"Godzilla: King of the Monsters!", while not as good as the original Japanese version, is still excellent. The new character, Steve Martin, is a very welcome addition in my mind: part of it is nostalgia, but I do also believe that Raymond Burr's performance is fantastic, and when considering the historical context, his addition was necessary to give the film an American perspective. Additionally, he is implemented so well that anyone watching the film without prior knowledge would just assume he filmed his scenes with the rest of the Japanese cast. The scenes where he is talking to the original cast look convincing, as are the backgrounds they had him acting in. Perhaps the best example of this is the scene where Godzilla destroys the building he is in; the effects in the new footage shot of Burr are fantastic and combined expertly with the footage of Godzilla. I always thought that they actually managed to shoot new footage with him and the original cast; that's how great it is. I've also always loved the new opening of the film as well, perhaps more then the original, as it immediately sets the tone, the narration by Steve is extremely well-written (as is all of his dialogue, including all of his narration), and having the majority of the film being told by Steve reminiscing everything that happened before the attack is a very interesting and creative choice. There are some scenes that are cut down as well and summarized by Steve through narration, which I also think works; it helps the pacing. The very dark, serious tone of the film still remains and is very effective, and so are most of the really great scenes. Godzilla's rampage is still awesome, especially with Steve's great narration. In fact, I feel like his narration makes it better, and the tension built when Godzilla approaches the electrical towers is also better done here. The film also retains the emotional impact; the scene where Ogata and Emiko convince Serizawa to use the oxygen destroyer and the ending are still extremely powerful. I also think it was a wise choice to have Emiko go tell Serizawa that she was going to marry Ogata herself, rather then only do it when some news guy wants to interview him and she happens to be there; in fact, the entire reporter subplot just feels pointless. Finally, I like the ending better as well, love those end credits. However, I will admit this re-edit does have it's faults; the original's message about nuclear weapons isn't there as much, though I do feel it does exist somewhat, more then people seem to think, as it is still explained that Godzilla was created by nuclear weapons. There are also some scenes cut from the Japanese version that helps the development of the Japanese characters, and (just a minor nitpick) there are no subtitles for whenever someone talks in Japanese, which is especially disappointing in the scene where the mother holds her children as she watches Godzilla attack; we hear the Japanese but there's no subtitles to translate it, and therefore, first-time viewers won't understand her extremely powerful dialogue. Another scene where this flaw is present is the scene where Emiko explains the oxygen destroyer to Steve and Ogata; it would've been much better to keep the original dialogue where she talks with Serizawa about the weapon rather then having the English dub actress voice over the conversation. Overall, though, I still really enjoy this version of the film. It does certainly have its merits, despite it's flaws; people are too harsh on it.
