The 5 Worst Godzilla Movies, Ranked (And Why They Stank)
The untold truth of Godzilla started when the first Godzilla movie premiered in 1954, and it didn't take long for the franchise to become extremely convoluted. Over the years, the giant lizard has been everything from an unrelenting symbol of nuclear destruction to a cuddly protector figure, and his many eras have produced films of varying quality. Even the most casual fans are likely aware of the series' finer entries, such as the original film, 2023's near-perfect "Godzilla Minus One," 2016's brutal "Shin Godzilla" and the 1964 classic "Mothra vs. Godzilla." However, this article isn't about them.
With every long-running film series, there are at least as many installments to avoid as there are must-watch gems. While completionists will happily tear through the good and bad entries alike, people who just want to watch a nice Godzilla movie or two should be aware of the absolute dregs in order to save their valuable time for the good stuff. With this in mind, allow Looper to take a look at the five worst Godzilla films in history so you don't have to.
5. Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019)
In all fairness, 2019's "Godzilla: King of the Monsters" has a lot of positives. The third installment in Legendary Pictures' MonsterVerse continuity ditches the original MUTO titans from 2014's "Godzilla" in favor of a veritable kaiju buffet. The movie marches out franchise veterans King Ghidorah, Mothra, Rodan, and a slew of other giant beasts. It features numerous hard-hitting battle sequences and massive, apocalyptic stakes. On paper, the film should be rubbing shoulders with the greatest Godzilla movies ever made.
While audiences like the movie for the popcorn flick that it is, something about it doesn't quite click. The best kaiju films have a great story to back up the super-sized action — just ask King Kong. Unfortunately, "King of the Monsters" didn't get this particular memo, and opts to do the bare minimum to justify the admittedly impressive titan battles, wasting great actors like Charles Dance, Vera Farmiga, Ken Watanabe, and Millie Bobby Brown on a threadbare disaster movie plot.
Had "Godzilla: King of the Monsters" bothered with a decent story, fans and critics might treasure it as an all-timer. However, the movie is the fifth-worst Godzilla movie ever made, with a lukewarm Rotten Tomatoes rating of 43%.
4. Godzilla Vs. Megalon (1973)
In-universe, Godzilla is a terrifying creature. Even when he's ostensibly on humanity's side and fights evil creatures, he's still a massive nuclear lizard monster that can level cities. However, for the viewers watching the carnage, many of the Toho rubber suit movies can easily come across as campy — and there's no Godzilla movie campier than "Godzilla vs. Megalon."
If you've ever seen a particularly goofy Godzilla-themed clip, there's an excellent chance that it comes from "Godzilla vs. Megalon." The film is effectively a tag team battle where Godzilla and a gigantic robot called Jet Jaguar battle against the insect monster Megalon and a deadly, but extremely goofy-looking chicken-like alien kaiju called Gigan. The ... unique monster designs and the exaggerated, peppy way the actors move in the kaiju suits infuse "Godzilla vs. Megalon" with a considerable amount of cheese. It hasn't helped the movie's credibility that "Mystery Science Theater 3000" Season 2 devotes an episode to it.
In all fairness, "Godzilla vs. Megalon" isn't the worst Godzilla movie out there, and it has certain guilty pleasure properties that have made Jet Jaguar the kind of fan-favorite character we'd love to see in Legendary's MonsterVerse. Still, no one's saying it's a good film, and its 38% Rotten Tomatoes critics rating is actually generous compared to its audience score of 35%.
3. All Monsters Attack (1969)
"All Monsters Attack" hails from the same highly unserious Godzilla era as "Godzilla vs. Megalon," but it has a couple of added drawbacks. The first one is that it prominently features Minilla, the controversial child kaiju whose cutesy design and status as Godzilla's son divide opinions. Granted, Godzilla fans tend to see their share of wacky critters, so Minilla isn't enough to tank a film on his own — after all, both fans and critics enjoy 1968's "Destroy All Monsters," which also features the character.
Where things become truly controversial is that the film is essentially a human kid's hazy kaiju dream. The majority of the movie and its monster action takes place in the mind of young Ichiro Mitsuki (Tomonori Yazaki), who's learning to fight back against bullies through the magic of imagined kaiju combat.
Godzilla effectively acting as a self esteem booster and imaginary fight instructor for a child is a wild concept that could actually work, given the kaiju's metaphor-laden history. Unfortunately, the end result is a putrid affair with a Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer rating of 29% and an audience score of a measly 18%. As such, if you set out to watch every "Godzilla" movie in correct order, you'd probably be forgiven for skipping this strange dream episode.
2. Godzilla 1985 (1985)
"Godzilla 1985" is extremely different from the movie's original Japanese version, "The Return of Godzilla." A massively-edited, localized aberration that ended up in American theaters, "Godzilla 1985" attempts to leap the cultural chasm between Japan and the U.S. and promptly lands on its face. The distributor, New World Production, added a significant amount of new footage that makes the American Steve Martin (Raymond Burr) a major character. Many original scenes were dramatically shortened or cut altogether, copious Dr Pepper product placement was included, and things were generally tinkered with to the tune of a 27% Rotten Tomatoes rating.
It's worth noting that the movie's backstory may affect its critical rating. Fans have been far more receptive of "Godzilla 1985" than critics, and the film has a surprisingly positive Rotten Tomatoes audience score of 66%. As such, if you don't have access to the original "The Return of Godzilla," you may find it a perfectly serviceable entry in the franchise ... but even so, the severe alterations New World made to the original movie mean that "Godzilla 1985" is a patchwork movie that arguably shouldn't even exist.
1. Godzilla (1998)
TriStar Pictures' American take on the Godzilla property is held in such low regard that the franchise has retroactively turned this version of Godzilla into an iguana-themed kaiju called Zilla. That alone should tell you everything you need to know about this particular film's rightful place in the lore — but as it happens, there's plenty more.
Roland Emmerich's "Godzilla" bombed at the box office for a great many reasons, from Emmerich's personal distaste of the franchise to the many changes the movie made to the source material. This Godzilla is a generic dino monster who doesn't have the iconic atomic breath in its arsenal, but does spawn hordes of smaller lizard beasts that effectively turn part of the film into a crummier version of "Jurassic Park." Combine such alterations with a generic plot and the total absence of the franchise's underlying serious themes, and the movie's abysmal 20% Rotten Tomatoes rating is more than justified.