Rodan

Japanese monster films from the 1950s are a great watch. Rodan is a 1956 film that features detailed miniature models of Fukuoka that are demolished in great monster fashion by a pair of giant pterosaur.

It all begins when miners accidentally dug up a swarm of ancient bugs known as Meganulon. The infant Rodan emerged from an egg buried nearby to feast on the dino-bugs. In typical monster fashion, it only takes a couple of days for Rodan to grow enormous.  It can’t help that its fast flying levels miniatures of cities!

As expected, humans don’t like the idea of an ancient creature leveling cities. The Japanese military steps in to stop it.

Rodan is a fun watch and a pretty good movie if you can get around the monster costume and terrible flying scenes. The special effects, surprisingly, hold up well. The use of detailed miniatures help in this regard. The city destruction scenes are meticulously detailed. The film sometimes shows footage of a real city before cutting to the miniature for the destruction. The cut is noticeable because of the lack of people around. Otherwise, the frame with the miniature matches that of the real city down to the last detail. Honestly, I found it impressive!

Here is the official Japanese trailer:

Another note: George Takei was one of the voice actors in the American dub.

The films features plenty of recycled scenes of explosions and destruction. Later in the movie, when the Japanese military bombard Mt. Aso, it seemed there were only 2 or 3 scenes that kept repeating.

Rodan and its mate are portrayed with some human qualities, such as loyalty and love for each other.

The 1950s monster movies are cheesy but enjoyable. They visually represent many aspects of Japanese thinking after World War II. It has only been 11 years since Japan formally surrendered (September 2, 1945, according to Wikipedia). The war was still relatively fresh on their minds. Unlike the Godzilla movies, nuclear weapons don’t play into Rodan’s large size. However, the destruction he causes is reminiscent to the affects of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombs. Many of the city destruction scenes reminded me of the destruction shown in the footage of nuke test shock waves.

Rodan is a classic kaiju film worth a watch if you enjoy Godzilla and other giant monster films.