There's a reason the Godzilla series has been so criticized over the years: The 1970's. Starting things off after the stock footage filled "Godzilla's Revenge," this oddball piece remains the strangest of all Godzilla films to date. It has a message for sure, but it's trapped inside a warped and flawed film that ends up being more campy than powerful.

Oil tankers have begun to disappear. The only evidence as to the cause is some video showing some sort of monster. Doctor Yano (Akira Yamauchi) and his son have discovered the creature is actually made from pollution and is slowly growing. Japan is helpless until Godzilla shows up, providing the country with a small glimmer of hope.

It's very hard to explain "Godzilla vs. Hedorah" to someone who hasn't seen it. It has a mixture of cheap cartoon animation, acid trips, incomprehensible music, and of course giant monsters. You're never quite sure if what is occurring on the screen is supposed to be funny or serious.

This is one of the only movies in the series to show people being killed (in this case, being reduced to skeletons due to Hedorah) and remains the only film to show Godzilla fly. Yes, fly. The director has stated it was to offset all the violence in the film, but it also defeats the environmental message the story is going for. You can't take anything seriously with a moment of camp like that.

Most of the monster action is formulaic as the titans battle and the humans sit on the sidelines. Hedorah, played by eventual Godzilla suit actor Kenpachiro Satsuma, is the heaviest suit ever created for the series, but it doesn't exactly work. All the tattered ends are supposed to be dripping sludge, but the way they flail about is ridiculous. The Godzilla suit doesn't fare much better, the bulge in the neck where the actor's head resides is painfully obvious in a few scenes. Some of the other effects, including some great looking matte work, are great.