Until about a month and a half ago, I was not a Godzilla guy. The only films in the series I had seen were the 2014 film, Godzilla: King of the Monsters, and Godzilla vs. Kong, and I didn’t remember much about any of them. But two things changed that: my recent completionist kick and a question from my four-year-old son.
Recently, I’ve been of the mind that I need to watch every movie in a series to properly judge any of it. I can’t just watch Saw X (which I still need to do so I can update my ranking) without also watching the five or six sequels I skipped over the years. I can’t just watch one Leprechaun movie when there are eight to be seen. Stupid shit like that. Also, my love of movie podcasts like Blank Check with Griffin & David (which covers the entire filmographies of directors) has me watching entire series just so I can keep up with the episodes. I also submit work to the Midwest Film Journal a few times a year, and a recent series on David Cronenberg inspired me to watch every one of his films instead of just the one I was writing about.
More than any of that, though, my children have changed how I watch movies. My two oldest kids are of an age that I can take them to non-animated stuff from time to time, so when they show any kind of interest in something, I want to be able to enjoy it with them. Because of this, I took them to see Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom a few months back (please don’t call social services on me). They did great, and both of them still talk about the movie from time to time, but a poster in the theater hallway for Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire caught my son’s eye.
First, I had to explain to him that the movie wouldn’t be out for a long time. Then I decided to show him the movies I had access to to see if he liked them, and see if they were too scary for him. He wasn’t crazy about the human parts, but he loved the monster action, especially when Godzilla and King Kong fought. Then one morning I was taking him to my parents’ house and, after ten minutes of a completely silent car ride, he asked, “Why do Godzilla and King Kong fight when they’re best buddies?”
Aside from wallowing in the cuteness of this moment, I realized I didn’t even know if they were buddies. I had never watched the original showdown, and I honestly didn’t pay all that much attention to the recent Godzilla vs. Kong. So I just told him that they fight at first, but they became friends afterwards, and that sometimes you meet people you don’t like at first but eventually become friends (had to try to squeeze in some kind of life lesson, right?). I could have left it at that, but if he was interested in a movie series enough to silently contemplate it during a car ride, then I could watch some of these movies and be more prepared for future questions.
Thankfully, the entire series is easily accessible through Max, Pluto, YouTube, and the Internet Archive. In fact, the only movie in the series I paid to watch was Shin Godzilla (though I will pay to watch Minus One when they finally release it on home video). After the first few, I started to doubt how far I could get into the series. The first one is a classic, but I didn’t care for the second film, and the Americanized version of the first film (Godzilla, King of the Monsters!) was amusing to me, at best. But Evan Dossey (a far more accomplished knower of Godzilla stuff than I will ever be) of the Midwest Film Journal commented on my Letterboxd entry for that film, asking if I was watching the whole series. Knowing his love of the franchise (click here to find all of his much better and more in depth analysis), I had to keep going if he was following along with me.
So I kept at it, with Evan serving as my Godzilla shaman along the way, letting me know which ones were okay watching with dubs, where the series was heading, and which ones to look forward to. I also tried to include my son in my viewing as much as possible. It’s hard to get him to sit through a whole movie with me at home (the popcorn and big screen do the trick at the theater), but he followed along enough to pick up on all the major monsters. My biggest proud dad moment was when he brought home a picture he drew in preschool of Godzilla and Kong, and he had to quickly add Mothra because he forgot to in school.
My daughter is getting into the mix, too. She likes to watch parts of the movies, as well, though she’s gotten to an age in which part of her enjoyment is messing with me and my son by siding with King Kong and referring to Godzilla as “just a big lizard.” Even my one-year-old has seemed to be watching with us a few times (though she’ll have to wait a little longer for a trip to the theater). It’s been fun including the kids in one of my passions, and it brings me true pride when I hear my son correctly pronounce “Mechagodzilla,” or I have a legit argument with my daughter about who’s better: Godzilla or Kong.
And maybe they’re just noticing how excited I am to include them in my love of the movies, and that’s why they’re showing an interest at all. But I don’t care. We’re having fun with it, and if there’s anything I learned from watching forty Godzilla movies in one month, you have to have fun with this series for it to be great.
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