Amazon.com video review:
As "gigantic monster reptile attacks New York" movies go, you've got
to admit that Godzilla delivers the goods, although its critical
drubbing and box-office disappointment were arguably deserved. It's a
shameless, uninspired crowd pleaser that's content to serve up familiar
action with the advantage of really fantastic special effects, and if you
expect nothing more you'll be one among millions of satisfied customers.
There's really no other way to approach it--you just have to accept the fact
that Independence Day creators Roland Emmerich and Dean Devlin are
unapologetic plagiarists, incapable of anything more than mindless
spectacle that can play in any cinema in the world without dubbing or
subtitles. The whole movie plays out like a series of highlights stolen
from previous blockbusters of the 1990s; it's little more than a rehash of
the Jurassic Park movies. The derivative script is so trivial that
it's unworthy of comment, apart from a few choice laughs and the casting of
Michael Lerner as New York's mayor, whose name is Ebert and who closely
resembles a certain well-known movie critic. Perhaps that's a clever hint
that this movie's essentially critic-proof. It's stupid but it's fun, and
for most audiences that's a fitting definition of mainstream Hollywood
entertainment. --Jeff Shannon
Amazon.com video review:
As "gigantic monster reptile attacks New York" movies go, you've got
to admit that Godzilla delivers the goods, although its critical
drubbing and box-office disappointment were arguably deserved. It's a
shameless, uninspired crowd pleaser that's content to serve up familiar
action with the advantage of really fantastic special effects, and if you
expect nothing more you'll be one among millions of satisfied customers.
There's really no other way to approach it--you just have to accept the fact
that Independence Day creators Roland Emmerich and Dean Devlin are
unapologetic plagiarists, incapable of anything more than mindless
spectacle that can play in any cinema in the world without dubbing or
subtitles. The whole movie plays out like a series of highlights stolen
from previous blockbusters of the 1990s; it's little more than a rehash of
the Jurassic Park movies. The derivative script is so trivial that
it's unworthy of comment, apart from a few choice laughs and the casting of
Michael Lerner as New York's mayor, whose name is Ebert and who closely
resembles a certain well-known movie critic. Perhaps that's a clever hint
that this movie's essentially critic-proof. It's stupid but it's fun, and
for most audiences that's a fitting definition of mainstream Hollywood
entertainment. The widescreen Special Edition DVD includes a wealth of
bonus materials--audio commentary by the film's special effects
supervisors, a "making of" featurette, the Wallflowers' music video
"Heroes," a photo gallery, and a variety of features related to this and all
the classic Godzilla films from Japan. --Jeff Shannon
