Godzilla has been harassing Japan for decades. To combat him Japan has created G-Graspers. This is an elite group that is part of Japan’s Self-Defense Forces. They are charged with finding ways to combat Godzilla. They have banned nuclear power but need a new form of energy. Japan switches to clean plasma energy but Godzilla is also attracted to it as well.
Finally in 2001 Japan believes it has a way to get rid of Godzilla. An experimental satellite-based weapon called the Dimension Tide is developed. The weapon creates miniature black holes. With this weapon they believe they can suck up Godzilla and send him into a black hole where he will disappear forever. When they test the weapon it creates a small wormhole.
Unbeknownst to the scientists a prehistoric dragon fly escapes from the wormhole and lays an egg on the forest floor. A boy named Jun Hayasaka finds the egg. When it starts secreting fluid he dumps it down the sewer. This turns out to be the perfect hatching ground for the egg which somehow transforms into dozens of eggs. Giant prehistoric dragon fly larvae hatches from the egg. Called Meganulon they feed on people and then molt into winged Meganula.
In the meantime, Godzilla comes to town. The G-Graspers try to turn him away but he keeps coming. Then the Meganula swarm all over Godzilla, attracted to his energy. Godzilla manages to fry a bunch of them and when the plasma weapon is fired a bunch more get sucked up into the black hole, but some of the Meganula and Godzilla manage to survive. The Meganula go back to the sewer to die but before they do they inject a huge cocoon with their remaining energy. The cocoon hatches and out comes the larva of a queen Meganula. Megaguirus is born.
“Godzilla vs Megaguirus was released in 2000 and was directed by Masaaki Tezuka. It is the 25th film in the Godzilla franchise and the second in the Millennium series. It is also the 24th done by Toho. This is sort of a stand-alone film. It uses footage and re-created footage from the 1954 movie but alters some of the first movie’s results and timeline.
The first appearance of a Meganulon was in “Rodan” 1956. Megaguirus and the Meganula are both updated versions of the creature that the baby Rodan fed on when it hatched. Of course the look of the Meganula have been updated. Since they actually came from a black hole, perhaps they look a little different in an alternate universe.
Some stock footage was used during the description of the first attack of Godzilla in 1954. The original Godzilla was digitally replaced with the updated version since the look of Godzilla has changed over the years.
I liked this one. The Godzilla creature is wonderfully evil looking and the music score done by Michiru Oshima is great. It is the same Godzilla as depicted in the “Godzilla 2000” film only with some really neat close-ups. I thought the film was worthy of the Millennium line-up.
Director Masaaki Tezuka has a cameo appearance. In the post ending credit sequence he is in a white shirt on the playground with the school children. His cameos are usually done in any post ending credits on his movies. He has done one in all of the Godzilla movies he directed.
English dubbed
Japanese subtitled