is a 1999 Japanese
''kaiju'' film directed by
Takao Okawara
is a Japanese film director, writer, and producer.
Biography
Most famous for his entries in the Heisei ''Godzilla'' series, Takao Okawara joined Toho, Tōhō in 1973, but would not get his first shot in the director's chair until 1980, when he ...
, written by Hiroshi Kashiwabara and Wataru Mimura, produced by
Shogo Tomiyama
Shogo, Shōgo, Shohgo or Shougo (written: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , or ) is a masculine Japanese given name. Notable people with the name include:
*, Japanese baseball player
*, Japanese professional baseball player
*, Japanese politician
* ...
and starring Takehiro Murata,
Hiroshi Abe,
Naomi Nishida
is an actress. She won the Best Supporting Actress award at the 2001 Yokohama Film Festival and at the 25th Hochi Film Award for her performance in ''Nabbie's Love''.
Personal life
She married a Japanese shoe designer in 2005, and gave birth to ...
, Mayu Suzuki and Shiro Sano. Produced and distributed by
Toho Studios
is a Japanese film production company that is a subsidiary of Toho Co., Ltd. Founded in November 8, 1971 as , the company originally served as a spin-off of Toho's original production department, and produced over 160 films. In December 2020, ...
, it is the 24th film in the
''Godzilla'' franchise, as well as the first film in the franchise's
Millennium period. The film was also the 23rd ''Godzilla'' film to be produced by Toho, and was Toho's second
reboot
In computing, rebooting is the process by which a running computer system is restarted, either intentionally or unintentionally. Reboots can be either a cold reboot (alternatively known as a hard reboot) in which the power to the system is physi ...
of the ''Godzilla'' franchise after the 1984 film ''
The Return of Godzilla
is a 1984 Japanese ''kaiju'' film directed by Koji Hashimoto, with special effects by Teruyoshi Nakano. The film features the fictional monster character Godzilla. Distributed by Toho and produced under their subsidiary Toho Pictures, it is th ...
''. The film, along with the subsequent ''Godzilla'' films in the franchise's Millennium era, ignores continuity established by any previous films with the sole exception of
the original 1954 film.
''Godzilla 2000'' was released in Japan on December 11, 1999 and in North America on August 18, 2000, by
TriStar Pictures
TriStar Pictures, Inc. (spelled as Tri-Star until 1991) is an American film studio and production company that is a member of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group, part of the multinational conglomerate Sony. It is a corporate sibling of Sony ...
. It received mixed reviews from critics and performed below TriStar's expectations, grossing just over $10 million at the North American box office. It was the last film in the franchise to receive a North American theatrical release until ''
Shin Godzilla
is a 2016 Japanese ''kaiju'' film directed by Hideaki Anno and Shinji Higuchi, with a screenplay by Anno and visual effects by Higuchi. Produced by Toho Pictures and Cine Bazar and distributed by Toho Co., Ltd., it is the 31st film in the '' ...
'' in 2016. In Japan, the film was followed by ''
Godzilla vs. Megaguirus
is a 2000 Japanese ''kaiju'' film directed by Masaaki Tezuka, written by Hiroshi Kashiwabara and Wataru Mimura, produced by Shogo Tomiyama, and starring Misato Tanaka, Shōsuke Tanihara, Yuriko Hoshi, Masatoh Eve, and Toshiyuki Nagashima. Prod ...
'', which was released on December 16, 2000.
Plot
Godzilla
is a fictional monster, or '' kaiju'', originating from a series of Japanese films. The character first appeared in the 1954 film ''Godzilla'' and became a worldwide pop culture icon, appearing in various media, including 32 films produc ...
is a literal force of nature to
Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
. The Godzilla Prediction Network (GPN) functions independently to study the monster and predict its landfalls. Meanwhile, the scientists of Crisis Control Intelligence (CCI) find a sixty-million-year-old unidentified flying object (UFO) deep in the
Japan Trench
The Japan Trench is an oceanic trench part of the Pacific Ring of Fire off northeast Japan. It extends from the Kuril Islands to the northern end of the Izu Islands, and is at its deepest. It links the Kuril–Kamchatka Trench to the north and t ...
. As CCI attempts to raise the UFO to study it, it takes off into the sky on its own. Godzilla arrives in a village and then battles the
Japan Self Defense Forces
The Japan Self-Defense Forces ( ja, 自衛隊, Jieitai; abbreviated JSDF), also informally known as the Japanese Armed Forces, are the unified ''de facto''Since Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution outlaws the formation of armed forces, t ...
