This was also the audiences first time viewing the beasts in color, certainly a strong marketing tactic. Add in the brief lulls in their movie careers (seven years for Godzilla, 18 years for Kong), and audiences ate this one up. It's hardly a great film, but it is enjoyable, just all the more so in its original form. (** out of *****)
While anything is better than the first DVD release from Goodtimes (horribly panned and scanned and the grain was so thick it was unwatchable), this is a disappointing DVD. There's a definite difference between the spliced in American scenes and the original scenes. The Japanese footage is dirtier, spottier, and flaws on the print are consistently evident. US sequences fare a little better (enough to be noticeable). The overall sharpness is impressive, and on the whole, this looks better than the official region 2 disc direct from Toho. The black levels are the biggest improvement, along with stronger color. (***)
After being spoiled by Sony and their dual language DVDs for Toho monster films, it's only natural to feel under whelmed by the audio here. Because of the differences in the actual film, only the English dub is included, and only in 2.0 mono. It's clean even during the battles, and mixed nicely to compensate for dialogue that would otherwise be over powered. (***)
There are no included extras, not even a trailer. (No stars)
In one of the classic movie rumors, it's long been thought that King Kong ends up victorious in the US version, and Godzilla wins out if you saw the film in Japanese. That's completely untrue, merely a rumor attributed to Famous Monsters in Filmland magazine decades ago. The only difference in the ending is that Godzilla roars instead of Kong when the screen glows "The End." That's hardly a sign of victory.
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