Despite bad fan response, "Godzilla" (1998) was a fairly successful movie. It was successful enough for other companies to cash in on the theme and make their own versions. The biggest mirror image is "Yonggary" (1999). The original movie ("Yongary, Monster from the Deep") was made back in 1967, and this one is the re-make. Like "Godzilla", it features a CGI version that looks nothing like the original in a completely different plot. The only real connection is the name (which has another "g" for some reason). The people who made this wanted it to be a spectacular groundbreaking movie with worldwide appeal. So although it was made in South Korea (like the original), the actors and dialogue are in English. Although meant to appeal an American audience, they forgot that most Americans don't give a hoot about big fake-looking monsters and do give a hoot about good acting and a good plot. Because of this, they only got a video release in America (called "Reptilian"), and because they tried to hard to market it elsewhere, it didn't do well in Korea either.

Somewhere (probably southern California but it looks like Korea), excavations are being made to dig up a huge dinosaur skeleton. Despite mysterious accidents and warnings from an old paleontologist guy, the megalomaniac who runs the dig keeps it going until the remains are fully exposed. Turns out to have been a bad idea because the space aliens who put the guy there 200 million years ago re-animate it and Yonggary rises again under their control. Why the aliens want to take over the Earth was never explained, and nobody cares. The aliens teleport him to an open field, where he blows up some helicopters, and then teleport him to "The City" (the map shows it's in California but it looks more like Seoul, Korea, right down to the Korean signs). The big CGI guy destroys a bunch of model buildings and keeps ducking missiles, which destroy more. He gets teleported back to "The Field", fights some military guys with jetpacks, teleports back to "The City", and gets that diamond shaped thingy knocked off his forehead (the old paleontologist guy and the main female character figure it out). Well the aliens don't like not being in control, so they send Cyker (another CGI monster) to fight him. Yonggary obviously blows Cyker up, which sends the aliens running away. The world is saved, and so they send their hero to an island in the middle of nowhere.

This is a very over-ambitious movie here. The people who made it really wanted it to be a very good and successful movie. The problem of course is that they were so ambitious that they forgot to make sure the movie was good before slapping everything in. Since they decided to use American actors, and since they didn't have money to spend on good ones, the acting is obviously and painfully bad (especially on the opening sequence). The bad acting runs through a bad plot. The human side of the story is filled with a lot of stuff, but it's all forgettable filler. The junk with that one obsessed megalomaniac, the junk with the photographer that can't photograph dead bodies, the junk with the atomic bomb; all of that is junk. The first quarter of the movie is hard to watch due to sheer boredom, and there's not much reason to watch it either, due to the fact that the two main characters in that part don't show up again. The dialogue throughout the thing is also quite bad and seemingly improvised, although there is a few good quotes (such as: "This place is turning into a freaking prehistoric petting zoo!" and "What, you mother never gave you any attention while you were a tadpole? Eat this Deano!").

Since they didn't spend money on actors but did on special effects, one would think that they are good. Well, not really. Since there are a lot of them, the quality of an individual shot is usually quite bad. Well, for the CGI at least. There are a lot of good model buildings around, plenty of cool explosions, and some fairly good scenery too (for the most part). However, the computer effects are a bit lacking. The stuff with the spaceships is pretty good, except the fact that most video games have better graphics. The computer model for "Yonggary" is quite good, but you can barely see the thing. If you want an example of something I call the "Whitewash effect", here's the movie for you. They are blurry and lack detail and color, meaning that they are very fake and very cartoony. Cyker is even worse. Still, there are a lot of them, and it has a few good action sequences with them. The parts where "Yonggary" battles the jetpack guys is really cool. I'm actually quite surprised nobody has done that before. The main battle with Cyker is also cool, despite the stiffness and obviously CGI look of it. There is also a real neat sequence with a school bus.

The plot is complicated, boring, and full of holes. The acting stinks. Yonggary looks fake. Despite all that, it is still a fun and enjoyable movie. As long as you're willing to sit back and not nit-pick about the bad stuff and rather laugh at it, then it you might just have a good time. If you squint your eyes and pretend it's an action-packed cartoon, it's even better. The movie is very ambitious, which means that the people who made it really tried to make it good, and it shows. They may have been too ambitious for it to be highly successful to every category, but for a fan of fake looking pathetic giant monster films, it's pretty darn good.

I've seen worse plots
I've seen worse CGI effects
Non-CGI effects are really good
Lot's of neat quotes
Well, at least they tried to make a good movie.
Cool CGI monster battle and guys with jetpacks
Although it may not have universal appeal, I LIKE IT!
"Wow, that monster is trying to kill us!" "HURRAY!"

Bad acting
Overly-ambitious
So just where is "The City" anyways?
You're telling me that the blur in front of me is a monster?
Why couldn't the aliens just dig up Yonggary themselves?
Heard of GINO? This is YINO: Yonggary In Name Only!

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