Godzilla vs. Biollante [Blu-ray]

Product arrived on time and was as expected.

This film is as good as any Godzilla film including the 1954 original! Why? Blasphemy? It is as relevant and thought provoking as was Gojira and this is what makes for a great Godzilla film. Gojira ('54) dealt with radiation exposure and nuclear war, something very much on Japan's mind after Hiroshima and Nagasaki as well as the nuclear proliferation madness in Russia and China. Godzilla vs Biollante concerns the misuse of genetic engineering resulting in one of the coolest monsters in film. Godzilla vs Hedorah (the Smog Monster) gave us a pollution mutation that almost wiped out the big G! Sadly only appeared in one other film and for a few measly seconds (Godzilla Final Wars). Godzilla 2000 gave us an alien organism that replicated anything it touched (can anyone say The Thing From Another World?), Orga, a truly cool and different Godzilla foe. And, one of my personal favorites, Godzilla vs Destoroyah, the 1995 film that set the stage for the horrible, awful, detestable (so bad it fits perfectly with some of the worst Godzilla films) U.S. remake in 1998, Thunder-Iguana! That is what the folks at the Sci-Fi Channel would have called it if they made it for broadcast. Destoroyah is big, bad, shape-shifting, ass-kicking, man suit of pure fun! This film had it all from ESP, to disintegrating fish, to science used for weapons, to radiation and meltdowns! Awesome!Of all the Godzilla films, Godzilla vs Biollante is perhaps the least known because it took so long for it to appear in the states and received no hype of any kind. I remember finding it in 1989 in a Blockbuster video store or some such on VHS tape. They had one copy and I had to rent it. I loved it from the first second thanks to the cheesy American acting (many of the "actors" were actually US servicemen), to the whale call singing giant rose version of Biollante. But, when the "G cells" took over and Biollante became the badass tentacled lizard thing, I fell in love. What an awesome monster! Toho outdid themselves and never received the credit or money they should have for creating such a film! Every second was pure Big G bliss. I hope this new Blu-Ray release gives this film it's due presenting us with a near perfect version to sit back and enjoy on our big screen home theaters. We didn't get it on the big screen though I wish someone would do that for us. Who knows, maybe at a G-Fest or something?Anyway, my big five Godzilla busting badasses are (in no particular order):1. Hedorah2. Orga (please give us more of him)3. Biollante4. Destoroyah (all versions of this creature)/Godzilla's nuclear reactor heart. Godzilla's melting death scenes were some of the most intense ever filmed with great special effects and music. Awesome!5. King Ghidorah. Every version of this guy is cool and is the only one to make multiple appearances against Godzilla. I wish that just once he would win a battle and stomp on some Tokyo butt once and for all!I own at least one copy of every Godzilla film. Most of them are in the original Japanese and are Japanese edits. The Return of Godzilla (Godzilla 85) is so much better without the Americans added, but, if you like campy bad acting, then Raymond Burr (a great actor) and the other Americans make the US edited version perfect. Me? I love them both!Let's hope the good folks giving us Godzilla vs Biollante will give us a Return of Godzilla (both versions) soon.

