Original Title: Kaijuto no Kessen: Gojira no Musuko
The trend towards making the Godzilla films appeal to a younger audience was accelerated by this eighth film in the series which saw Jun Fukuda return as director, working from a script by series regular Shinichi Sekizawa and newcomer Kazue Shiba. Not only was Godzilla no longer particularly a threat to humanity (beyond the collateral damage caused by his rampages) but it had become a parent.
Again to save money, the film is mostly set on a remote island to avoid the cost of those pesky model cityscapes. A team of scientists are working on a weather-controlling system but are constantly harassed by the Kamacuras (the Gimantis in the English dub), large praying mantises, and the huge poisonous spider Kumonga. When they are able to launch a radioactive balloon as part of their experiments, its remote control is jammed by a mysterious signal emanating from somewhere on the island. The balloon explodes, showing the Kamacuras with radiation, causing them to grow even larger. The mantises are discovered attacking a huge egg from which emerges a baby Godzilla dubbed Minilla, Minira or Minya in various publicity releases though never named in the original Japanese version. Attracted by the infant’s cries, Godzilla arrives on the island, trains the infant in the ways of monster fighting and sets about making short work of the Kamacuras and Kumonga.
Son of Godzilla is the first film to obliquely raise the question of Godzilla’s gender. The original Japanese versions of the films rarely use personal pronouns when describing the monsters, the only exception being Mothra who is frequently referred to as “she.” Godzilla, however, is invariably “it” though American dubs and the Hollywood remakes have all insisted that it’s male. Son of Godzilla never actually claims that the egg was laid by Godzilla (it’s simply there on the island and at the start of the film, Godzilla isn’t) but it raises the question of where it came from – do Godzillas reproduce through parthenogenesis (some reptiles do)? Is there a Mrs Godzilla lurking off screen, never seen in any of the films? Or do we see different Godzillas in each film, some male and some female? None of these questions are even asked, let alone answered.
To its credit, Son of Godzilla gets to the monster stuff a bit quicker than some of the other films. Godzilla turns up in the opening shot and the island’s giant beasties turn up at fairly regular intervals after that. But the human story is more boring than a tale of scientists experimenting in weather control has any right to be, the half-baked James Bond vibe lingers from the previous film and then there’s Minilla or whatever you care to call it, who lumbers about the film complete with its own terrible theme tune. You’ll either find this pint-sized Godzilla endearing and cute or an annoying little brat who takes up far too much of Godzilla’s valuable screen time, being taught how to behave like a good little monster while blowing nuclear smoke rings. Bizarrely, Toho felt that the little monster would appeal to female audience members and it would turn up several more times in the coming decades as the company clung to the belief that women are only happy to sit through a monster film if there’s a surrogate child for them to coo and fuss over.
Also in the film’s favour are the excellent supporting monsters, Apart from a few visible wires, the Kamacuras and Kumonga (Spiga in the English version) and creditable additions to the bestiary. The Kamacuras are played, unusually for a Toho kaiju eiga, not by a man in a suit but by intricate marionettes. They proved popular enough to turn up again in later films, the Kamacuras returning in Gojira-Minira-Gabara: Oru Kaiju Daishingeki/All Monsters Attack (1969) and Gojira: Fainaru Wozu/Godzilla: Final Wars (2004), with stock footage flashback appearances in Chikyu Kogeki Meirei: Gojira tai Gaigan/Godzilla vs. Gigan (1972) and the animated Gojira Kaiju Wakusei/Godzilla: Planet of the Monsters (2017) and a guest spot on the TV show Gojira Airando/Godzilla Island (1997-1998). Kumonga would return for the all-star monster rallies Kaiju Soshingeki/Destroy All Monsters (1968) and Gojira: Final Wars with stock footage putting it in All Monsters Attack and Godzilla vs Gigan.
But the guest monsters are one of the very few bright spots in an otherwise disappointing film. The island setting does Godzilla no favours at all (we really needed to see him back to his city-smashing ways again and quickly) and far too much time is wasted in the baby monster being unbearably cute, riding around on Godzilla’s tail and making constant “wa-wa!” noises and whimpering which starts to grate unsurprisingly quickly. And poor old Godzilla is again reduced to mainly throwing polystyrene rocks at the other monsters instead of using its atomic breath.
But Son of Godzilla does have perhaps the most moving ending to a Godzilla film this far. The weather control device transforms the island into a frozen wasteland and as the snows fall, Godzilla and the baby embrace, falling into a coma to hibernate their way through the coming mini-ice age, waiting for the island’s tropical climate to be restored. In its strange little way it’s a rather touching final moment.
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