Well those wacky Japanese scientists are at it again. As can be gleaned from the synopsis above, weather experiments are being conducted. These weather experiments consist of being able to make it snow on a tropical island. Why? Well, that’s never really explained, but be assured that there is a definite useful purpose behind this research. In any case, it seems that the equipment to be used in the experiments has a high probability of going awry and blanketing the entire island with dangerous levels of radiation.
Naturally, the indigenous inhabitants of the island consist of man-sized praying mantises, and guess what happens when you subject them to large amounts of radiation? That’s right: they grow bigger (could give a whole new twist to the internet trade in penis enlargement pills). This new growth enables the big bugs to uncover Godzilla’s baby, Manilla (I guess Minizilla just didn’t sound right). That’s right – Godzilla is a father. Exactly how Godzilla can be a father is still a little hazy, but be sure that the family resemblance is definitely there.
The discovery of Manilla sets up the theme for the rest of the film. Instead of your regular monster-on-monster action we know and love from the Godzilla franchise, Godzilla: Son of Godzilla explores the trials and tribulations of growing up as the child of such a feared and revered giant monster. For some, this may seem like an interesting avenue to explore, but the end result is a series of “cutesy” learning scenes in which Manilla attemps to emulate his father with limited success.
With such a substantial amount of screen time taken up with Godzilla tutoring his son, there is significantly less time for anything else. Thus we cut into the story line and, more importantly, the fight scenes. As a result, the plot is even more razor-thin (even for a Godzilla film) and whilst the fight scenes are good, they are short.
Overall, Godzilla: Son of Godzilla is a competent addition to the Godzilla series of films. The problem is that it tries to pack too many features into a short time frame to the detriment of the film as a whole. Whilst not as bad as the woeful Godzilla vs Megaguirus or even Godzilla vs Ebirah, it is worse than Godzilla: Invasion of Astro-Monster.