There’s nothing to dislike about it

Finally, after years of waiting, Godzilla vs. Biollante is legally available in the United States on DVD. Miramax had previously released the film on VHS and LaserDisc in the 1990's, letterboxed as well, but those have since gone out of print. The print used here is the Japanese version, and the end credits are completely intact, just as they were for the international version released on VHS. Technically, Godzilla vs. Biollante is the only film in the Kaiju Heisei Era (1984 - 1999) to have the end credits intact for the home video release in America. Tristar and Sony truncated or cut the ending credits for the DVD and VHS releases of every film in the Heisei Era, including the Rebirth of Mothra films.Godzilla vs. Biollante has always been one of my favorite films, not just in the Godzilla franchise, but also, well, ever. It's one of the most creative entries, and the music score by Koichi Sugiyama rocks. The special effects are great and will convince any "rubber-suit" critic to give the franchise a second look, and the Godzilla suit itself (well, there were two ro three sutis total in the process of making the film) is still one of the most definitive designs for the Monster King ever conceived. The English dub, while serviceable, is definitely better than some of the later dubs for the Heisei films, and even many of the Millennium films. Previously, I had to use a bootlegg DVD that I bought at a SciFi convention in 2004 in order to watch the Japanese version, and the DVD has been acting up when the documentary starts playing (it was encoded and/ or formatted much like a VCD, although it still has chapters and subtitles, but no menus).This DVD, from Echo Bridge Entertainment, is great. The film is presented in anamorphic widescreen, and it's about on par with the Region 2 DVD from TOHO that was released years back in Japan (which the bootlegg of mine was made from), and since the source material that Echo Bridge used was also used for TOHO's own BluRay DVD, I'd say that this is the best the film will ever look, although I haven't watched the BluRay version yet. The documentary included here is almost fifty minutes in length, and while I had previously seen it on that bootlegg disc, only the main feature had subtitles, so I had no clue what was going on. Echo Bridge has thankfully provided subtitles for the documentary, as well as the other bonus feature, which is a short vignette showing various props and designs for Biollante and vehicles. Sad that no designs for Godzilla were included, but this was taken straight from TOHO's own BluRay release, so Echo Bridge didn't do any material cutting on their end. Again, this has subtitles to accompany it. Sadly, none of the trailers found on the TOHO DVD or BluRay have made their way over here, since the teaser trailer (all of the trailers were included on my 2004 bootlegg) that was first used to promote the film was very creepy and fiiting with the tone of the previous entry in the franchise: The Return of Godzilla (1984). The teaser even had colorized footage, much like Luigi Cozzi's Italian colorization of the original 1954 film. Also missing from this release is an audio commentary that was supposed to be done by Ed Godzisewski, but apparently that was still awaiting approval from TOHO, and will probably be included on future pressings of the disc.The film is presented in widescreen (hooray!) and is anamorphic for widescreen televisions. This may not seem all that important to most consumers, but up until a few years ago, many television sets used the 4:3 aspect ratio, and were very square in shape, and just as well, most companies released a lot of widescreen movies in "full screen," which was acheived by cropping or pan-and-scanning the frame so that it was square. This is also known as butchery, and Tristar's double feature DVD release of Godzilla vs. Mothra and Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah featured cropped aspect ratios for the main features, even though the theatrical trailers that they included were in Widescreen and Stereo! This brings me to another nice feature of the DVD, which is that there are three language tracks. The first two are Japanese, with one being in 2.0 stereo and the other in 5.1 Surround Sound. The third track is the English dub previously found on the VHS and LaserDisc releases of the International cut from Miramax. Sadly, the English dub is presented in 1.0 Mono sound, but it still sounds okay, despite only using one audio channel. Also included are some subtitle options. Similar to those found on some anime DVDs, one set of subtitles will provide English text to translate various signs and things with Japanese writing. Stick to this for the credits, both openign and ending. The other subtitles are interesting. The first subtitle set is basically the English dub in subtitle form. The second set is a brand new translation for this release. While it is a much more accurate and direct translation than the English dub or its sub, the problem that I have is that these subtitles are kind of awkward in how the sentences are structured at times. The subtitles for the documentary are actually easier to read than this new translation.If I had any complaints, aside from the lack of trailers and the whole not having an audio commentary, as well as the English dub being only in mono, I'd have to say that the cover art is absolutely atrocious. The previous VHS and LaserDisc releases from Miramax included a wonderful cover art that featured Godzilla standing in a lake with Biollante (rose form) towering over him as vines filled the background, and a small boat helped show Godzilla's size in the foreground. It was an awesome cover, and it was taken from one of the artistic Japanese posters for the film (all films from 1984 onwards had two poster types, with an art poster and a photo poster). Despite this, they could have used the other piece of cover art, which had Godzilla fighting Biollante (final form), found on most video releases: i.e. Godzilla's head almost being swallowed by his clone. This piece was found as the background for the DVD's back cover, so why on Earth would that not be used for the front cover? The front looks so amateurish that even the drawings by the children in Miki Saegusa's ESP class would have been better suited for the job. Biollante is supposed to tower over Godzilla, but here it looks like she's drowning and close to his size! Seriously, was this the best that you could do, Echo Bridge?! If it is, then I am very disappointed. Still, until the new pressing with the audio commentary comes out, supposedly with a "new cover," then this is the best DVD of the film that we'll get here in the States.

