GODZILLA’S REVENGE (1969) is the worst kind of cynical filmmaking. Toho Studios made this movie for about $3.95 by blending archival footage from GODZILLA VS. THE SEA MONSTER with a quick and simple story of a little boy whom Godzilla inspires to stand up to bullies. The non-archival footage looks and feels cheap, right down to the holes in the Minilla costume used when the boy imagines he’s on Monster Island.
Sure, the movie turned a profit – how could it not, given the cheapness of the production? But the whole things smells of killing the goose that laid the golden egg. It’s a testament to the durability of the character that the series managed to limp along for another six years before it went dormant for the next 9.
What a waste.
