But even after all of this, the films biggest disgrace is to the die-hard fans. A J.D. Lees (the creator of the fantastic fanzine G-Fan which I have had the pleasure of writing for) look-alike is crushed during the monsters first appearance simply because he rightfully stated negative thoughts on the film. Toho explicitly laid out the ground rules for the film that were completely ignored. It took a massive fan revolt just to make it SEEM like the creature can breathe fire. This just proves that with all the money in the world, you still can't beat the magic portrayed by a man in a rubber suit. (No stars out of *****)

Available only in 2.35:1 widescreen (with a rumored pan & scan version supposedly replacing this one soon), "Godzilla" looks pretty good on DVD considering the depressingly dark nature of the film. Black levels, so important to the film, are strong with only a few minor instances where they lighten up. The few scenes with color show nice flesh tones and contrast. A little bit of heavy grain can be evident at times, but the overall picture is strong enough to overcome this issue. (****)

If anything ended up right about this film, it is the audio. Here it is on DVD and it sounds just as spectacular. In fact, this disc sounds so good, even the menus punish the viewers sub-woofer. Action sequences toss positional audio from every direction, assaulting the listener and attempt to immerse them in the dull on-screen action. Every step this redesigned creature takes the LFE channel to work. It is absolutely impossible to pick out a single scene that works best. Just pick an action sequence and go. (*****)

Features are quite slim for a movie so heavily promoted and hyped. The best feature is an effects commentary from three of the staff: Volker Engel, Karen Goulekas, and the person responsible for the look of the monster, Patrick Tatopoulos. If you have any interest in special effects, this is a great track to listen to, though it is lead by Engel. Personally, a track with Emmerich and Devlin explaining this atrocity would be more desirable.

The rest of the disc rounds itself off quietly. A short seven-minute featurette is just promotional fluff hosted by Harry Shearer. A music video by the Wallflowers uses not only film footage, but also a few effect shots of its own. "Godzilla Takes New York" shows the city before and after the unwelcome visitor made landfall. Finally, a large selection of trailers (including some for the real Godzilla films) round out the disc, though the classic New Years Eve one where the tail of the beast knocks over the ball is missing. (***)

This is nothing more than a complete travesty. Thankfully, the reception the film received failed to generate interest for a sequel, even with the cliffhanger ending (though it was picked up for a cartoon series, which was actually better than the film). We can only hope someone in Hollywood doesn't get the bright idea to resurrect this one sometime in the future.