Cinematic Point Of View

The older I get, the more I realize that every Godzilla film has its own special charms and even those with the worst reputation can be a great time. Case in point. ‘All Monsters Attack‘ (1969). This splice and dice of a movie was my first Godzilla film and, for what’s worth, I still love it.

My lifelong love for Godzilla was born and my passion for playing soccer would slowly wain. Blame it on Toho.

The simple story of ‘All Monsters Attack’ follows Ichiro, a lonely latchkey kid in industrial Tokyo, who is bullied. His family isn’t well off and both his parents work full time, so he finds himself playing alone with junk he’s found on the side of the road or exploring the decaying urban landscape around his apartment.

To further escape his dull reality, he often daydreams about traveling to Monster Island, where he befriends Minilla (Godzilla’s son), who has bully problems of his own in the form of a monster named Gabara.

Back in the real world, Ichiro is playing in an abandoned building and stumbles upon two bumbling bank robbers and gets taken hostage. Calling on the lessons he learned from his Monster Island daydreams, Ichiro finds the bravery to outsmart the criminals and stand up to his bully.

I realize that ‘All Monsters Attack’ has a terrible reputation as a Godzilla movie, and to be fair that reputation isn’t unwarranted. It’s a mess. Despite that though, I still find that it’s a beautiful, funny mess with heart and super easy to enjoy.

Director Ishiro Honda manages to take footage from other Godzilla films and cut it around a simple story of involving a robbery and childhood bullying, while also working in some commentary on culture, industry, and environment. This is why I love Honda. He always tries to make it work even when it doesn’t quite come together perfectly. It’s art.

And I know the reusing of footage from other movies was purely a business decision, but in the days before VHS, any chance to see the best scenes from other movies was a real gift. At least it was to me. There wasn’t anywhere to watch this stuff. It was like having a super cut of Godzilla’s greatest hits. Once you walked out of the theater or stumbled onto a film on TV, you never knew if you’d ever see it again.

Watching this for the first time as a kid back then, I also clicked with the relatable story. That’s another win for Honda. Here we have a two-parent, working household unable to be there for their kid after school. This latchkey situation leads to him being out playing where he shouldn’t be, ultimately leading to his kidnapping.

As a kid growing up in Texas in the late ’70s and early ’80s, this was a valid fear and a frighteningly common occurrence. I was one of the lucky ones who had a parent at home after school. Many of my friends did not, and the fear of child abduction was very real in my neighborhood.

Last week, I watched ‘All Monsters Attack,’ for the first time in many years, with my youngest kiddo and we had a blast. It’s still super breezy, refreshingly short, and it’s simple messages still hold true today. It’s also full of so many crazy-random, hilarious “laugh out loud” moments like this one below.

In my book, Tomonori Yazaki, who plays “Ichiro,” is the pinnacle of Godzilla child actors. He reminds me of me as a kid. My head was always in the clouds and I could turn any old household object or broken junk into something to play with. Any walk could turn into an adventure. I still daydream of Godzilla, so there’s that too.

I think enjoying Godzilla has always taken a bit of the viewer’s imagination to work. Isn’t that part of the appeal? How much you enjoy a Godzilla film is entirely up to you.

Which reminds me! I almost forgot to mention the incrediblopening song “Monster March.” Boy howdy, that’s a song. The first time you hear it you might run screaming from the room, toppling chairs and tables.

Like everything attached to this movie though, I’ve softened to this song and it’s even become a running joke around our house. I love to pop it on for a laugh. There’s an energy to it that puts a smile on my face. What’s wrong with me?