Godzilla, King of the Monsters!

There's your problem, you have a random white guy stuck in there.

By placing a white man at the center of the film, this quasi-remake completely misunderstands the point of the original. This point by itself is bad enough but the act of inserting Burr requires reworking a lot of the narrative beats which makes the plot feel like a mess at times.

It sure didn't take long for Americans to start messing up this franchise. This is still a pretty fun campy monster romp in which Raymond Burr mumbles his way through the exposition while various scenes from the Japanese film play out (mainly the monster shots). It's entertaining enough but pointless, quite jarring and damn if it isn't selling the original cheap.

Watch as Raymond Burr narrates events from off screen, asks people to translate what was just said, and stands behind people, all while showing no emotion at all. As bad as the dubbing is, it might have been better if the entire thing was dubbed, and all the new scenes left out. Couldn't be any worse. Are people confusing this page with the one for the Japanese version?

Rubbish. Raymond Burr is cut and pasted into scenes that are watchable only thanks to being taken from a much better film. The original Godzilla footage is still fantastic, but the dubbing, trimming, and forced narration is excruciating. Hardcore Godzilla fans and camp lovers may find something of worth but why waste your time when the original is so masterful?

17 MINUTES from the original was cut for the insertion of Raymond Burr into the American Version (most of which is basically Burr asking "What did he say?"). It also adds a trashiness that the original Japanese version lacks (though the original has it's moments). The start of a pop culture phenomenon. Toe knee :-)

Virtually unwatchable. The Americans have butchered a genuine classic with stupid reshoots.

Raymond Burr's pipe is the hardest working prop in this. And yes, that includes the 100-kg rubber suit.

Having not yet seen the original Japanese version, this still feels like a slipshod hack-down of a potentially interesting disaster movie landmark. Insertion of Burr as narrator (and odd expositional excuse for some clumsy translating) is quite convincingly done for a 50s film, but why he is here at all is a bit of a puzzle - why not simply over-dub the existing footage and be done with it? Primitive effects work on the beast itself is reasonably convincing, given the era.

Steve Martin as Raymond Burr was fantastic.. No wait..

so it's pronounced HEELICOPTER. thanks Burr! ;)

I gave the Japanese version a much higher rating. This is still very watchable, but it's watered-down whereas the real one is 100 proof.

The original Japanese version is actually pretty good, the version with Raymond Burr is quite a bit less so.

The Japanese cut works, the American one not so much.

Steve is as dull as a ton of bricks, but Gojira is compelling enough to beat Hollywood expectations and the weird editing of the Japanese original makes for a fun mashup/remix. And we should all be thankful this existed and succeeded enough for an American audience.

Godzilla, O Monstro do Mar estreava há 65 anos nos EUA. Gojira é um filmaço, essa edição americana é um puta desrespeito com o original de 54. Tolo, absolutamente tolo. Box Obras-primas do Cinema Godzilla: Origens.

If I watched it purely on itself I would have rated it slightly higher, cause it passes the time okay. But having seen the original version and thereby knowing that every choice made in this American recut is the wrong one and decreases the impact and every good working part in this comes from the better original version I rated it lower.

The English dub is not quite as masterful as the original cut. The special effects are still terrific and the inclusion of Raymond Burr brings more credibility than it probably deserved. If nothing else, he was masterfully edited in and the changes still feel legit.

Oh boy, what a disaster this movie is. For those who don't know, this is the Americanized version of the brilliant original Japanese film Godzilla. Hollywood actor Raymond Burr is shoehorned in as the main character, even though all of his scenes involve him either simply narrating what's going on, or standing stone-faced in front of a white background as he observes the events. It's sad Hollywood felt the need to create this bastardized version of such a great film. This is merely a curiosity.

I haven't seen the original yet, so I can't speak too much in the way of comparison... But I'm not sure whether I find it admirable or outrageous that they spent so much effort inserting Raymond Burr as a new main character with all this new footage. If nothing else, I can say that his narration toward the end felt intrusive.

The 'Americanized' version of Godzilla; Godzilla:king of the monsters is a somber and dark 'creature feature that puts it above many of the other 50's monster movies with the exception of the 1954 Japanese original. The dubbing in the film was inconsistent at times and bad at others;Raymond Burr puts in a decent performance though the constant narration gets in the way at times. Worth checking out if you're a Godzilla fan or would like to start from the beginning.

A clever way to make a Japanese film palatable to American audiences, turning it into a documentary where Raymond Burr is just kind of hangin' around, explainin' stuff. The original is superior, especially since it doesn't have that incessant narration, and the seams often show but I can appreciate what they were trying to do.

Completely pointless butchering of the original. The Raymond Burr scenes are hilariously terrible.

Raymond Burr as the narrator/journalist adds a bit of framing to the Japanese version, but any benefits are undone by the notoriously awful voice dubbing. Like the original, it is flawed but still somewhat enjoyable.

Other monster movies of the era are laughably bad, this one is inexcusable. I thought that it's reputation would sway me at least a little bit, but it hasn't.

The quintessential post-nuclear fears made into a monster movie movie.

Ugh.

Modern audiences will undoubtedly be confused by the utter seriousness of this brooding black-and-white classic. Excellent Eiji Tsuburaya special effects, while the added American scenes with Burr cut into the original material work surprisingly well. Followed by endless sequels

Not too bad, really. It ties Godzilla's appearance to Hiroshima, which gives it some seriousness and resonance.

This butchered American release was far from the 9.5 I gave the original. Raymond Burr was never a great actor to begin with, always propped up by better actors(s) around him. Problem is there is no real supporting cast for him here, and it shows. Typical political recutting of Anti-American-weapons international films of the time period; watch Gojira, stay far away from this; they've cut out huge parts of the movie, changed the story, and shoved in Raymond Burr. Not worth the pain of watching.

Godzilla is a good example of a movie that gets so overwhelmed with nostalgia that people forget what a terrible movie it truly is. Godzilla is full of far more terrible post World War II nuclear fervor and long, poorly translated dialogue that should've been cut in favor of guys in rubber suits demolishing plastic buildings. The Raymond Burr scenes just feel insulting in their blatant pandering to American viewers. Godzilla may have a long lineage, but it's built on a shaky foundation.

Not a big fan of how they dubbed this one. I'll need to see the original, non-Americanized version since so much was apparently changed.

yay!

The americanized version, told from Ray Burr's POV is a neat little movie on it's own, too. Less character more action.

Tokyo gets flattened by Godzilla in the Americanized version of Gojira.

Passes the time.

alot more complex of a plot that I thought it would be