Roman Sampson One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

Erica Derrick By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Nicole I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

Ginger Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

JLRVancouver Godzilla's third epic (and first in first colour) finds Japan's giant mutated dinosaur squaring off against America's immense ape*. Some liberties have been taken with Kong's size (the original beast would only been up to Godzilla's knee), and given that Godzilla has radioactive fire breath, the match would seem a bit one sided BUT, it turns out that Kong has some hitherto unsuspected powers, so the match is closer than the punters would expect. Not much more to say beyond the title about the rudimentary plot. The film itself is unimpressive and is the first of the series to slip into the camp silliness that many people outside Japan associate with the Godzilla films. A Japan/US co-production, the movie is interspersed with 'reports' from the UN (relayed through what had been the "Mysterians" (1957) space base) featuring a completely unconvincing 'reporter' and a droning 'scientist' expressing ridiculous observations and opinions about the goings on in Japan. The Godzilla suit is fine but King Kong, who looks like he has mange, has a rubbery, unexpressive face, long dangly arms (that shorten when necessary), and a distinct human posture. The miniatures are not up to the standards of the two previous outings and in many of the matt shots, the foreground humans are blue and indistinct. In a distinct departure from the first two entries into the canon, much of the film is played for laughs (especially Mr. Tako (comedian Ichiro Arishima) who is painful for anyone over the age of eight to watch), presumably targeting families with kids. Likely related to this, the story-line is light-hearted, the action almost slapstick, and the movie lacks any of the soberness of the original and first sequel: while cities are destroyed, there is no sense that anyone actually died. Billed as a battle between two iconic monsters, "King Kong vs Godzilla" is a step down for the nascent franchise and, although followed by the vastly superior "Mothra vs. Godzilla" (1964), represents the beginning of the long (albeit profitable) slide into child-friendly goofiness of the late '60s and '70s entries. *This review is for the American dubbed version. The original Japanese version, while suffering from same production limitations, is supposedly much better.

Julian R. White I admit it, Kong is a bit big for his own good in this one, but hey, I stand by my statement when I say this is one of the best Showa series Godzilla films there are. I love it! It's able to teeter both the monster battles and the story line perfectly, without having too much of one or the other. I like how they threw in the giant Octopus (some Godzilla fans have dubbed it "Oodaku") to give that sense that Faro Island (the Japanese version of skull island I suppose) is much like it's American counterpart, with prehistoric or unknown creatures living with Kong side by side. The effects are wonderful, and Kong's immaturity and feeble mindedness gives us all a sense of comedic relief. This will remain one of my favorite Godzilla movies of all time, and if you're a fan of Godzilla, it's definitely a must see!

MisterWhiplash Consider King Kong in this movie: he looks like crap. Let's just be honest about it, folks, how many who came to this expecting to see a major fight between the two iconic figures in the world of movie monsters, for different reasons in different countries (one of them came out of the nuclear panic after two atomic bombs and the other... wasn't that) would likely come to discover one of these figures is not how they were originally visaged. This doesn't have Willis O'Brien, it doesn't even have Ray Harryhausen doing any of the work on that lovable tough mother of a King of the Kongs. This is a guy in a bad rubber gorilla suit that is scaled to size against a creature who, even when you're four years old, recognize is not scaled to size.I know all of this and know it's not a good movie at heart. But I also don't care inasmuch that I come to this movie wanting to see some cheesy fights and Monster-Movie-Moments, and I get them. The story, from what I can remember (even after first seeing it it didn't stick much less months or years later), is about how a pharmaceutical company (damn you bit Pharma!) brings King Kong to fight Godzilla for TV ratings. TV Ratings! It's not subtle and the human actors are rather hapless in the wake of the two movie creatures. Indeed there may not be quite enough fighting to justify the title - shouldn't it be like at least 70% ape vs lizard and the rest over the top English dubbing? But I take what I can get, and this is as good as it could get for 1962 on a low (Japanese) budget.Good God it's bad, but I just don't care.

DarthVoorhees It's hard to hate too much on a movie like 'King Kong vs. Godzilla'. It is extraordinarily goofy and the uneasiness adapting the film to American audiences is plain to be seen. When it exploits the title characters and we get to see the monsters delivering the goods than I say it works in a very Ed Wood kind of fashion. I think one would be surprised going into 'King Kong vs. Godzilla' when they find out that the monsters are not exploited at all. In fact I would say that they are only really in the film for about a third of the whole movie. Well, when one goes into a film called 'King Kong vs. Godzilla' and doesn't see the monsters than well...The film does a lot to build up the supposed "story". A pharmaceutical company wants to capture Kong to advertise a new line of berries found on Skull Island. We get to meet the company's comical C.E.O and his goofy underlings who provide some humor that I don't think is fully compatible with American audiences. Godzilla comes and then we spend a great deal of time talking about how the military intends to stop him. I'm sorry but this stuff is so boring. I found every scene without the monsters to be an almost chore to sit through. I suppose the material with the C.E.O and Skull Island was a little easier to stomach but not by much really. I wanted monsters. How many times do we have to listen to the military dissect how they intend to kill Godzilla? Every film has these moments and it never changes. Godzilla if we haven't learned by now simply crushes whatever they throw at him and so these moments are pointless narratively and do nothing but add filler to the script. Give me monsters!This film also is interesting in that a conscious effort was made to make it palatable to American audiences. There are extra scenes sprinkled in with actor Eric Carter(who surprise surprise never did anything but this for the most part) as a UN newscaster. These scenes look like they were filmed in the break room at Universal. Everything about the American footage is pathetic and amateurish. It's embarrassing to watch because at least the Japanese footage has momentum to it. Whenever we cut to the American stuff the film grinds to a screeching halt. The film has bad enough pacing problems on it's own, it doesn't' need the help of the Yanks. They choose the worst possible places to insert the footage too. We often get it right after a monster scene, the last place it is wanted.What does work? The Monsters. The problem? They are not on the screen nearly enough and we miss their presence when they aren't. Don't get me wrong these aren't expert portrayals of monsters with character and soul. These are men in fake rubber suits but they are endearing and fun. When Kong and Godzilla duke it out it is magic.