Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah / Godzilla & Mothra: The Battle for Earth

That's right, they didn't stop making Gozilla films in the mid-'70s like you thought, but resurrected the rubberized reptile in the mid-'80s and have continued making crazy, clear-your-Saturday-afternoon-schedule offerings to this very day. And here in this double-feature disc are two of the craziest from the early '90s.

Godzilla vs. King Ghidora involves some western folks in a flying saucer from the future who come back to warn Japan of its imminent demise by Godzilla. But their real aim is to aid in that destruction, thus keeping Japan from becoming an economic powerhouse. Along the way, some cute little creatures they've brought with them are transformed into King Ghidora, the not-so-cute nemesis of Godzilla, and the two inevitably battle it out as unwitting champions of their times. The special effects are tops, the action is silly and pulpish, and the plot is lifted partially from Godzilla vs. Monster Zero (1968). If you don't watch this film with a silly grin on your face, you just aren't a Godzilla fan.

Godzilla and Mothra: The Battle for Earth is a variation on one of the best of the old Godzilla films, Godzilla vs. The Thing (1964). When a meteorite hits the Earth, Godzilla is awakened, along with Mothra and his evil twin Battra, the Black Mothra! Mothra must save the Earth from these scourges, with the help of its minions, the Cosmos, those twin miniature girls who sing the eerily beautiful Mothra theme from the earlier film. And the special effects are even more impressive and hallucinatory than before, if that's possible.

The pleasure of seeing these rarities on DVD is only slightly hampered by their truncated aspect ratios; yes, Mothra's widescreen wings have been clipped down to paltry pan and scan, and thus denuded of its native Tohoscope. --Jim Gay