DESTROY ALL MONSTERS!

    "DESTROY ALL MONSTERS" Three words that make up one epic title. Is this the monster showdown that was promised?  Although it came out in the middle of the Showa period, this is actually the grand finally of the showa series taking place in the futuristic year of 1999. This movie brought together most of Toho's monster although many were just cameos or stock footage.

   In the year 1999, all of the world's monsters have been contained on a island called Monsterland. Suddenly all of the monster leave the island and start attacking cities throughout the world. It is discovered that the monsters are being mind controlled by a race of all female aliens called the Kilaaks. The Kilaaks demand the human race surrender to them or be destroyed. The humans eventually  discover the Kilaaks have established a base in Mt Fuji. They raid the base and break the Kilaaks' control of the monsters. The Kilaaks unleash their hidden weapon, King Ghidorah.  A battle between King Ghidorah vs Godzilla, Minilla, Mothra, Rodan, Gorosaurus, Anguirus, and Kumonga occurs.
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Ghidorah is eventually killed by the combined might of the monsters. In a last ditch effort, the Kilaaks unleash their secret weapon. A burning  monster they call the fire dragon which ends up just being a spaceship. The spaceship is destroyed and all the monsters return to Monsterland to live in peace.  

 To answer the question of if this is the ultimate monster showdown, unfortunately not quite. The film as a whole focuses on the human's attempt to break the Kilaaks' control of the monsters. The monsters are shown briefly in the beginning, and in quick clips of them attacking various world cities. It's not til the end that the real monster action starts. I don't necessarily demand non-stop monster action. but prefer it if the plot integrated the monsters more. I don't mind the focus on humans if the characters are interesting and the plot compelling. Unfortunately, this film doesn't have any stand out characters and the plot is very basic. The story carries many elements from Monster Zero in the characters from that film's attempt to break the alien's control of the monsters.

As for monster action, It's great seeing monster's attacking other world cities, although briefly. It helps make the film feel like it's a worldwide crisis rather than just a Japanese problem.  The finale  is still enjoyable, although there are a few monsters there that just do nothing like Varan. It's essentially Godzilla, Minilla, Mothra, Rodan, Gorosaurus, Anguirus, and Kumonga vs King Ghidorah.

Each uses their special ability against King Ghidorah.  It is kind of strange that King Ghidorah is depicted to be match for all the monsters when just Godzilla and Rodan were able to drive him off. I still recommend the film, but for the final fight.

 This movie was the Avengers of Godzilla films. It was what the films were building up to. The series still continued afterwards but took a more kid friendly approach, mostly.