What does stick true to the Godzilla mythos is that nuclear bombing and testing has caused a new type of life to be created. This monstrous lizard is not only amphibian and carnivorous, but, as we find out fairly early in the film, it is born pregnant, and this last twist is the major focus of the last half of the film. At first, Godzilla takes to the ocean and makes its way to Manhattan. The reason for this migration is loosely based on Godzilla's desire to lay eggs, but it seems like a stretch. Anyway, the first half of the film has the military led by Colonel Hicks (Kevin Dunn) and New York City Mayor Ebery (Michael Lerner) has called upon the biological expertise of Dr. Niko Tatopoulos (Matthew Broderick) to help determine exactly what Godzilla is, what it wants, and how to stop it.
The problem is, when Tatopoulos tells the leaders that there is a nest of Godzilla eggs somewhere in the city, and their primary effort should be finding those eggs before they hatch instead of stopping the monster rampaging around the streets, they ignore him and focus all of their firepower on Godzilla himself. As a result, and because the film comes from the people that brought us Independence Day, lots of monuments will be destroyed before the lizard-situation is fully resolved.
Godzilla also features Jean Reno as French Secret Service agent Philippe Roache, whose team has snuck into the country because of the Godzilla threat. While Philippe's motives and goals aren't all that clear, when Niko is kicked out of his military advisory role, Philippe uses him to help solve the problem once and for all.
Acting as Broderick's female interest is Maria Pitillo. Niko and her character, Audrey, were lovers in college, until she left him after he proposed to her. Her dreams of becoming a reporter have only gotten her as high as assisting a local anchor man, Charles Caiman (played by Harry Shearer), and even when Audrey takes some initiative and tries to scoop Charles on the Godzilla story because of her connections to Niko, she finds herself double-crossed by her boss. Joining Audrey on her journey is her friend and camera man, Victor "Animal" Palotti (Hank Azaria).
As you can probably guess, Victor, Audrey, Philippe and Niko will end up in some dark, dank places surrounded by hundreds of Godzilla babies, which is probably one of the parts of the film that brings it the furthest from classic-styled Godzilla movies and tends to be one of the beefs long-time fans have with this particular version. As for those viewers out there who are just looking for a good ol' action flick, Godzilla is okay, but shallow character development and CG that doesn't upscale to Blu-ray all that well hurts the overall presentation. Actually, the color and lighting difference between the live actors and the giant lizard was so noticeable at times, it felt like I was watching an old 1960's horror movie where the actors are standing in front of a screen with giant bunnies hopping around scale-model houses. I didn't get a chance to see this movie on DVD, and it probably looks a lot smoother on the lower resolution, but Godzilla didn't make the move to Blu-ray all that well.
There are a couple of interesting special features found on this release, but nothing too exciting. In one featurette, Shearer reprises his role as Caiman to talk about reinventing Godzilla for the American audience and making it more than just a guy in a suit. In another, "All Time Best of Godzilla Fight Scenes," a narrator goes through a lot of the 20+ movies the monster has been featured in and discusses the best pairings of all time (well, up until this movie, that is).
What the Blu-ray version does offer that past releases didn't is a multi-player trivia game and the ability to put a digital copy on your PSP (via your PS3, of course). Neither feature is all that impressive since the "Ultimate" trivia game doesn't go past this particular movie and the digital copy is only good on the PSP... quite frankly, I'm surprised Sony still thinks people actually watch movies on their PSP.
When it comes right down to it, Godzilla isn't worth owning. It might be worth seeing once, but there isn't any desire to re-watch it, and the transfer to Blu-ray doesn't do the movie any good. If there were more interesting special features, or just more special features, it might make it worth it, but not as it is now.
