*** King Kong Looks a Little Scaly.

The Toho company had an old King Kong script laying around, but they didn’t want to use it for Kong at the time. They still thought it was good, so they erased King Kong’s name and put in Godzilla. The result: Godzilla vs. The Sea Monster.

Somebody’s brother gets lost at sea. Two months later, that person, two of his friends, and a bank robber somehow get on a boat to search for him. They crash on an Island populated by a group of people bent on world domination through atomic weapons, called the Red Bamboo(although it is never said in the movie). They are protected from outsiders by a giant Lobster called Ebirah(they don’t say that either). They control it through a special juice made out of special berries that is being processed by captives from Infant Island. The castaways wake up Godzilla, who was sleeping in a nearby cave. Through Godzilla’s destruction, the breaking and entering abilities of the bank robber, and the help of Mothra, they save the Infant Island slaves. Godzilla beats up Ebira, tries to pick a fight with Mothra, and then jumps off the Island before it blows up.

It is quite obvious that they didn’t change the script much after the decision to put Godzilla in to replace King Kong. Godzilla exhibits some strange behaviors because of it(Rock throwing, not much atomic breath, goofy movement, looking at beautiful girls, being scared of an atomic exposion, and him picking his nose.). He also got the original format of having giant animals attack him(Giant octopus, giant condor, giant lobster.). Even though he acts like Kong, he still uses his atomic breath in the fight scenes. Although he doesn’t act like Godzilla at times, it makes Godzilla look more flexible and sometimes better looking. Speaking of looks, although it is the same suit as the last movie, somehow it wore out a bit. He looks a bit like the Cookie Monster from Seseme street. Despite the fact that it is basically a King Kong movie, it is still distinctively Godzilla.

Despite the fact that it is obviously a Japanese King Kong movie, it also is obvious why they didn’t want to give up this story. The plot is good and more in-depth than most movies. It runs on a non sci-fi format, which set Godzilla up for the next movie (Son of Godzilla). It also has some more mothra stuff in it, including a full grown Mothra. Despite the fact the plot and main concept were good, the title monster, Ebira, wasn’t. It’s just a big Lobster, nothing special. It fights pretty well, but not much of a challenge for Godzilla. This movie also seemed to set itself up for a sequal(Red Bamboo still around elsewhere, Ebira not killed[unless he died of starvation before his claws grew back or died in the explotion].), but a sequal never came, which shows something about the popularity of the movie. However, the special effects were once again, slitly better than the last. The fight scenes were so good that they were re-shown in "Godzilla’s Revenge". Despite it’s obvious problem of being King Kong in a lizard suit, it still was a good movie acording to me. It may not have traditional origins, but it still was a traditional Godzilla movie that was quite enjoyable.

Great human plot

Good special effects

Good King Kong movie

More Mothra

Surprisingly traditional

Strange Kongish behavor

Ebirah could be better

Not enough explanation(more on box cover than in movie)

The main characters are extremely lucky(survive crash, balloon luck, nick of time escape)

Cooookieeee!!!

Credits