King Kong vs. Godzilla

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Director: Ishirō Honda Year: 1962 Runtime: 97 min IMDb: ⭐ 6.2
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Synopsis

The advertising director of Pacific Pharmaceuticals, frustrated with the low ratings of their sponsored TV program, seeks a more sensationalist approach. He orders his staff to Faro Island to capture King Kong for exploitation. As Godzilla re-emerges, a media frenzy generates with Pacific looking to capitalize off of the ultimate battle.

Plot[edit | edit source] Mr. Tako, head of Pacific Pharmaceutical, is frustrated with the television shows his company is sponsoring and wants something to boost his ratings. When a doctor tells Tako about a giant monster he discovered on the small Faro Island, Tako believes that it would be a brilliant idea to use the monster to gain publicity. Tako sends two men, Osamu Sakurai and Kinsaburo Furue, to find and bring back the monster. Meanwhile, the United Nations nuclear submarine Seahawk gets caught in an iceberg. The iceberg collapses, unleashing Godzilla, who had been trapped within it since 1955. Godzilla destroys the submarine and makes its way towards Japan, attacking a military base as it journeys southward. On Faro Island, a gigantic octopus crawls ashore and attacks the native village in search of Farolacton juice, taken from a species of red berry native to the island. The mysterious Faro monster, revealed to be King Kong, arrives and defeats the octopus. Kong drinks several vases full of the juice while the islanders perform a ceremony, which causes him to fall asleep. Sakurai and Furue place Kong on a large raft and begin to transport him back to Japan. Mr. Tako arrives on the ship transporting Kong, but a JSDF ship stops them and orders that Kong must be kept out of Japan. Meanwhile, Godzilla arrives in Japan and terrorizes the countryside. Kong wakes up and breaks free from the raft. Reaching the mainland, Kong confronts Godzilla and proceeds to throw giant rocks at Godzilla. Godzilla is not fazed by King Kong's rock attack and uses its heat ray to burn him. Kong retreats after realizing that he is not yet ready to take on Godzilla. The JSDF digs a large pit laden with explosives and poison gas and lures Godzilla into it, but Godzilla is unharmed. They next string up a barrier of power lines around the city filled with 1,000,000 volts of electricity, which proves effective against Godzilla. Kong approaches Tokyo and tears through the power lines, feeding off the electricity, which seems to make Kong stronger. Kong then enters Tokyo and captures Fumiko, Sakurai's sister, taking her to the National Diet Building which he then scales. The JSDF launches capsules full of vaporised Farolacton juice, which puts Kong to sleep, and rescue Fumiko. The JSDF decides to transport Kong via balloons to Godzilla, in hopes that they will kill each other. The next morning, Kong is deployed by helicopters next to Godzilla at the summit of Mount Fuji and the two engage in battle. Godzilla initially has the advantage, dazing Kong with a devastating dropkick and repeated tail blows to his head. Godzilla attempts to burn Kong to death by using its atomic breath to set fire to the foliage around Kong's body. A bolt of lightning from thunder clouds strikes Kong, reviving him and charging him up, and the battle resumes. Godzilla and King Kong fight their way down the mountain and into Atami, where the two monsters destroy Atami Castle while trading blows, before falling off a cliff together into Sagami Bay. After a brief underwater battle, only Kong resurfaces from the water, and he swims back toward his home island. There is no sign of Godzilla, but the JSDF speculates that it may have survived.

Summary adapted from TMDb and Wikipedia sources.

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Content Warnings

⭐ IMDb Parents Guide 🛡️ Common Sense Media

there's domestic violence
Yes
someone uses drugs
spoiler Characters are constantly seen smoking cigarettes.
an animal dies
Yes
animals are abused
spoiler Showing an Octopus out of water.
animals were harmed in the making
spoiler The giant octopus in the movie was a real octopus. I studio tried many different ways to get the octopus to move on set. Such as using cigarettes. Once shooting was done they released some and ate the others
there's an alligator or crocodile
spoiler A crocodilian adjacent lizard is thrown around in an early scene in the movie
someone is drugged
spoiler The red liquid that King Kong drinks makes him pass out.
someone is restrained
spoiler King Kong is tied to the giant raft that he is transported on as he is taken back to Japan. King Kong is airlifted by many yellow balloons that are tied to him and they pop when he is dropped onto the land where he fights Godzilla for the last time. It's a VERY SILLY image.
a kid dies
Yes
a baby cries
Yes
a non-human character dies
Yes
someone dies
Yes
someone is kidnapped
spoiler A woman is grabbed by King Kong. They eventually lure him to sleep to safely get the woman out of his hand.
there's a claustrophobic scene
Yes
there's natural bodies of water
Yes
someone vomits
spoiler There is a scene where they are in a boat and a character looks seasick and he's holding a bowl. No actual vomiting and it's done for comedic effect. But it might be triggering for very sensitive viewers.
there are 9/11 depictions
spoiler This movie was released many years before 9/11
electro-therapy is used
Yes
someone struggles to breathe
Yes
there are sudden loud noises
Yes
there's flashing lights or images
Yes
shaky cam is used
Yes
there's screaming
Yes
there's underwater scenes
Yes
there is obscene language/gestures
Yes
someone is watched without knowing
Yes
someone speaks hate speech
spoiler During production, brownface was used.
there's blackface
spoiler Many older Godzilla movies sadly feature actors in brownface. However, King Kong vs. Godzilla is probably the one where it is the most obvious and offensive
a minority is misrepresented
spoiler The island natives are all played by Japanese actors in brownface.
there's antisemitism
Yes
the black guy dies first
Yes
a car crashes
Yes
a plane crashes
spoiler There are helicopter crashes.
there's gun violence
spoiler Guns are fired many times.
someone drowns
spoiler A submarine full of people is drowned after Godzilla destroys it.
Someone becomes unconscious
spoiler King Kong does several times.

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