It's practically impossible to watch Godzilla movies and take them even minutely serious. It's gotten to the point where all I can really do is continue to point out those things I find endearing and annoying. These movies are all basically the same so anyone of them that can distinguish itself from the others scores a few points.

It just so happened that this was the last "Heisei" series Godzilla movie that I hadn't viewed. I will admit that the special effects are much better than those in the original series but the stories and characters are much more generic. The improved effects are really just a product of time maturing the technology, so I'd say the original series movies are better overall. While they are corny and sometimes just downright weird (or drug-induced), they are never as bland as their '90s Heisei counterparts.

I'll give this movie some points for those aforementioned special effects and for actually conjuring up a new menace in Space Godzilla. I also thought there were a number of interesting camera shots that I can't remember seeing in too many of the more recent Godzilla movies.

On the other hand, I'll knock it down a few notches for its inclusion of the bile-inducing "Little Godzilla" (Minella) and for the stupid wannabe-Transformers mockup robot M.O.G.U.E.R.A. Oh, and for the asinine statement made by the floppy-eared "Miki" character who says something along the lines of "humans have to take care not to pollute the universe". Um...the universe is a big place, the Earth is a small place. I don't think we have enough pollution on Earth to really have to worry about that too much.