[HorrorScience] Godzilla: Planet of the Monsters (2017)

A few years ago, Netflix released a trilogy of animated films under the license of godzilla. Far from trying to make new versions of old feature films or reusing classic enemies of the radioactive dinosaur to offer us fights between colossi, these films have a fairly dramatic approach focused on the drama that humans suffer when facing such a monster.

Godzilla: Planet of Monsters (in English Godzilla: Planet of the Monsters, although it is also known as Godzilla: Monster Planet) is the first film in the trilogy. It was released in Japan in 2017, but did not arrive on Netflix until 2018.

The story of the film puts us in the following situation: A few decades ago, monsters began to appear on Earth, which caused many problems for human society, which saw how each appearance of these titans caused human losses and left behind destroyed cities. The most powerful and problematic monster was Godzilla, who was responsible for leaving the Earth in a state almost uninhabitable for human society.

Fortunately, at the worst moment an extraterrestrial ship appeared, piloted by beings from other planets who had had to abandon their homes when they were destroyed by monsters. The aliens offered humans the possibility of fleeing Earth and embarking on a journey together through space in search of a new world where everyone can live.

Currently, humans coexist with the two extraterrestrial races (the religious Exif and the technologically advanced Bilusaludos) in ships that travel through space at full speed in search of that planet. After more than a decade searching for that new home without any result, food begins to run out, tension begins to grow and the passengers begin to despair, which will lead the rebel Haruo Sakaki to propose the idea of ​​returning to Earth, for which thousands of years must have passed, which almost ensures that Godzilla is dead and the planet may be habitable again.

The ship's controls dismiss Haruo's idea, but little by little there begins to be a collective pressure that this is the best idea, since it does not seem that they will ever find another planet to live on. Finally they decide to return to Earth and find a planet very different from what they left, covered in vegetation and thick fog.

Godzilla: Planet of the Monsters It has been a movie that has generated a great division among fans of the monster (although now that I think about it, that happens every time someone makes a Godzilla movie...so it's typical). Many people consider this film to be boring and forgettable, while others see it as a more modern and adult approach to the character's story.

I find myself in that second group, since I appreciate that they have taken the character seriously and the damage he would cause in a hypothetical real situation, instead of making a movie with jokes or ridiculous characters who are only there to try to make us laugh.

While it is true that no character is particularly interesting and that the film is focused on humans, leaving aside the other two alien species (which also look human in appearance), none of that is especially negative (especially since the next film is more focused on the Bilusaludos and the third on the Exif).

The animation style is a bit particular and I admit that at first I didn't like it too much (I would have preferred a more traditional animation), but in general I don't dislike it, with the exception of Godzilla himself, who has a totally different design from the rest of the elements in the film, extremely simple and polygonal (which reminds me of the time of Playstation and Nintendo 64).

From my point of view, this movie is very worth it, especially if you liked it. the character's first film (1954) or the recent Shin Godzilla (2016) which are the ones that have a similar tone (slow, serious and catastrophic).

Curiosities of the movie

• It is possible that the name of the protagonist (Haruo) was chosen to pay homage to the actor who dressed as Godzilla in the classic series (Haruo Nakajima).
• The aliens seem to reference aliens from old Godzilla movies. The name of the Exif is reminiscent of the Xilians of Planet X, with X being the key word in the pronunciation of the race. The Bilusaludos have a history similar to that of the aliens that appeared in Godzilla vs MechaGodzilla and Terror of MechaGodzilla.
• The Godzilla that appears in this film is much larger than any other Godzilla that has appeared to date.
• At the beginning of Godzilla: Planet of the Monsters You can see how other Toho monsters appear such as MechaGodzilla, Kamacuras (from The Son of Godzilla), Dagarag (Rebirth of Mothra II), Dogora (Dogora, Monster from space) Orga (of godzilla 2000) and Hedorah (Godzilla vs. Hedorah.)