Godzilla (1998)

If 1998’s Godzilla wasn’t titled Godzilla would it be better received? It’s more Jurassic Park than Godzilla. Sony was counting on its version of Godzilla to be a monster, pun intended, hit. It spent so much time keeping Godzilla’s look a secret and didn’t reveal it before the movie was released. Therein lies the problem. This Godzilla is a big iguana, not the force of nature monster we were used to from Japan. There’s also a third act that straight up rips off the raptors from Jurassic Park. It was one of the early $150 million budget movies, but it’s a “failure” because it only made $136 million. Toho, Godzilla’s owner, was so upset it brought Godzilla back for Godzilla 2000, which got an American theatrical release. And in 2004’s Godzilla: Final Wars, the real Godzilla quickly dispatches the American version. Which brings us back to our original question. Had this movie been called something else, maybe it would have been a hit. But, by calling it Godzilla, it has a different set of expectations. It’s actually not bad, it does have moments of fun. It is just not what you want from Godzilla. It had a nice life in the early days of DVD with a disc packed with features, the kind you don’t get today. If you want to watch a great Godzilla movie, go with Godzilla Minus Zero. If you want a big monster movie, and pretend its name is not Godzilla, you could still have a good time with this one.