, now equipped with powerful Full Metal Missiles, but the UFO appears, searching for genetic information that only Godzilla possesses. It fights Godzilla, driving the monster underwater, and then lands to replenish its solar power.
Yuji Shinoda, the founder of the GPN, discovers the secret to Godzilla's regenerative properties (named Organizer G1 in the Japanese version, but Regenerator G1 in the North American release), but so has the UFO. It frees itself from the JSDF's attempts to contain it, and heads for
Shinjuku
is a special ward in Tokyo, Japan. It is a major commercial and administrative centre, housing the northern half of the busiest railway station in the world (Shinjuku Station) and the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building, the administration ...
. After landing atop
Tokyo Opera City Tower
is a skyscraper located in Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan. Completed in 1996, it stands 234 metres (768 feet) high and has 54 floors. The tower is the third-tallest building in Shinjuku, Tokyo and seventh-tallest in Tokyo. The closest train statio ...
, it begins to drain all the files about Godzilla from Tokyo's master computers. As it begins to
alter the oxygen content of the surrounding atmosphere, CCI attempts to destroy the UFO using explosive charges, but Shinoda, attempting to find out more about the aliens, is nearly caught in the blast. He survives, and joins his peers on a nearby rooftop, watching the UFO. Almost in response, the UFO broadcasts its message of invasion and creating a new empire on Earth, and Shinoda reveals that the aliens are after the regenerative properties contained inside Godzilla's DNA so that they may use it to re-form their bodies.
Godzilla arrives and again battles the UFO. However, Godzilla is subdued by the UFO's assault, and the UFO absorbs some of Godzilla's DNA, which the aliens use to reform themselves outside the space ship as the gigantic Millennian. However, the Millennian is unable to control Godzilla's genetic information in the DNA and mutates into a horrible monster named Orga. Godzilla recovers and brings down the UFO before fighting Orga, but Orga, having absorbed the regenerative properties of Godzilla's DNA, is highly resistant to injury. Orga retaliates and extracts more of Godzilla's DNA in order to become a perfect clone. Godzilla breaks free and sets Orga ablaze with its atomic breath attack, but Orga re-emerges and attempts to swallow Godzilla whole. As Orga begins to transform, Godzilla charges a nuclear pulse and unleashes it, vaporizing Orga's entire upper body and killing it. Mitsuo Katagiri, head of CCI, dies when Godzilla partially destroys the roof of the building where he, Shinoda and the authorities were observing the battle. Those remaining on the roof reminisce on how Godzilla was wrought by human ambition, prompting Shinoda to suggest that "Godzilla exists in us”, as Godzilla begins rampaging through Tokyo.
Cast
* Takehiro Murata as Yuji Shinoda
*
Naomi Nishida
is an actress. She won the Best Supporting Actress award at the 2001 Yokohama Film Festival and at the 25th Hochi Film Award for her performance in ''Nabbie's Love''.
Personal life
She married a Japanese shoe designer in 2005, and gave birth to ...
as Yuki Ichinose
*
Hiroshi Abe as Mitsuo Katagiri
*
Shirō Sano
is a Japanese actor.
Career
Born in Yamanashi Prefecture, Sano lived in Tokyo and Matsue, Shimane as a child, before returning to Tokyo to enter art school. He joined several theatrical troupes, including Jurō Kara's Jōkyō Gekijō. He had h ...
as Shiro Miyasaka
* Mayu Suzuki as Io Shinoda
*
Tsutomu Kitagawa
is a Japanese actor and stuntman who is mostly known for playing Godzilla for the "Millennium" (or "Shinsei") series. He also played King Ghidorah for ''Rebirth of Mothra III''. He also played the costumed actor for the Blue (and occasionally, ...
as
Godzilla
is a fictional monster, or '' kaiju'', originating from a series of Japanese films. The character first appeared in the 1954 film ''Godzilla'' and became a worldwide pop culture icon, appearing in various media, including 32 films produc ...