One of my top 5 Godzilla films. Amazing and very dark film that feels most in tone with the original (besides Minus One).

Hard to find movie that was priced right for an average godzilla movie.

gut

Great Godzilla movie

Another strangely eco friendly Godzilla film. I was expecting a moster mash, alas what I received was another stop Godzilla menace and a minor monster fight. However regardless of the lack of moster smashing the film is fun Godzilla film. However I might be biased as I enjoy all Godzilla films made by Toho.I have no issues with subtitles but sometimes you just want to watch and enjoy so it was a shame that the english audio track is in nono and compared to the 5.1 DTS original japanese audio track.This is a great entry into the Godzilla cannon a must see for Godzilla completists.

Después de haber tenido los derechos de esta película durante años, Miramax al fin se ha decidido y ha lanzado este Blu-Ray a través de la pequeña editora Echo Bridge. Es un disco de región libre que incluye la película en japonés/inglés y subtítulos opcionales en inglés. Buena calidad de imagen y sonido, aunque normalmente los másters HD de Toho no son demasiado espectaculares, en este caso el resultado es más que correcto. Los extras son dos documentales sacados directamente de la edición japonesa, pero con subtítulos añadidos en inglés: "Cómo se hizo Godzilla vs Biollante" (50 minutos) y "El diseño de Godzilla vs Biollante" (3 minutos).Muy recomendable.

この作品の感想を一言で表すと大人向けの映画です実際私も子供の時にこの映画を見ましたが、DVDで再び見るとこの映画の良さが分かります。　いえ、1984年以降の平成ゴジラ映画の中では最高の出来だと思いましたしかしながら大人向けというのも実際ゴジラVSビオランテ　というよりはゴジラVS人間、人間VS人間　に近いものです。大迫力の怪獣バトルを見れなく(実際戦いは非常に短く味気ない出来です)植物の怪獣である為、高温の熱戦を吐くゴジラとの戦いは見る前でもどうなるか分かります。また触手やビオランテなど気持ち悪い。ストーリー自体なんかは子供にとってはヒドくつまらない内容でしょうしかしこの映画を語る上で逃せない点が音楽。　作曲はすぎやまこういち氏子供が聞けばまず一言「ドラクエだ！」と言われるでしょうそれに加えいままでのゴジラの曲が好きな方に批判が強いのもうかがえますしかしながら実際重要なのはは「曲がドラクエに似てる」「今までのゴジラの曲とは違う！！」という点ではなく、すぎやま氏がいかにシーンにあった素晴らしい曲を出してるかということになります実際、アクションシーンやスーパーXIIとゴジラが対峙するシーンや海上での対決は音楽の力だけで今までのゴジラ映画とは全く違った印象を受けます。アクションから怪獣の対決まで音楽が違うだけでも今までゴジラとは全く違う出来となっています。重要なのは音楽だけでここまで変わるのか？　という点ですアクションからゴジラとビオランテの対決、スーパーXII特にゴジラとスーパーXIIの大阪での対面のシーンは音楽とシーン(爆発による演出)の素晴らしいシーンとなっていますこの映画の素晴らしい点は音楽やアクションシーンなどが「他のゴジラ映画とは違う部分」が強いからだと思っています。　ですから他のゴジラ映画よりも一際強く輝く点がありますまた、今は亡き峰岸徹さんの演技も非常に素晴らしくSSS9(サラビアのエージェント)はまさに冷徹な暗殺者でもありながらどこかぬけてる部分を出しており役者がここまでいい味を出している平成ゴジラ映画は他に見当たりません。アクションも楽しく、登場人物はかっこよく・・一人一人の役者さんが好きになるこういったゴジラ映画は他にも見当たらないので個人的にはとても好きなゴジラ映画です