Godzilla

Los Angeles Times Kevin Thomas

An expertly designed theme park ride of a movie that packs nonstop thrills.

Salon.com Gary Kamiya

The plot is about as ridiculous as you'd expect, but for the most part its absurdities are tolerable.

Variety Joe Leydon

Despite all the flash and filigree, this monster movie is curiously -- and conspicuously -- lacking in heart.

Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman

There are some clever and exciting sequences, but this $120 million epic of reconstituted Atomic Age trash lumbers more than it thrills.

The New York Times Stephen Holden

Godzilla is so clumsily structured it feels as if it's two different movies stuck together with an absurd stomping finale glued onto the end.

Austin Chronicle Marc Savlov

This Godzilla is lacking both the awesome spirit of the original and the sublime silliness of the more recent Toho outings.

Chicago Tribune Gary Dretzka

It probably would have benefited from a 20- to 30-minute trim and, certainly, a smarter script, but the special effects truly are amazing.

Slate David Edelstein

Size really is about all that this tedious, underpopulated beanbag of an epic has going for it.

The New Yorker Anthony Lane

The movie is of minimum interest; the story of the movie, however -- or, rather, of the way in which it has been engulfed by its own publicity -- is bound to fascinate connoisseurs of cultural meltdown.

Empire Andrew Collins

Casting aside the forgettable ragbag of a cast, tiptoeing round the leaden script, and avoiding the story's many pot-holes (how come he only breathes fire twice?), Godzilla does provide plenty to look at. But that, for fear of sounding ungrateful, is all.

TV Guide Ken Fox

The year's most eagerly anticipated green-eyed monster finally rears its ugly head, not with his trademark radioactive roar, but a deafening yawn.

ReelViews James Berardinelli

The script isn't just "dumbed down," it's lobotomized.

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

A big, ugly, ungainly device to give teenagers the impression they are seeing a movie.

Dallas Observer Peter Rainer

They do it up big, but their frame of reference -- mostly old sci-fi movies and TV shows -- is pint-sized.

Film Threat Chris Gore

For the single-digit age set, Godzilla is sure to be the greatest movie of all time.

Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt

The dialogue is dumb ('zilla has the best lines, "arrrrrggh" and "maaroarrr"), New York is waterlogged, and Godzilla isn't on screen enough.

San Francisco Examiner Barbara Shulgasser

When a movie is nothing but relentless action, there's little chance for dramatic tension to develop.

San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle

An overblown action monstrosity with no surprises, no exhilaration and no thrills.

Washington Post Michael O'Sullivan

The makers of Godzilla obviously devoted so much manpower and time and energy and money to the admittedly fabulous special effects that they apparently had no budget left over for actors.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Keith Phipps

While the special effects are impressive, countless films have already proven that if you sink enough money into a project, you can at least make it look good. Unfortunately, good looks are all Godzilla has going for it.

Washington Post Rita Kempley

Size vanquishes both substance and subtlety in the overhyped, half-cocked and humorless resurrection of dear old "Godzilla."

Chicago Reader Lisa Alspector

Overlong, neither funny nor scary movie about a big lizard.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Rick Groen

Watching inept American actors and wishing they were badly dubbed into Japanese isn't any fun at all.