Rodan

[tyler]

I own this movie on dvd and vhs.(The dvd is part of the godzilla 5 pack box set,and vhs is the first actual american print valued at over 125 dollars.)I love the music and the monsters.great story.best part is when the man finds the rodan egg and watches it hatch.the scene is to much for him to commprehend and the man forgets all.he soon relizes that their is a monster on the loose and he gains his memory back.he tells the japanese egg heads his story and the movie progreses.Toho outdid themselves this time.(Next to GMK,witch I saw on sci-fi channel,along with g vs megaguires.God bless their soules!)

[Squishy]

The miniature involving the collasping bridge is fantastic. It's one of those you don't realize is a miniature until it gets destroyed. Likewise, the jeep getting slammed into the rocks--complete with the poor driver's jellified legs hanging out--is the ultimate "ouch!" scene. It looks like it really, really hurts.

Shigeru does not narrate the ending of the Japanese version; Honda assumed the audience was bright enough to understand what was happening. I like it so much better...

What the hell does is that 'breath weapon' of Rodan's supposed to do? Not even Toho knows, apparently. Judging by the soldiers' reaction, it simply causes high wind-gusts, but some writers have described it as being anything from radioactive contaminants to poison gas. None of these makes a lot of sense in context, and the weapon was never used again--though in 1994's "Gojira vs MekaGojira" (US video title: "Godzilla vs MechaGodzilla 2"), the all-new Rodan gets a souped-up radiation-beam-weapon.

Fun facts: Rodan is really "Radon," pronounced rah-doh-n, not ray-don (like the gas). It is a kind of abbreviation of "pteRAnoDON." (Many kaiju get their names from similar reworkings of dinosaur names or Japanese words.) Forrest J. Ackerman refered to the mate as "Rodanna." I suppose Gilda Radner would've played "Rodan Rodanna-Dana."

Rodan's first meals, the meganeuron, return in the newest Godzilla movie, "Godzilla x Megaguirus"! In this version, they are the first stage of an interdimensional insect army that eventually evolves into the title 'villian.' They don't get a lot of screen time, but they are still vicious, violent maneaters. "GxM" might get a theatrical release in the summer of '01, definitely a video release.

[Bryce]

My favorite Jap monster movie. They should restore the original print though. It's full of scratches and it's really showing its age. But I love it. Love Rodan's shriek. Love the model work. Love the fact that it flies super fast amd mimics hurricane strenght winds. Love the whole plotline about the bugs and how Rodan(s) are introduce. Love the scene where the jeep smashes against the rock. With the original Godzilla and Godzilla vs the Thing (mothra), Rodan is the best Jap monster flicks.

[Paul Westbrook]

Rodan had it's moments. Still, if you've seen one Toho flick, you've seen them all.

[Chadzilla]

I believe that this was the first Kaiju opus filmed in scope and color.  Seeing a restored print in the widescreen would be nice.  Honda and company worked some real magic on this one, the details are incredible.  As far as your little comment of "seen one, seen 'em all" Mr. Westbrook, well that may be true.  But for addicts like me the old adage "One's too many and a hundred not enough" applies.  I can never get bored with these things, they're like potato chips.  Yummy yummy I got Kaiju in my tummy!  :-)

[Megaloman]

RODAN is better in it's American form than the original Japanese.  The ending narration is far more touching, and brings a true sense of pathos to the film.  You really feel sorry for the animals, even after they cause all the destruction earlier.  Hey, they are just hungry!
And RODAN was not filmed widescreen, just the Academy ratio, so that will never change.
Excellent monster movie.

[Yuri Rentfro]

The second best Toho monster movie ever made. Only the original "Mothra" was better. The dubbing was alright, better than most of the later Godzilla movies. The Akira Ifukube score was great but did not have the typical "Rodan" theme music that you hear in "Ghidrah: the three-headed monster" and all of the other movies Rodan was in. I love this movie. Rodan is one of my favorite Toho monsters. This movie just came out in japan on DVD.

[Dr. Maniac]

    If you want to appreciate this movie you have to see the uncut Japanese version.  For one thing it is minus the narration (that is Keye Luke dubbing Kenji Sahara's voice if you care) and there is more of the monsters.  I cannot be the only one who has noticed:
  1.  When the giant insects grab the two policemen on the hill the sound effects are from THE GIANT BEHEMOTH.
  2.  The insects vary in size depending on where they are standing at the time.
  3.  In the dubbed version the appearance of the second Rodan is done by flopping the film, in the original version Rodan 2 just shows up with no explanation.
  4.  Do Paul Frees and Marvin Miller dub every other voice in this picture?

