Godzilla 2000 (1999)Buy 'Godzilla 2000' On DVD From Amazon For $9.95
It would seem that Godzilla would actually have two enemies in the film. One the giant space monster Orga and the other an ex researcher turned wealthy investor, Mitsuo Katagiri, who will use all of his money and political pull to kill Godzilla. This whole situation backfires on Katagiri though. One of his rare finds ends up not being just a rock from space, but a spaceship that transforms itself into the monster Orga. Enter Yuji Shinoda and his daughter Io. Both are part of a vast research network that believes Godzilla should be studied not destroyed. Both are hired by a local photographer, Yuki Ichinose, who "just wants to get some pictures" of the monster. Shinoda's efforts bear fruit as his work isolates Godzilla's cells that automatically heel themselves. Basically the whole reason Godzilla can't be killed. Godzilla and Orga due battle. Orga is constantly mutating and eventually tries to turn into a Godzilla clone and consume him. Godzilla has a trick up his sleeve. In what may be the most awesome end to any kaiju battle Godzilla lets Orga start to swallow him whole before blowing him up from the inside out. In a very different ending to the film Godzilla locates his human tormentor Katagiri atop a nearby building and confronts him face to face. Godzilla then smashes the building ultimately eliminating both his rivals. Godzilla then lays out a fire beam in a 360 wasting everything in sight. Godzilla 2000 has a far different feel than prior kaiju films.
Tristar, a division of Sony Pictures, picked up Godzilla 2000 for theatrical distribution in North America. It would be the first Japanese Godzilla movie since Godzilla 1984 to be released in North American theatres. Mike Schlesinger, who supervised the North American release, said, "It [Godzilla 2000] was such a spectacular success in Japan, we decided it was worth taking a shot, maybe the time was right for Godzilla to come back to theaters." Sony spent approximately $1 million to re-edit and dub the movie, and an additional $10-12 million to market it.
Godzilla 2000 was changed somewhat in the process of Americanisation. The U.S. version of the film runs 99 minutes - 8 minutes shorter than the 107-minute Japanese version. Most of these were minor edits done to improve the pacing, and the sound effects and music were also improved and enhanced. The dubbing has a somewhat humorous, tongue-in-cheek tone to it, apparently in homage to Godzilla dubs of the 60s and 70s, with lines such as "Great Caesar's Ghost!", "Bite me!" and "these missiles will go through Godzilla like crap through a goose!". Some fans have criticised the American version of G2K for "camping up" what they perceive as a "serious" movie; it must be noted, however, that Toho and Takao Okawara approved all the changes to the film in advance, and various gags sprinkled throughout the story (such as people comically surviving Godzilla's rampage early in the film) make it evident that it wasn't meant to be taken too seriously.
Owen Glieberman, who gave the film a B grade in Entertainment Weekly, said:
"Make all the cheesy-giant-monster-movie jokes you want. At a matinee of Godzilla 2000, I listened as the audience cheered the Toho Pictures logo, and the movie stays true, with a kind of demented affection, to the atomic age pop that inspired those cheers. Once again, the image of a man in a rubbery, barnacle-skinned dinosaur suit stomping an insanely detailed miniature Tokyo lands on an imaginative fault line somewhere between tackiness and awe."
Stephen Hunter of the Washington Post was among the most negative reviewers:
"There are some indicators that Sony intended to release this literal monstrosity as a camp item. For one thing, when the Japanese actors--all trying very hard, no doubt--speak at around 340 mph (based on lip movements) the English soundtrack produces guttural utterances at about 7 mph. In other words, he's probably saying something like, "Sir, the space monster's genetic structure is changing owing to its absorption of Godzilla's rapid-regeneration DNA, which we have code-named 'G-1'!" which is translated, for our ears, as something like, "Sir, that monster is a crazy goofed-up idiot!" Somewhere around the 750th repetition, this irony-free deadpan loses its humorous content. Sony would have been better advised to hire some smart young American comics and let them riff into a mike for a soundtrack, after the fashion of Woody Allen's What's Up, Tiger Lily? of all those years back. Godzilla, go home."
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