Godzilla

There's nothing more really to say about Godzilla itself so I'll simply take the intro I did for the US review and paste it below so here goes:

What do you get when hollywood takes a generation old Japanese icon and throws in $100million+ worth of budget? One big pop-corn movie and a slight headache. More on that later.

Nick Tatopoulos (Matthew Broderick) is your average scientist studying the effects of the chernobyl disaster on the surrounding worm population when he is plucked from his work to study what the effects of french nuclear arms testing have an a lonesome iguana inhabiting a nearby island.

His worms were 17% bigger, so what could create footprints the size of a hummer? Well, New York City folk soon find out when the giant lizard decides to use the metropolis as a breeding ground.

This flick also stars Jean Reno as the french problem solver (Phillipe Roache), Doug Savant (Melrose Fame) as the bumbling Sergeant O'Neal and a handful of the Simpsons cast, Hank Azaria, Harry Shearer and Nancy Cartwright.

But just how good is the region 4 version and was the wait really worth it? To best decide this we hooked up 2 Pioneer 505's to my 2 s-video input hitachi and did an A-B comparison. You'll be impressed with the results.

Before we start, does anyone want to buy a region 1 Godzilla disc, I honestly don't need it anymore? :)

Ok, lets skip the techno babble for now and cut right to the point. Is the video as good as the region 1 disc? And the answer is YES. But is it really as great as the region 1 disc? And the answer is, not quite. Why?

Time for some techno babble then. Basically, the image is brighter. Actually, to be technically accurate, its not as dark as the region 1 disc. I did have to adjust the brightness on the Hitachi down a few notches and then the image was pretty much pixel perfect. I'm not sure if this is a PAL thing or a Pioneer PAL output thing or a Hitachi tv PAL display thing but there is a slight difference that had to be corrected.

From my days in the laserdisc arena, this same black level difference was also evident so I'm concluding that indeed it is just a video encoding difference. Suffice to say, once I adjusted the level of brightness it was perfect.

As an overall, the colors seemed better and for some reason the image seemed more film-like in quality. The lower framerate of the NTSC version could attribute to this and it wasn't at all evident until we did the AB comparison.

Two thumbs and two big toes up for this transfer, the best yet from Columbia Tristar.

The audio on this disc was excellent, truly a demo disc for region 4 which is why I've stated, over the past few days, that this region 4 release should be used and abused to sell dvd here.

As the audio is a direct copy from the region 1 disc, there is nothing more to say here other than to re-iterate what I stated in the earlier review - "Whether it be the crashing of the waves, the crackle of thunder, the stomping of a mammoth foot, the swooping of the Choppers or the roar of Godzilla, this disc has demo material scattered throughout."

One scene I didn't pay attention to the audio was when Zilla first appears and tears up the peir, post by post. I stepped back and played that scene again just to hear the interesting effects once again.

The audio simply screams, demo demo demo.

Are the extras different? Yes, only by about 2 trailers. This disc does not contain the trailers for Godzilla v King Ghidorah and Godzilla and Mothra: The Battle for the Earth.

Apart from that, the extras are the same. The only difference you'll notice is the presentation. Personally, I like these animated menus better than the US cousin. It has an animated eye in the background showing various clips from the movie and every so often the eye will blink. Selecting an option causes the menu to burn off as the next menu is revealed. The region 1 menu just didn't seem like it was a completed application and needed some more refining, whereas this one is top notch.

Another thing to note, the picture art on the actual disc is much nicer than the US version. We get a nice eye pic, ala the cover, in comparison to a not-so-good image of godzilla on the US disc. Just looking at this image alone was enticing enought to buy this version. Speaking of covers, the casing is pretty similar, a different back picture but the region 1 disc wins for the use of a reflective type imaging giving it a radio-active feel. The commentary track is exactly the same too.

CD covers comparison

Now, I gave the region 1 disc a 5 for the extras material yet I gave this version a 8. Why? you ask? Because, in comparison to other region 4 discs, this one has alot to offer and I once again go back to "use this disc to sell dvd".

One thing we do get extra of over the region 1 release is the Dolby Digital intro. I hope CTHV continue to use this in future releases.

Ok, Godzilla is not that great a movie, but it is nice to watch and entertaing to listen to so I give it credit for that. You'll enjoy showing off this disc and if you asked me which version to buy I'd say the region 4 version, no questions asked. Everything is identical in every way, apart from slight cosmetics which are in favor of region 4. So if you've waited for a review to make up your mind, then I hope this one has convinced you to buy region 4.