King Kong vs. Godzilla

I, personally, never liked the idea of King Kong vs Godzilla because for the guy to stand a chance we gotta boost his height by the dozens. It's same Kindergarden logic as "what if the Jurassic Park T-rex was big enough to fight Godzilla, or Darth Vader..." etc.; in my opinion anyway.

So what ?? lets just boost King Kong to be bigger & let the rematch begin lol!!

@KING_GODZILLA24.7 Even then I still don't think he has a chance. Godzilla can blow up the whole planet by self-destructing, King Kong...well, he can throw rocks.

I heard that King Kong had to win because it was basically man versus atomic bomb. However I think it was stupid to even have King Kong in there. I liked the fight but Godzilla should have won. Plus King kong was nowhere near Godzilla's size to begin with. And it was stupid how Kink Kong could get stronger from lightnign when he could be killed by bullets.

@INSTINCTIVEGIGAN Yea I'm not a big fan of the idea in general because of the same reason. But with todays technology and an extremely bigger Kong, a fight between the two could be pretty entertaining. Of course Godzilla has to win in the end though, lol.

Godzilla kills King Kong in a filmed scene that was never released. Apparently Toho even still has photographs of this but anyways it was American involvement that dictated that it either be Kong or a tie.

As for the movie itself even as a young child I just couldn't get into it. King Kong looked ridiculous, especially with those arm extensions and the American cut is embarassing altogether. The included scenes of the news reports add nothing to the story and ruin the pacing plus the dub is horrendous. Also Ifukube's score was almost entirely replaced with stock music from other Universal films. I have a feeling the Japanese film is a decent entry but still nothing special.

I love this movie. Sure the Kong suit looks terrible but besides that it's such a fun monster mash I couldn't help but love it. It's 1 of the few "vs" movies that I can honstly say I really enjoy. 

Sure Kong won and for a lot of people(especially on a Godzilla fan site) that may have been bad, but Kong was the more popular monster at the time, so the movie more closely revolved around him and he was the good guy. Godzilla wasn't backdoored or anything, so it's not like he didn't get enough screentime. Honestly the fact Godzilla lost doesn't bother me because it is made clear through the movie that Godzilla is the stronger of the monsters, but through perseverance and luck Kong came out on top. The ending doesn't even make it really seem like Godzilla lost. Kong comes up and swim away from the surface as all air breathing mammals would, and Godzilla stays under and swims away as he has in the past. It's implied that Kong won but you could argue a tie very easily. 

A very enjoyable movie I'd recommend to fans of either series.

Fantastic movie. There's a reason it's so iconic. It's the original "versus" movie. Freddy vs. Jason, Alien vs. Predator... all those cross-over, head-butting movies take cues from this one. None were as well done as King Kong vs. Godzilla.

The key to King Kong vs. Godzilla was that it didn't take itself seriously. Toho knew, even in the early 60s, this was a goofy match-up and Ishiro Honda treats it that way. It's a little more evident in the Japanese version that this film is practically a comedy. The American version tries to take the material too seriously and the contrast is pretty baffling since both Godzilla and King Kong are a bunch of clowns.

I love that, after the dark and serious original film, Ishiro Honda's second Godzilla film to date is a complete 180 of what he did with Godzilla's debut. He knows when certain moods are appropriate and going the light-hearted/comedic route with this movie showcases not only his own versitility, but Godzilla's as well.

Another big first is Akira Ifukube's music. Instead of using the Godzilla march from the original film he creates a whole new theme built in front of the lumbering motif used in the first movie. This of course becomes Godzilla's signature theme and has been used in most movies since King Kong vs. Godzilla, albiet, modified.

I don't think it's one of Honda's best, but it's a clear standout of the series. Love it or hate it, it's fairly easy to see why. What a riot of a good time!

First Godzilla movie I ever saw. First Godzilla film I intend on showing my first son/daughter. It's such a great movie. That is all. No need to go into depth "oh King Kong is too small, blah blah blah, he can only throw rocks blah blah blah", oh, come on. It's a fun movie. Give me a break. Because if a giant moth can give Godzilla a run for his money, Kong proves to be Godzilla's biggest foe. I would have loved to see other Kong movies vs other Toho characters.