  Still, I love thi spicture.  Gosharootie I even cried at the end when I was a kid, I loved those big birds THAT much!
I have the Japanese version now and love it just as much.  The dubbed version was released by the King Brothers who also gave us GORGO.  Knowing that makes the Americanised version acceptable if still a bit difficult to swallow.

[Lance Manion]

 My second favorite monster movie next to the first Godzilla.  Poor dubbing and Tokyo taking another beating right after Godzilla took a stroll through it.  My favorite line "Not only are thereone, but two Rodans"  

[Bill Seibel]

I first saw Rodan in 1957 as an eight year old in St.Louis,Missouri.  I think most people underestimate the influence and impact this movie had on kids at that time.  This was the biggest movie event of my childhood and for good reason.  There was a barage of tv commercials for the movie that got all of us kids in a frenzy.  Rodan opened exclusively at the huge Fox theatre in St.Louis and the St.Louis Post-Dispatch featured full page ads for the movie for the first week of its release. These went down to half page ads the second week.  You don't see movie ads this size in today's papers.  Rodan stayed at the Fox for 10 or 12 weeks before being distributed to the local neighborhood shows which is where I finally got to view it.  I went with my father and younger brother Chris to see it at the local Rio show(now a vacant lot on Riverview Boulevard) which was located in the middle of the block in a neighborhood named Walnut Park.  There were two massive lines to get in the show(one to the left and one to the right) both of which extended around the corner of the city block.  I have never before or since seen such a crowd at a movie house.  We waited almost 45 minutes to get into the small show and the movie had already begun so we had to stay for a second show to see what we had missed.  My Dad had to stand in the aisle as there were not enough seats.  He is not a patient man and not a monster fan and I still can't believe he suffered through this ordeal!  Rodan was not just a movie it was a major event in childhood.  I still love the movie and watch it at least once a year.  Incidently, the movie came to television in St.Louis in the 1960's and was shown on a local station,KPLR 11, at 7:00 p.m. Monday through Friday for five consecutive nights in a row and got big ratings. (Yes,I watched it every night!)

[Anon]

This is a very good movie. I dont know if I would consider it a B-movie (just an old movie), and I would not consider it a bad movie. It has a suprisingly thought out plot, and good characters. Entertaining.

[Nathanial Meade]

This is Toho's hidden gem in my opinion. Few of the giant monster movies are actually cinimatic gems, the original Godzilla for example. Even if you don't care for monster mayhem, do yourself a favor and watch this. By the way, get off your butt Andrew, and give us a review for the original '54 'Zilla! (please!!!)

[Kooshmeister]

I remember first seeing a preview for this movie at the end of an old VHS copy for the original Godzilla put out, I believe, by Vestron. As I recall it was a little too heavy on clips from the Rodans' attack on Sasebo, as well as the scene where Shigeru sees the first Rodan hatch from its egg in the cavern. Looking back, I'm surprised that seeing these scenes before I actually saw the movie didn't ruin it for me, and I'm sure it would have had it not been for the Meganurons. There was nothing about them in the preview for the film - it was like they were Vestron's trump card. I find it silly now, but watching the film back then for the first time I was initially convinced it was Rodan doing the killings in the mines. I guess I figured he was a baby at the time or something. Imagine how delighted I was when the first Meganuron waddled its merry way into Kyo's house to menace her and Shigeru. And I, too, got nightmares from the scene where an unseen Meganuron pulls the miner and the policeman down into the water, while the third man frantically tries to free himself.

Suffice to say my favorite part of the movie is the first half revolving around the antics of the Meganurons in the mines. But the Rodans are the main focus after all, and I think they're pretty cool as well. I love the scene where the first one stubbornly evades a pursuing pilot before finally making a major U-turn and kacking him. That they can generate typhoon-force winds by flapping their wings was also a very nifty ability, and their distinctive cry (which sounds a little like a looped bobcat growl) is very chilling.

This is easily my favorite non-Godzilla Toho kaiju film, with its astounding miniature work and overall creepy atmosphere. I recently got it on DVD (along with the original Godzilla) for only five bucks. What a bargain!

[Todd Shields]

A kaiju eiga that features two monsters who DON'T fight each other?
Maybe they can have the Gappas over for tea.

[tyler]

kooshmeister, I have the vestron video print of rodan and it has the preview for the first godzilla movie from vestron and I used to rent the vestron godzilla and it had a preview for rodan.cool.go to rarevideo.com and find out how much its worth.it really is 125 bucks.