie Quote: "King Kong can't make a monkey out of us!"
Theatrical Distributor: Universal Pictures
Official Site:
Release Date: June 26, 1963
DVD/Blu-ray Release Date: April 1, 2014
Synopsis: A pharmaceutical company captures King Kong and brings him to Japan, where he escapes from captivity and battles a recently released Godzilla.

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[tab title="Blu-ray Review"]

Blu-ray Details:

Available on Blu-ray - April 1, 2014
Screen Formats: 2.35:1
Subtitles: English
Audio: English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0
Discs: Blu-ray Disc; Single disc (1 BD)
Region Encoding: A

King Kong vs. Godzilla is presented in 1080p with a DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono track. The picture is clean, with minimal flecks, sputters, and scratches. They are sometimes noticeable but never very distracting. The colors pop for the most part. There’s a nice depth to the picture and details are strong for a film of this age. There are a couple of dingy nighttime scenes where crush is noticeable but, again, the joy of the film in HD trumps any negatives there are with the picture…and, really, there aren’t a lot of complaints.

Supplements:

Commentary:

• None

Special Features:

None

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