I just remembered the only probem i really had with this movie.

The american VHS box had what looked like Kong and Godzilla fighting in a city. Well they were standing in a city that was destroyed. I really wanted to see them fight with buildings around and destroy everything as they brawled but alas the scene never took place.

@Gman

You're right in the regard it was the first film to use VS in the title, but it was hardly the first monster mashup film.

@everyone else.

I kind of wish this film had been more international and treated with the respect it deserved. We needed more emphasis on the fact that this was two monsters, seperated by nations, battling. I'm not saying it didn't need to be silly, but I would have preferred if universal actually had more to do with the film than it did. 

Personally I would have preferred seeing a nice hybrid American-Tokusatsu film instead of a "Lets just let the japanese do most the work" attitude that Universal had with the movie. I think the whole concept of the film was just... screw it, itll make money no matter how goofy it is.

And make money it did. Kingu Kongu tai Gojira is still the most profitable Godzilla film of all time. It spawned the entire franchise, really. Godzilla made money before that point, but nothing like it did because of this movie.

Mostly due to what I believe to be the nationalism surrounding the movie. 

I feel like the boat has sailed. We'll probably never get a proper rematch-- King Kong is the godfather of all modern creature effects and Godzilla is the god father of all tokusatsu. Its probably best they stay away from each other, if just out of respect for each respective practices. 

Not that I wouldn't love to see it though. I guess as a kid all I wanted to see was 70s kong fight 84 Godzilla, and at this stage I'd still be happy with that too.

I guess I'm just easy to please. 

@Akagi

Thanks for the correction. There were plenty "Monster 01 meets Monster 02" beforehand, but none had been as successful as this movie and they still tried to take themselves a little too seriously.

I understand and even agree with the sentiment that Universal should've been more hands on with this film. But, like Toho with the new film, why lift a finger to help when you can let another studio do all the work and just reap the profits?

On the other hand I think the sense of nationalism was brought in strong enough by audiences. No need to inject what could almost be percieved as volitile when the people paying to see the movie will bring that to the theaters themselves. I think playing it as light and comedic as possible was wise to ease any likely tension.

i personally disapproved this but toho only did so to increase godzilla's popularity.

^And it worked. Without this movie I think we would've seen a lot less films-- if any.

Always perplexed at people who outright "hate" it though. I can understand it's not the strongest of the series, but it's such a hilarious riot I find it impossible not to enjoy.

i didnt mean to say hate sorry gman 2887 ill go back and edit it.

Eh, po-tae-toe, puh-tau-toe. I don't really care. Just musing.

Like others have said so what Kong is less in height i think folks forget that it was kongs physical strength and intelligence that kept him in the game against godzilla!

I also say that it was a very cool feature when you watched it for the first time and you saw kong gain strength through lightning because you didnt know that that was going to happen.

also i always thought godzilla simply swam away just like kong did! i always saw it as a tie.

i hope they come with another kong vs godzilla and also give him a larger size than the gargantuas were!

I just watched this movie today (rounding out and finalizing that I have finally watched all of the currently released films), and I must say that I LOVED it.

Being both a huge Godzilla fan, and an equally huge King Kong fan, I will say that I was torn horribly between who to root for! The way it ended, I personally can't see why the implied that Kong won. From my perspective, it would seem like that, having fallen into the ocean where Godzilla has an advantage, Kong just KO'd Godzilla and ran [swam]. 'Cause, y'know, water+electricity+reptiles= ouch.

^{_{(Re-hashed/copy pasta from another Godzilla VS King Kong thread)}}

thats the only godzilla movie ever i cant sit back and watch and for those of you who like it you think its ok to make kong bigger ok but what about godzilla if he got smaller also only godzillaa king of the monsters(and king ghidorah) can have the title king thus godzillas foot comes to king kong