Godzilla vs. Biollante

Tissue taken from Godzilla's cells is combined with the genetic material of a scientist's dead daughter and with a rose, and Biollante emerges: enormous, vegetal and in pain. At the same time Godzilla's cells are the object of a military and commercial race. The film is not interested in a monster fight. It is interested in what genetic engineering does: the scientist creates the creature not as a weapon but to bring his daughter back, and the subject is that feeling getting out of hand. The form is unusually serious for the series: military planning scenes, laboratories and real city miniatures. The design of Biollante is the most organic and the strangest of Godzilla's opponents to that point. The film's origin is a competition. In autumn 1985 Toho held an open call for the story of the next Godzilla film; more than five thousand entries arrived and the winner was a dentist named Shinichiro Kobayashi. Most of his draft was changed, but the creation of Biollante and part of the ending survived from it. Kazuki Ōmori directed. Who it is for: viewers who like the nineties period of the Godzilla series and practical-effects kaiju. Who it is not for: anyone wanting pace. There are long stretches of science and espionage in the middle and the monsters arrive late.