Apr 161966
 
two reels

A sailor steals a yacht, and with his hesitant companions, goes in search of his lost brother. A storm maroons them on an island where terrorists are making ingredients for nuclear bombs and a giant shrimp patrols the sea. Luckily, King Kong… I Mean Godzilla is napping on the island.

QUICK REVIEW: New franchise director Jun Fukuda took Godzilla’s slow walk from fearsome force of nature to juvenile protector and turned it into a sprint. Not that the fault was all his; he was given a film constructed with King Kong in mind, but when legal issues took the over-sized ape out of the running, Godzilla was shoehorned in with little rewriting (which explains the big lizard’s obsession with the hot island girl). Money was also a problem, since attendance at Godzilla features had been declining. Godzilla Verses the Sea Monster, and its follow up, Son of Godzilla, were south sea island pictures, allowing Toho to forgo building miniature cities to crush. The result is quite silly, but passable entertainment for daikaiju fans.