135) All Monsters Attack (1969)

Halloween 2022's Godzilla-Maniapalloza Extravaganza #10...For the Love of Godzilla.

All Hail, the Monster King!

"Godzilla says I have to learn to fight my own battles."

Director
Ishirō Honda

Cast
Tomonori Yazak - Ichiro Mitsuki

Hideyo Amamoto - Shinpei
Sachio Sakai - Sembayashi
Kazuo Suzuki - Okuda

Junichi Ito - Gabara

Hidemi Ito - Sachiko 

Haruo Nakajima - Godzilla

Just as the excitement among audiences and Godzilla fans tapered off from "Destroy All Monsters," Toho Studios came out with their next Godzilla movie "All Monsters Attack." And audiences surely asked themselves, "what the hell is this?"

Released in the U.S. under the title, "Godzilla's Revenge," this is the tenth Godzilla movie. Its premise is certainly unique to say the least. By "unique" I mean cheap and poor. All the stock footage used in "All Monsters Attack," most of which comes from the previous "Ebirah, Horror of the Deep" and "Son of Godzilla" gives it that cheap and poor feeling. 

The film focuses on this latchkey kid named Ichiro (Tomonori Yazaki). He's often left alone in his family's apartment located in the dirty urban area of Kawasaki. 

Ichiro is a bit of a loner. He has one friend his own age, a little girl named Sachiko (Hidemi Ito), and a toymaker who lives in his apartment complex named Shinpei (Hideyo Amamoto). 

There's a small gang of kids, led by a tough boy called Sanko Gabara (Junichi Ito) in the neighborhood who tease him relentlessly.

In the meantime, Ichiro spends his afternoons after school either at home or wandering through the neighborhood. 

Despite having these two friends, Ichiro feels the pangs of loneliness. 

He spends his solitude napping and dreams about visiting Monster Island (from "Destroy All Monsters") and watching Godzilla take on the monsters there.

In his dreams, Ichiro is pals with Minilla (Godzilla's son) who can actually talk to him. 

Minilla can also shrink down to Ichiro's size or grow when necessary to fight with the other monsters.

He shows Ichiro, through stock footage, the other monsters on Monster Island. He sees Godzilla take on three Kamacuras (the giant mantises) as seen in "Son of Godzilla."

One of the Kamacuras starts chasing Ichiro. As he's trying to run from this giant monster, he accidentally falls into a giant cave. 

He's rescued by Minilla, and then the two have a little chat. 

It turns out Minilla is also bullied by a monster whose name also happens to be Gabara. What a coincidence! The kaiju Gabara looks like the offspring between Godzilla and a Godzilla's pet kitty. 

Ichiro, played by Tomonori Yazak, along with "Minilla" (Marchan)
watch Godzilla fight in "All Monsters Attack." 

Ichiro's trip is abruptly ended when Shinpei wakes him up to tell him his mom is working late so he'll have to fend for himself yet again. 

So, Ichiro goes outside to play, and bumps into Sanko Gabara and his band of young hooligans. They scare him off, and he runs into an abandon facility where he starts exploring. 

As all this is going on, police and authorities are searching for bank robbers who stole a lot of money. These robbers are on the loose and can be hiding anywhere. ANYWHERE! 

While exploring the old factory, Ichiro hears some police sirens and decides it's time to leave. But he doesn't exit without taking a few souvenirs first. Among these treasures is a wallet he found with someone's driver's license. 

Little does he know that the wallet belongs to one of the robbers. 

The robbers, meanwhile, were hiding in the abandoned facility, and figure out that Ichiro has the missing wallet. They're able to track him down in his apartment, and plot to kidnap him.

I'll remind readers at this point that this is still a Godzilla movie I'm writing about. 

That night, Ichiro has some sukiyaki for dinner with Shinpei. 

When he returns to his apartment, he lays down and goes back to dreamland. There, he and Minilla watch Godzilla (again, through the magic of stock footage) take on Ebirah, Kumonga, a giant condor, and some fighter jets.

During the fight, Gabara shows up and Minilla takes him on. 

However, he's no match for Gabara so he runs away. 

Witnessing this, Godzilla takes Minilla aside and trains him how to use his atomic breath just like we've already seen him do in "Son of Godzilla." 

Sadly, Ichiro's dream is cut short again. This time the two robbers break into his apartment and kidnap him. They think he'll make a great hostage to protect them from police. 

Ichiro calls out to Minilla for help, and then falls back to sleep while in the hands of the robbers. 

Back in dreamland, he helps Minilla fight against Gabara for an all-out victory. 

When Godzilla comes around to give props to his son, Gabara comes back for a surprise attack only to be taken down again.

Ichiro awakens from his dream. Now, he has some valuable lessons under his belt thanks to Minilla. 

He outsmarts the robbers and escapes. In no time, the police close in and take them both into custody. 

The next day, Ichiro stands up to Sanko Gabara, whereby he discovers his inner-strength and confidence. 

"All Monsters Attack" certainly stands out from the other Godzilla movies so far. I'll give it that. 

The movie obviously caters to a younger audience. It's an oddball movie, though not nearly as odd as "Godzilla vs. Hedorah." 

What makes the premise so odd partly lies in the movie's attempt to do what it did in "Destroy All Monsters" but change it around to make it distinguishable from that movie. Plus, the audience really only sees the monsters through Ichiro's dreams. 

It is the campiest of Godzilla films yet. And overall, it's a disappointing entry into the Godzilla-verse. However, I think it would be too harsh to say it's a completely terrible movie as far as storyline goes. 

I mean, there's some character development. The premise is surely relatable to the young audience the movie is aimed at. I can buy this storyline. They clearly wanted to come up with

Godzilla takes on Gabara in "All Monsters Attack."

something that children could learn from. To be fair, it's a premise I broadly appreciate. The message of facing one's fears and standing up to bullies is a respectable one.   

All things considered; it's not what audiences want in a Godzilla movie. Plus, much of the movie is stock footage. People had to pay to see reused segments of a movie they previously paid to see. Cheap!

Also, Minilla (or Minya) talks. Well, he talks through Ichiro's imagination. While I watched the Japanese version where Minilla sounds like a 65-year-old chain smoker, I've been told he sounds like Barney from "The Flintstones" in the English version. Either way, it's strange and distracting.

Regardless, this is the lowest point the series has yet sunk to. Like all shlocky movies, "All Monsters Attack" has its fanbase and defenders.

I have to hand it to the writers at Toho Studios. They really went for something utterly different from the films made before. By this point in the franchise, Godzilla has gone quite a distance from his first movie back in 1954. 

By today's standards, this entire movie would be considered one big anti-bullying PSA. 

 At this point in Toho's history, the studio was focusing more on money rather than quality. It definitely shows in "All Monsters Attack." It's also the shortest movie in the Showa era of Godzilla flicks, running at 70 minutes. 

"All Monsters Attack" is a Godzilla movie that's easy to ignore but is a must-see-to-believe movie for fans of the franchise.