* Makoto Ito as Orga
;
Tristar English dub cast
*
François Chau
François Chau (born October 26, 1959) is a Cambodian American actor. He is known for his roles as Dr. Pierre Chang in ABC's ''Lost'', Quick Kick on '' G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero'', Dr. Chang in the film '' 21 & Over'', The Shredder in '' Te ...
as Yuji Shinoda
* Denise Iketani as Yuki Ichinose
* Jack Ong as Shiro Miyasaka
*
Ron Yuan
Ronald Winston Yuan is an American actor, martial artist, director, and stunt choreographer. He is best known for his roles on '' Sons of Anarchy'', '' Prison Break'', '' Golden Boy'', and '' CSI: NY''. He has acted in numerous films, including a ...
as Mitsuo Katagiri
* Rachel Crane as Io Shinoda
;Dubbing staff
*Dubbing Director: Mike Schlesinger
*Dubbing Studio:
TriStar Pictures
TriStar Pictures, Inc. (spelled as Tri-Star until 1991) is an American film studio and production company that is a member of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group, part of the multinational conglomerate Sony. It is a corporate sibling of Sony ...
/
Sony Pictures Entertainment
Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Sony Pictures or SPE, and formerly known as Columbia Pictures Entertainment, Inc.) is an American diversified multinational mass media and entertainment studio conglomerate that produces, ac ...
Production
Due to high demand from fans to revive the Toho Godzilla, development began on a new Toho production two months after the release of
TriStar's ''Godzilla''. Executive producer Shogo Tomiyama hired Hiroshi Kashiwabara (writer of ''
Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla'') and
Wataru Mimura (writer of ''
Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II'') to write the script, stating, "If we wanted to make a new kind of Godzilla, we needed several different views. That's why I chose both Mr Kashiwabara and Mr Mimura. One producer, two screenwriters, three viewpoints."
Kashiwabara felt that they had to go back to Godzilla's roots and reexamine what made him unique.
Regarding Godzilla's design, director Takao Okawara wanted to make "something new" and noted that Godzilla's height has changed over the years, stating, "I felt that that distance between human beings and Godzilla was too much, so we reduced its height back to something closer to the original at approximately 170 feet."
The basic design of the suit was modelled heavily after the KingGoji suit from 1962's ''
King Kong vs. Godzilla
is a 1962 Japanese ''kaiju'' film directed by Ishirō Honda, with special effects by Eiji Tsuburaya. Produced and distributed by Toho Co., Ltd, it is the third film in both the ''Godzilla'' and ''King Kong'' franchises, as well as the first T ...
''.
''Godzilla 2000'' was produced on a budget of approximately $8,300,000.
[Godzilla 2000: Millennium - Box Office Report](_blank)
Toho Kingdom Kenji Suzuki, who had worked as an assistant director on previous ''Godzilla'' movies, supervised the special effects. Miniature effects work was not emphasized as strongly as it had been in preceding installments. Instead, compositing techniques such as
chroma key
Chroma key compositing, or chroma keying, is a visual-effects and post-production technique for compositing (layering) two images or video streams together based on colour hues ( chroma range). The technique has been used in many fields to ...
were heavily utilized to integrate the suitmation Godzilla footage into shots of real-life locations. The film also contains the first fully computer-generated shot of Godzilla realized in a Japanese production (previous films only used CGI to visualize graphical display representations of Godzilla or to blend computer effects work with a live-action shot).
English versions
There were two English dubbed versions of this film. As is standard practice for Toho, the film was originally dubbed in Hong Kong for use in Toho's international version. For Sony's theatrical release, the film was entirely re-dubbed by Asian-American voice actors (ADR director Mike Schlesinger deliberately made this choice because he did not want the characters to sound like they were "from Wisconsin."). Only one line from the international version ("As long as the beer's cold, who cares?") was used in the re-dubbed North American version. Several Indian versions use the English pictorial elements of the international version, however.
Sony's
TriStar Pictures
TriStar Pictures, Inc. (spelled as Tri-Star until 1991) is an American film studio and production company that is a member of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group, part of the multinational conglomerate Sony. It is a corporate sibling of Sony ...
licensed ''Godzilla 2000'' for theatrical distribution in North America. Sony spent approximately $300,000 to acquire the film, around $1 million to re-edit and dub the movie in English, and under $10 million on prints and advertising.
For doing so, Tristar hoped that the film would gross no worse than $12–15 million in North American theaters.
Alterations
The English dubbed version of the film runs 99 minutes - 8 minutes shorter in comparison to the 107-minute Japanese version. Most of these were minor edits done to hasten the pacing, and the sound design of the movie was completely re-worked, which included replacing the monster Orga's roar (which recycled Cretaceous King Ghidorah's from ''
Rebirth of Mothra III
is a 1998 Japanese Kaiju, ''kaiju'' film directed by Okihiro Yoneda, written by Masumi Suetani, and produced by Shōgo Tomiyama. Produced and distributed by Toho, Toho Studios, it is the final film in the ''Rebirth of Mothra'' trilogy, following ...
