"Godzilla against Mechagodzilla" is one of the few kaiju films with a reasonably interesting human story at its center. The plot revolves around female combat robot pilot Akane, who goes into battle against Godzilla with a Mechagodzilla codenamed Kiryū, while also wanting to make up for past mistakes. This doesn't reinvent the wheel, but it's refreshing to be served up something like character development for a main character. The battles between Godzilla and Kiryū are also impressively executed. Though it did bother me a little that the monsters look a bit plastic, that wasn't always the case in earlier installments. But if you can look past that, this is definitely one of the better Godzilla films.

For the fourth time in the long run of Godzilla movies, we get yet another match up with Mechagodzilla. And again I'm underwhelmed. The only previous Godzilla story line that matters to this movie is the 1954 original. Godzilla reappears after almost 50 years to trample Japan. Scientists use DNA from the bones of the '54 Godzilla to help them create the robot Mechagodzilla. Monster battles follow. The effects keep getting better and the series is still corny, but this time it's not fun. The main character sulks around, there's a depressed little girl and her father who is the lead scientist that works too much. Everyone is pouting and crabby. It sounds like I'm nitpicking, but it grated on me. Godzilla looks great as does Mechagodzilla, but MG constantly overheats or shorts out or just plain breaks down, just as it does in the earlier movies. It's just more of the same. "Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla" is really just for completists or hard-core G-fans.

That restless soul really needs to rest.