Name: Godzilla Age: 50 Nationality: Japanese Claim to fame: Japan’s most popular screen character turns 50 — and retires
Godzilla, the indestructible radioactive creature has turned 50. And he is retiring from the screen. This mega-monster is taking his final bow with his latest big screen outing Godzilla: Final Wars. The movie is believed to be the ultimate Godzilla send-off, with monsters and actors from previous movies included to give it an added flavour and shot around the world in Shanghai, Paris, New York and Sydney to ensure an international appeal.
Godzilla was created by Toho movie studios in Japan, and introduced in the 1954 classic film Gojira. An incredibly huge, nearly invulnerable, dinosaur-like, radioactive monster, Godzilla had the ability to blow a kind of destructive nuclear plasma mist out of his mouth to ignite, explode or melt things even far away. In an allegorical tale that represented the fear and trepidation of post-World War II Japan, that first movie was a box-office smash in Japan and went on to become a cult favourite around the world.
Godzilla movies have evoked both childlike awe and sneering derision. And the indestructible radioactive creature has kicked and stomped his way through 28 outings over the past 50 years. He even received a coveted star on Hollywood’s Walk of Fame last month, commemorating his long-term contributions to show business internationally.
Godzilla died at the end of the original 1954 film and subsequent films in the series had another of Godzilla’s species take his place. The character of Godzilla was greatly inspired by the commercial success in Japan of King Kong.
One of the most distinct features of the films is that it uses an actor in a lizard suit to bring the monster to life. This ‘man in a suit’ tradition defines the character, and the producers believe that with a human being inside, the audiences feel a human energy, something that cannot be duplicated by computer graphics. However, critics feel that it also dates it in this age of highly sophisticated computer generated effects that abound in almost all movies.
As the Godzilla movies were in Japanese they were not only dubbed into English for American release, but also reedited, reworked, and often had American-shot footage added. The old Godzilla movies were usually released in the USA one to five years after Japanese release. Sometimes they were later released to TV under a different title, and then released on video under yet another. So the same movie had three or more English titles. The Godzilla movies were also reworked for their German release and usually including footage of Dr Frankenstein sending the monsters into the fray.
Starting off as grim and deadly serious horror films, the Godzilla series later lightened up to popular culture, played to the kiddie market and eventually went camp with silly, but somehow fun, movies.
For now the huge beast bids goodbye to his fans, but who knows, a few years down the line, Godzilla might return from retirement to thrill his fans again.
Godzilla, the indestructible radioactive creature has turned 50. And he is retiring from the screen. This mega-monster is taking his final bow with his latest big screen outing Godzilla: Final Wars. The movie is believed to be the ultimate Godzilla send-off, with monsters and actors from previous movies included to give it an added flavour and shot around the world in Shanghai, Paris, New York and Sydney to ensure an international appeal.