'') with a more menacing one and supplementing Godzilla's roars and growls with those from
the 1998 film.
J. Peter Robinson
John Peter Robinson (born 16 September 1945) is an English composer, musician, and arranger known for his film and television scores.
Early years and pop music career
He studied piano and composition at the Royal Academy of Music and enjoy ...
composed some new music meant to supplement
Takayuki Hattori
is a Japanese film, television, video game and non-soundtrack music composer, arranger and conductor. He is the son of the composer Katsuhisa Hattori and grandson of composer Ryoichi Hattori. He has won three Japan Academy Prize awards in the ...
's music. The dubbing has a somewhat humorous, tongue-in-cheek tone to it, apparently in homage to ''Godzilla'' dubs of the 60s and 70s, with lines such as "Great Caesar's Ghost!", "Bite me!" and "I guarantee it'll
ull Metal Missilesgo through Godzilla like crap through a goose!". Dialogue was also reworked in places to change or jettison certain expository details. Some fans have criticized the English dubbed version of ''Godzilla 2000'' for camping up what they perceive as a "serious" movie; however, Toho and Takao Okawara approved all the changes to the film in advance, and various amusing sequences throughout the story (such as people comically surviving Godzilla's rampage early in the film) establish a light-hearted tone and make it evident that it was not meant to be taken seriously. In an interview in ''
Video Watchdog
''Video Watchdog'' was a bimonthly, digest size film magazine published from 1990 to 2017 by publisher/editor Tim Lucas and his wife, art director and co-publisher Donna Lucas.
Although devoted chiefly to the horror, science fiction, and fantas ...
'' #71, Schlesinger noted that people in real life tend to speak humorously; he also felt that giving audiences some intentionally funny dialogue would make them less inclined to laugh at the monster scenes, which were supposed to be taken seriously. Originally, the film ended with the words "The End?" in cartoonish lettering, but Mike Schlesinger and Toho rejected that. "The End?" was removed from home video and television releases, though it was retained for the Spanish-subtitled VHS of the film.
Release
Box office
It opened in Japan on December 11, 1999, and grossed
(roughly $15 million) during its box office run, with approximately 2 million admissions.
Tristar Pictures released ''Godzilla 2000'' in 2,111 North American theaters on August 18, 2000. Tristar hoped that the film would gross no worse than $12–15 million in North American theaters,
but the film eventually only grossed $10 million in North American theaters.
[Godzilla 2000](_blank)
Box Office Mojo
Critical reception
The North American release of ''Godzilla 2000'' was met with mixed critical response. The
review aggregator
A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
reported that 57% of critics have given the film a positive review based on 69 reviews, with an average rating of 5.68/10. The site's critics consensus reads, "''Godzilla 2000'' is cheesy, laughable, and good entertaining fun." On
Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...
, the film has a weighted average score of 41 out of 100 based on 23 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by
CinemaScore
CinemaScore is a market research firm based in Las Vegas. It surveys film audiences to rate their viewing experiences with letter grades, reports the results, and forecasts box office receipts based on the data.
Background
Ed Mintz founded Ci ...
gave the film an average grade of "B−" on an A+ to F scale.
Bruce Westbrook of the ''
Houston Chronicle
The ''Houston Chronicle'' is the largest daily newspaper in Houston, Texas, United States. , it is the third-largest newspaper by Sunday circulation in the United States, behind only ''The New York Times'' and the ''Los Angeles Times''. With it ...
'' said the film "taps into a now-rare and innocent sense of wonder," and that "its action scenes are well-conceived," summarizing it as "a lovably amusing foray into vapid plotting, bad dubbing and men in rubber suits trashing miniature sets."
Owen Gleiberman
Owen Gleiberman (born February 24, 1959) is an American film critic who has been chief film critic for ''Variety'' magazine since May 2016, a title he shares with . Previously, Gleiberman wrote for ''Entertainment Weekly'' from 1990 until 2014. ...
of ''
Entertainment Weekly
''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular cul ...
'' gave the film a "B" grade, saying that ''Godzilla 2000'' "lands on an imaginative fault line somewhere between tackiness and awe." Jay Carr of ''
The Boston Globe
''The Boston Globe'' is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes, and has a total circulation of close to 300,000 print and digital subscribers. ''The Boston Glob ...
