"Rodan" was kind of a surprise because it was very serious not unlike the original "Gojira". There is an atomic warning here and there are city-in-flames shots that no doubt recall the atomic blasts of WWII. There are some fantastic effects with miniatures. Rodan's attack of the city is pretty effective and I could have sworn an actual bridge was blown down, the model looked that good. On the negative side there were endless shots of what I think were vapor trails from Rodan in flight and the final scene which features the bombing of Rodan's lair goes on for far too long. That final scene does deliver a respectful end to Rodan though. I was surprised at how well it was done.

I enjoyed watching this again. I'd forgotten that Rodan hatching from the egg was such a great scene. The way that the camera zooms into the terrified face of Shigeru as he witnesses the hatching is wonderful. I've never seen the Japanese original. I'll have to buy the Classic Media DVD to see it. But the American dub isn't bad, except that Paul Frees does the voice over on half the characters. Not that anything is wrong with Paul Frees. I'm just now realizing how prevalent his voice over work was during my childhood years. He's all over "The Bullwinkle Show", "Frosty the Snowman", "Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town", "Colossus: The Forbin Project", "The Banana Splits Adventure Hour", and on and on.

I’ve lost count of how many King Kong/Godzilla/Monsterverse movies I’ve seen by now, so I don’t have much else to say. It’s entertaining, the ending is impactful and successfully delivers the emotions it aims for, and the destruction is swwwwet.