King Kong vs. Godzilla

1963 "The Terrifying Battle Between The Mightiest Monsters of All Time!"
King Kong vs. Godzilla
5.7| 1h36m| NR| en| More Info
Released: 26 June 1963 Released
Producted By: TOHO
Country: United States of America
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website:
Synopsis

When an underhanded pharmaceutical company goes to a remote tropical island to steal King Kong for advertising purposes, they get more than they bargained for when the gigantic ape attacks an unsuspecting village and an enormous octopus.

... View More
Stream Online

The movie is currently not available onine

Director

Producted By

TOHO

Trailers & Images

Reviews

O2D How do Godzilla and King Kong ever run into each other? The answer is worse than the special effects in the this,the 3rd Godzilla movie. With clearly visible zippers and lots of continuity errors,this movie isn't half bad. The monsters get more screen time in this one and it features lots of ridiculous action.That combination makes this one of the best movies in this very long and boring series. If you watched all the Godzilla movies in order,this one would make you expect good things from the franchise. Then after watching several terrible movies with interchangeable plots,monsters and humans, you will be extremely disappointed at what is essentially a series of unwatchable poop starring a monster that died in the first one.
BA_Harrison A submarine crashes into an iceberg, freeing Godzilla from its frozen grip; meanwhile, over-sized ape King Kong is captured by a pharmaceutical company and shipped to Japan. When the radioactive lizard heads for Tokyo, smashing all in its path, some bright spark has the idea of using Kong to bring an end to the scaly beast's rampage. Cue even more destruction as the pair duke it out on Mount Fuji.King Kong vs. Godzilla is far from what I would call a great film (quelle surprise), with a preposterous storyline, dreadful performances, and woeful special effects (crappy men-in-suit monsters and lots of miniature model-work, none of which is very convincing). It does, however, mark the only time to date that cinema's mightiest ape and its greatest mutated lizard have gone head to head, which makes it a must for monster movies fans, no matter how manky the creature suits are.In addition its legendary monster smack-down (which includes the unforgettable sight of Godzilla getting a tree shoved down his throat), this silly Japanese/US co-production also offers plenty of (unintentional?) laughs, including Japanese extras blacked up to play natives (who perform a prolonged dance routine to pad out the running time), Kong getting sloshed on berry juice, a giant octopus latching itself onto Kong's head, and the great ape taking a hot air balloon flight.
gizmomogwai King Kong and Godzilla! Too legendary movie monsters- but which one would win in a fight? That's a question long asked, so having the two monsters in one film and pitting them against each other makes King Kong vs. Godzilla a definite curiosity.King Kong (1933) and Godzilla (1954) are both great films. King Kong vs. Godzilla isn't as great- part of this relates to the too-goofy-for-its-own-good English dub. When a Japanese explorer repeatedly wails about his corns ("My corns always hurt when there's a monster nearby!") you just want to hurl something at the screen. I read here on IMDb that a lot of the goofiness only appears in the English dub, that's not what they're saying in Japanese. Given how thoroughly the original Godzilla was mangled as Godzilla, King of the Monsters! (1956), I am totally not surprised.Nevertheless, when you have those scenes without dialogue- the much-anticipated action scenes you expect with both King Kong and Godzilla films- this movie doesn't disappoint. Sure, some of it is a little repetitive- guess what, they're attacking trains again, and Godzilla can still walk through electrical wires without being hurt. And, considering special effects, this isn't the most impressive Kong we've seen, and neither the ape nor lizard benefit from colour, though they're both passable. But the fight scenes are actually kind of thrilling. The ending is ambiguous- only Kong is seen emerging from the waters when both monsters fall in. That may be the best way to end the movie- even if King Kong vs. Godzilla is a Japanese production, Kong is so legendary, and Godzilla so indebted to the original King Kong, that Godzilla triumphing over the ape simply wouldn't do. At the same time, there's no reason to be sure Godzilla is dead. We'll call it a draw- which is fair enough.
DarthVoorhees It's hard to hate too much on a movie like 'King Kong vs. Godzilla'. It is extraordinarily goofy and the uneasiness adapting the film to American audiences is plain to be seen. When it exploits the title characters and we get to see the monsters delivering the goods than I say it works in a very Ed Wood kind of fashion. I think one would be surprised going into 'King Kong vs. Godzilla' when they find out that the monsters are not exploited at all. In fact I would say that they are only really in the film for about a third of the whole movie. Well, when one goes into a film called 'King Kong vs. Godzilla' and doesn't see the monsters than well...The film does a lot to build up the supposed "story". A pharmaceutical company wants to capture Kong to advertise a new line of berries found on Skull Island. We get to meet the company's comical C.E.O and his goofy underlings who provide some humor that I don't think is fully compatible with American audiences. Godzilla comes and then we spend a great deal of time talking about how the military intends to stop him. I'm sorry but this stuff is so boring. I found every scene without the monsters to be an almost chore to sit through. I suppose the material with the C.E.O and Skull Island was a little easier to stomach but not by much really. I wanted monsters. How many times do we have to listen to the military dissect how they intend to kill Godzilla? Every film has these moments and it never changes. Godzilla if we haven't learned by now simply crushes whatever they throw at him and so these moments are pointless narratively and do nothing but add filler to the script. Give me monsters!This film also is interesting in that a conscious effort was made to make it palatable to American audiences. There are extra scenes sprinkled in with actor Eric Carter(who surprise surprise never did anything but this for the most part) as a UN newscaster. These scenes look like they were filmed in the break room at Universal. Everything about the American footage is pathetic and amateurish. It's embarrassing to watch because at least the Japanese footage has momentum to it. Whenever we cut to the American stuff the film grinds to a screeching halt. The film has bad enough pacing problems on it's own, it doesn't' need the help of the Yanks. They choose the worst possible places to insert the footage too. We often get it right after a monster scene, the last place it is wanted.What does work? The Monsters. The problem? They are not on the screen nearly enough and we miss their presence when they aren't. Don't get me wrong these aren't expert portrayals of monsters with character and soul. These are men in fake rubber suits but they are endearing and fun. When Kong and Godzilla duke it out it is magic.