'' called ''Godzilla 2000'' "a ton of fun, and then some." Lou Lumenick of the ''
New York Post
The ''New York Post'' (''NY Post'') is a conservative daily tabloid newspaper published in New York City. The ''Post'' also operates NYPost.com, the celebrity gossip site PageSix.com, and the entertainment site Decider.com.
It was established ...
'' said "it's great to have the big guy back."
James Berardinelli
James Berardinelli (born September 25, 1967) is an American film critic and former engineer. His reviews are mainly published on his blog ''ReelViews.'' Approved as a critic by the aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, he has published two collections of r ...
of ReelViews said the film "uses the Godzilla formula effectively" and "represents solid, campy, escapist entertainment."
Maitland McDonagh
Maitland McDonagh () is an American film critic and the author of several books about cinema.
She is the author of ''Broken Mirrors/Broken Minds: The Dark Dreams of Dario Argento'' (1991) and works of erotic fiction and erotic cinema, as well a ...
of ''
TV Guide
TV Guide is an American digital media company that provides television program
Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or t ...
'' praised the film, saying that "fans won't want to miss this addition to the canon."
Susan Wloszczyna of
USA Today
''USA Today'' (stylized in all uppercase) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth on September 15, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headquarters in Tysons, Virgini ...
said ''Godzilla 2000'' "may be dull, but the familiarity of it all makes it feel ceremonial, a reassuring ritual."
David Edelstein
David Edelstein (born 1959) is a freelance American film critic who has been the principal film critic for ''Slate'' and ''New York'' magazine, among others, and has appeared regularly on NPR's ''Fresh Air'' and ''CBS Sunday Morning'' programs. O ...
of
Slate
Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade regional metamorphism. It is the finest grained foliated metamorphic rock. ...
said that he "periodically tranced out," but added that "it's fun to see" and "it still manages to dispel some of the lingering stink of
Roland Emmerich's 1998 remake." Stephen Holden of ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' wasn't impressed, saying that "only a die-hard fan of the long-running Japanese Godzilla series could love ''Godzilla 2000''." Similarly, Stephen Hunter of ''
The Washington Post
''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...
'' remarked, "Godzilla, go home."
Among
kaiju
is a Japanese media genre that focuses on stories involving giant monsters. The word ''kaiju'' can also refer to the giant monsters themselves, which are usually depicted attacking major cities and battling either the military or other monster ...
-related websites, Stomp Tokyo said "there are some pretty impressive special effects," and concluded that "''Godzilla 2000'' delivers fairly well, if not spectacularly." Toho Kingdom criticized the Japanese version, saying "it’s not hard to see why ''Godzilla 2000'' was poorly received in Japan," but added that "the US version ... is infinitely better than its poorly paced Japanese counterpart. In all, the US version made numerous badly needed cuts from the film to tighten it up."
Accolades
Home media
In North America, ''Godzilla 2000'' was released on DVD on December 26, 2000, and on Blu-ray on September 9, 2014. The North American Blu-ray includes both the Japanese and American cuts of the film.
Unproduced sequel
In an interview with SciFiJapan.com, Michael Schlesinger stated that he had written a script for a direct sequel to ''Godzilla 2000'' entitled ''Godzilla Reborn'' that was to be directed by
Joe Dante
Joseph James Dante Jr. (; born November 28, 1946) is an American film director, producer, editor and actor. His films—notably ''Gremlins'' (1984) alongside its sequel, '' Gremlins 2: The New Batch'' (1990)—often mix 1950s-style B movies wit ...
. The film would have shared the same tongue-in-cheek tone as the American release of ''Godzilla 2000'', with special effects crafted by Toho. The plot would have involved Godzilla appearing in Hawaii to battle a new foe named "Miba", which was envisioned as a flying lava monster resembling a bat. Toho approved Schlensinger's script, but he was unable to secure funding for the project and the film was never made.
References
Sources
*
External links
*
*
*
{{Takao Okawara
1999 films
1999 science fiction films
1990s Japanese-language films
Films about extraterrestrial life
Films directed by Takao Okawara
Films set in 2000
Films set in Tokyo
Films set in Nemuro
Films set in Ibaraki Prefecture
Films set in the Pacific Ocean
Giant monster films
Godzilla films
Kaiju films
Japan Self-Defense Forces in fiction
Japanese science fiction films
Japanese sequel films
1990s monster movies
Reboot films
TriStar Pictures films
Toho films
Films with screenplays by Wataru Mimura
Films scored by Takayuki Hattori
1990s Japanese films