Destroy All Monsters (1968)

Directed by Ishirô Honda. Starring Akira Kubo, Yukiko Kobayashi, Jun Tazaki, Yoshio Tsuchiya, Kyôko Ai, Kenji Sahara, Yoshibumi Tajima, Andrew Hughes, Chôtarô Tôgin, Hisaya Itô. [G]

Set a few decades in the future, this kaiju monster mash sees all the big galoots (Godzilla, Rodan, Mothra, Anguirus, etc.) restricted to Monster Island, but then a race of female aliens shows up to take control of them and unleash them on targets around the globe. Silly plotting and shoddy special effects and miniatures/models dominate, but even though fans of the series tend to rate this as one of the better entries, it’s just a lot of waiting around for the inevitable climactic dust-up as they all take on the three-headed King Ghidorah. Akira Ifukube’s bombastic music helps to stave off the doldrums, but even embarrassed snickering is in short supply in this disappointingly dull all-star smackdown. Followed by All Monsters Attack.

38/100