Godzilla Heisei Speed Art and Film Ranking (Baby Godzilla)
So about two weeks ago I put out a video Ranking the Godzilla Showa series, so I think it's time to rank the Heisei era, aka the 1984 to 1995 Godzilla films. Personally I think it's the most consistent time-line for Godzilla and I like basically all of these movies, but which ones are the best, let's get to the rankings and find out! Now remember this is just my opinion, I'd love to hear what you guys have to say down below with your own ranking or top 3 of the Heisei era, apparently my ranking of some of the Showa films was a little controversial, but I can only speak for myself, so I'd love see your guys opinions below, I'm not afraid to ruffle some feathers, so with that said lets go from worst to first and rank these puppies! There will be some spoilers ahead, you've been warned!
Coming in at number 7 is Godzilla Vs. King Ghidorah. Now I know a lot of people like this movie, it seems to be a fan favourite for some, and while I think the scenes featuring Godzilla and Ghidorah are fun, the story itself is bogged down by the outlandish time-travel plot and the obvious influences of American media at the time, namely Jurassic Park and Terminator. The human characters seem at their most cartoon-ish and lack the sincerity of the first few films in the Heisei Era, and the twist ending where the time-travelling female character, I forget her name, is related to the main character feels pretty tacked on with only a one sentence explanation. But that doesn't mean I dislike this movie, like I said before the Heisei Era is my favourite for the Big G, so even the weakest film for me is still pretty entertaining.
Okay and sliding in at number 6 is Godzilla Vs. SpaceGodzilla. Now I really wanted to love this movie because I absolutely love the design of SpaceGodzilla, he's one of my favourite Kaijus, but this film seems to be the most clunky, both in the execution of SpaceGodzilla's motivations and the human storyline. While it can sometimes be fun, it feels a little contrived. I also don't fully understand why they didn't just use MechaGodzilla again, MOGUERA seems like a pretty pale placeholder, but like the previous film, what makes this fun is the battles and the destruction, and I think Godzilla fighting SpaceGodzilla looks amazing. While Little Godzilla's design in this film looks the worst he'll ever look, both the original G and SpaceG look great. So all in all not an amazing entry for the series, but I think the battles elevate it to not be at the bottom of my list.
And getting into the top 5 is going to have to be Godzilla Vs. Mothra. Now this is overall a really fun entry, but what holds it back for me is it feels like the biggest retread in the Heisei era, as the plot is basically the same as the original Mothra Vs. Godzilla, but Battra is added to spice-things up. It also, like Godzilla Vs. King Ghidorah, wears it's influences on it's sleeve, namely a real Indiana Jones feeling opening, but I feel like the human characters are handled with a bit more grace here, even though the romantic relationship feels a little surface level, it never takes me out of the movie, and gives me something to root for with the humans. Now there isn't as much Godzilla in this movie as the other films, as it was originally written to be a Mothra solo story, but when he shows up the battles between the three Kaijus look great. So all in all I have fun with this entry, I just wish they didn't repeat so much for the Showa film.
And speaking about films that repeat from the Showa series, we have a direct sequel in name only at number 4: Godzilla Vs. MechaGodzilla 2. Now this is a very solid entry in the Godzilla franchise. I think the monster battles are at their best in the Heisei era and the suits for both MechaGodzilla and Godzilla look great. I also like how they coordinate their attack on Godzilla to take him down. The un-radiated Baby Godzilla storyline is also a nice touch to the series and the suit-mation for him and his relationship with the human's is actually a highlight of the film. I also like how Godzilla is treated with a serious tone in this entry and his short-lived death allows a victory for the humans, but of course he gets up like a minute later so the victyory is short-lived. The goodbye scene between Baby Godzilla and the humans is also one of my favourite of the series. So all in all this is a very solid entry in the series.
So now we come to the coveted top 3 spots, I had a hard-time deciding who would go where with these films especially, because the next three entries I consider to be top-tier not just for the Heisei era but for Godzilla in general, but for number 3 I'm gonna have to go with 1984's The Return of Godzilla. This is a hard reboot of the franchise, ignoring all the sequels and picking up 30 years after the first with a new Godzilla, or maybe it's the same Godzilla in this film, the dialogue seems to contradict itself in this movie when compared to some of the other entries, but none the less Godzilla's return was epic on all scales. The suit-mation and special effects drastically improved and the slow reintroduction of Godzilla builds suspense for the character again. I also think the solution the human's find to trap Godzilla in the final is clever. I don't know maybe I'm alone, but the shot of him falling into the Volcano is pretty heart-wrenching, even though he's the bad-guy in this film, they're able to make him more like a sympathetic predator. The only weak part for me is the human story-line doesn't quite match the 54' film, but it's suitable for this original Godzilla reboot's story.
Okay I'm sure you guys are licking your lips and wondering what's gonna be number 2, well you won't have to wonder for long because coming in second place is Godzilla Vs. Destoroyah. This was pretty close to hitting number one, not only does it have some of the best fight scenes, the best version of Godzilla Junior, a great evolving Kaiju for Godzilla to fight that directly relates to what killed the original Godzilla, but it's also able to wrap up this Godzilla's storyline in the Heisei era with grace. The burning Godzilla look in this film is also amazing and adds a serious threat for the humans to overcome, so while Godzilla is a destructive force in this film he's not viewed as a full-on bad-guy, which usually would bother me, but Destoroyah makes up for it by being possibly the best Kaiju he faces in the Heisei series and possibly in the whole series, we also feel the emotions between Godzilla and his son, which adds a lot of sympathy to the kaiju storyline this time out. So all in all the final Heisei film is one of the best.
So what could be better than the final entry one, well it's the first of the Heisei Vs films, Godzilla Vs. Biollante. We again have a Kaiju in Biollante that evolves during the film, a musical score that is one of the best in the series, a new look for Godzilla that was so good that it's basic design would be used in the subsequent films, and interesting themes of eco-biotechnology and humans interfering purposefully with nature, since Biollante is created with Godzilla's cells, other plant structure and human DNA. We also get Miki's first appearence in the series, a human character that would continue to appear throughout the series, as her Psychic powers come in handy quite frequently it seems. The human subplot involves Eco-terrorists and assassination attempts that make the story engaging when the monsters aren't on screen, and the battle between Biollante and Godzilla near the end manages to be both a great send off to the Kaiju's and the human storyline. Now this may not be the most action-packed entry of the era, but I think it's the most consistent from start to finish and manages to make me connect the best with both the humans and the Kaiju during this era of Godzilla films.
So what did you guys think of my rankings? Do you agree or do you have your own opinions about the franchise. Feel free to leave your thoughts down below. And before I sign off I want to thank The Gaming Toast and Adrian for joining the Patreon, as well as all my other supporters. I just did a vote on the Patreon for the next Horror-related character so stay tuned on the main channel for that video coming soon, I'm just beginning the research phase for that video, and if you check out that channel now there may be a bonus video that a lot of your guys were asking for so give that a look at Tell It Animated. And until next time: keep on keeping on!