Ever had that film that does so many things so wrong that you want to writ it off as terrible but keep giving it the benefit of still being entertaining because of a few scenes. That is Godzilla vs. King Ghidora in a nut shell. The movie falls onto its face for most of the film until the very end. the real question though is “Is sitting through the bad parts worth the greatness that comes at the end?”

A flying saucer flies through Japan that turns out to be visitors from the future. They say they wish to help get rid of Godzilla by going back to the past and stopping him from mutating into a his current fire breathing form. But there true intention is far more sinister as they hope to create a monster of even greater force: King Ghidora.

The expression “Jumping the shark” refers to when a series goes far from the original message or theme. You`d think that a film series involving mutant dinosaurs, mystical guardians awakened by song, and space cockroaches disguised as humans. that jumping the shark would be impossible. Still, thanks tot he introduction of time travel, such a feat is accomplished. And man does it make the move feel awkward. That and the humans make several turns with their operations. First they get rid of Godzilla, but need him back then need the defeated King Ghidora to defeat him. You’d think after messing things up the first time they would leave well enough alone and just let things work out. The time space continuum only needs to be messed up so much before you just wish someone would use the time machine to make it so things never got messed up in the first place.

There is also the whole aspect with the Android which really helps to hammer in the “Jumping the shark” aspect. He just feels totally out place during the movie. And before anyone tries to remind me of Katsura from Terror of Mechagodzilla as she was a cyborg, hold your horses. Katsura’s presence as a cyborg was much more underlying and not nearly as overplayed. She wasn’t running down cars in Tokyo in an obvious homage to another movie with killer android disguised as a human from the future.

Not to say this movie is not without its perks. For starters this is the first time we actually get to see Godzilla fight King Ghidora one on one without any other monsters giving him any aid. The fight is gloriously topped off by the fact that Godzilla does more damage to his winged foe then in any other movie before. The use of Mecha-King Ghidora is a very interesting spin on a classic villain and a better take than Kaiser Ghidora from Final wars. Also Yasuaki Shindo played by Yoshio Tsuchiya is one of the most memorable humans in a kaiju movie. Watching him respectfully bow to an oncoming force of destruction he once come to look upon as a savior was truly touching. Basically since those two aspects come at the end of the movie you’d be better just using the DVD to jump to the last hour to get the best part of the film. Which is the best advice I can give for this movie.

Rating: C+