(Movie review) Netflix's Godzilla: Planet of the Monsters

The movie which I'm going to be talking about today is a Netflix Original called Godzilla: Planet of the Monsters (Also known as Monster Planet). This is an animated sci-fi film that serves as a fairly different, fresh take on Godzilla. One that we've never seen before, since most of the big G's films have been dudes in rubber suits wrecking model sets. I'm actually quite shocked that this is the first animated film based around Godzilla, considering his origins are based in Japan of all places. The film opened in theaters in Japan this previous November, staying on screen for right around 3 weeks. After that, it was finally released for the rest of the world to check out on Netflix. (Who would have guessed a Netflix produced movie would go on Netflix?) It is part one of a three part movie trilogy, with the sequel already being announced to be released in May of this year. 

To give you a short explanation on the premise of the film, it begins near the end of the 20th century with man kind starting to see attacks done by various Kaiju (Japanese for Giant Beast/Monster). Eventually after dealing with several of the smaller ones, Godzilla appears and then begins his rampage, forcing the human race along with an allied alien race to flee into space in search of a new home. After 22 years have passed on the ship, they have yet to find a new, suitable home and things are looking grim. They decide to head back to the Earth in hopes that perhaps Godzilla has died from aging, and reclaim their land with battle plans drawn up in preparation should the worst happen. After coming back to the planet, they discover that nearly 20000 years have passed in the span that they've been gone thanks to traveling via wormholes, however. 

Now, I'll say outright that I didn't think this was an amazing Godzilla film, but it was a pretty good one that was definitely entertaining. There were a few things holding it back, in my opinion. But, for the most part it was pretty enjoyable and I think it's a step in a new, good direction for the franchise. This series is very different from the others, as it drops any sense of a social commentary like what we've seen in Shin Godzilla and other past films. The symbolism of Godzilla has been changed from things like war and nuclear weaponry to more of a symbol of nature displaying its wrath and destruction due to his wooden/stone like appearance, which is quite stoic and jagged in design. Godzilla has been amped up to 11 with the threat he poses in this series compared to the past, which is pretty much shown as soon as they land upon the earth.  

Now, as far as an anime goes I honestly would just rate this as just alright if it didn't have Godzilla in it. Most of what is presented here besides big G himself is stuff that we've seen plenty of times over in other anime series. This movie in particular has almost a sort of Attack on Titan type of vibe going on, just with much more emphasis on the sci-fi genre over the fantasy one. The high tension and gloominess works well with the sci fi genre, especially considering the antagonist of the film. The voice acting is done quite well, and the sound design and effects for the film are also done pretty good too. I'm especially glad that they continued to use the well recognized roar sound effect of Godzilla from throughout the years. 

Though, I have to say, the animation style is a bit weird and something that I couldn't really enjoy to the fullest. If you're familiar with some of the more recent anime coming out of Japan, then you may have noticed a new trend that they've started doing which involves using CG mixed in with normal style anime. I get kinda turned off by this, as I think the CG typically looks pretty bad and just doesn't work very well. As an example, if you check out the Berserk films the sections where it's animated traditionally look beautiful, however it looks very mediocre and loses a lot of it's style when the CG battle portions begin. It kind of forces me out of the immersion when films and shows do this. This film isn't quite that bad, and they've blended them fairly well, but it's still not a style that I really enjoy and I wasn't the only one to think it just looked weird throughout. 

Something positive that I will say is that the sequences with Godzilla have been animated quite well within the film, and every time he launchers his atomic breath while fighting it's really a sight to behold. He's also been made to move very slowly, something which we haven't really seen before that I think works well due to how bulky his size is in this film. The backgrounds and foregrounds were animated quite well, and the whole world of the Earth 20000 years in the future is pretty interesting and nice to look at while they show it. At times, however, the color palette can blend in a bit too much I noticed and besides the CG I think there is room for improvement. Maybe you won't mind the CG, but for me it wasn't very pleasant to look at and really just drew me out of the scenes. 

Something really different within this film compared to past ones is how humans view Godzilla and the other Kaiju shown in the movie. In the past, Godzilla was just viewed as a huge creature that needed to be dealt with as he put humanity on the defensive. In this film, he's depicted in a much bigger awe inspiring manner, being referred to as a planet ending creature that must have been a divine beings wrath at the arrogance of human beings. The way he is presented is shown as being a natural disaster almost, instead of a monstrous being. It's really interesting to see, and there are quite a few moments that make you wonder how the hell are they going to be able to deal with him. 

Oh, and you might be wondering why I haven't really been speaking about the other Kaiju in the film. I mean, considering the title of this movie and all I'm sure you'd expect quite a few of them. Well, sadly that isn't what we got. Beyond the introduction of the film, you really don't see any other Kaiju besides a smaller one later on that didn't already exist in the roster of Kaiju. I think the title of the film may have thrown people for a loop, as it is more of just ONE monsters planet. We do get some really cool cameos in the start of the film though showing quite a few Kaiju that haven't really been in the spotlight before. Kamacuras is the first one we're shown, as he was the first to attack civilization, and we're gradually shown others such as Hedora, Orga and a few more. The only A-list Kaiju you get to see is a brief shot of Mecha-Godzilla, which was being built to combat Godzilla before it was abandoned due to not functioning properly.  

Beyond the Godzilla and the other Kaiju, there are several humanoid races shown within this film on the side of humanity. There are two races of aliens who came to mans aid before fleeing the planet, one of which is an overly religious organization. Our main character is named Haruo, and is basically shown as a Captain Ahab type character with his hatred of Godzilla and his need/want to return home to fight and conquer him. Besides him there are a few other memorable characters, such as Metphies and Yuko, but most are pretty bland and honestly hard to tell apart. While I didn't expect every character to be unique and filled with personality, I figured the other bigger characters shown again and again would be more notable. This is also another flaw with the film, but one that is passable at least. 

Overall, I would probably rate this movie somewhere between a 7.0-7.5 out of 10, it's definitely at least above average. There are a lot of cool moments throughout, and Godzilla himself is pretty breathtaking when shown. The CG animation being kind of weird to look at, the bland characters and immense amount of plot shoved into this 90 minute run time however is a bit of a downside. I realize this is part of a 3 part trilogy, but I really feel that an extra 30 minutes would have allowed them to flush out a lot more things that happened throughout the film and maybe given us a bit more of a look into the characters personalities besides the main character. It felt very stuffed for the short run time.  

I think now that this introduction to the series has been done, they'll be able to spread their wings out a bit further with the next two entries in the trilogy, especially since the second part will tackle Mecha Godzilla being a big part of the story and we'll see some Kaiju vs Kaiju action I would have to assume. I'd definitely recommend anyone who is a fan of Godzilla or anime to give this a shot and see if you like it. As I said, it isn't a great film or an amazing anime, but it's a good Godzilla film and a pretty decent anime on it's own. And, considering that it's on Netflix for streaming it's pretty easy to check out. So, do it, boiii. 

So, I hope you've enjoyed my quick little review. I tried to be a bit short on my writing and not mention too much, as I don't wanna spoil a lot of what happens in the film. Appreciate you stopping by to check out the post!