New 'Godzilla' movie is an improvement

New on Netflix this week is the latest adventure of the massive radioactive lizard Godzilla. His 34th attack is surprisingly good.

"Godzilla: The Planet Eater" is the 34th film in the franchise, and the third film in the Netflix "Godzilla" franchise. Godzilla has actually had a nice career resurgence in the last few years. This is the sixth film, if you count "Kong: Skull Island," to come out this decade.

This is not a sequel to the 2014 live-action, American hit "Godzilla." That movie comes out in May. While the American movies are being made, the Japanese company that makes "Godzilla" movies isn't allowed to make any more live-action movies. As a result, the last three movies have been animated.

As this is the third part of the animé series, I have to spoil the first two films to accurately set up this film. Beware, spoilers to follow. In the first one, "Godzilla: Planet of the Monsters," mankind has fled Earth to escape Godzilla. The humans, along with two alien species, return to Earth 20,000 years later to find that the monster is still around. A big fight ensues. In the second film, "Godzilla: City on the Edge of Battle," the survivors of the first film attempt again to kill Godzilla, this time with Mechagodzilla.

For this movie, the few remaining people of the three alien races are stranded on a volatile Earth with Godzilla. One of the aliens tries a third plan to finally kill Godzilla. His plan is to unleash the planet-destroying monster King Ghidorah on Earth to finish off Godzilla.

This is the best of the three animé "Godzilla" movies. I found the first two films were generic and mildly boring. I think the biggest problem I had with this trilogy is that it was originally created to be a TV show. Following the massive success of 2016's "Shin Godzilla," they decided to convert the show into three movies. They really do not feel like movies. If this story had more time to spend with its characters then it would have worked better.

One thing that people need to know about these movies is that they take place in a post-apocalyptic world. Godzilla doesn't stomp on any cities in these movies. They are very different from what you might expect from this series.

Another problem I had with the trilogy is how forgettable the big lizard is, too. For being animated, Godzilla shows no emotion in these movies. Freed from latex masks, the monster should have been able to emote in this movie. The Godzillas in the 2014 American movie and the 2016 Japanese movie are much more memorable than this one.

I do love how the rest of the movie looks, though. Despite being CGI, the movie is animated in a way that makes it look like traditional hand-drawn animation. The long-abandoned Earth is beautiful in these movies.

This movie is a vast improvement over the preceding two movies, but you will have to sit through two forgettable, mediocre films to get to it.

Entertainment on 01/12/2019

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