Story

It’s 1949, 2 years since Godzilla was destroyed and sent to the bottom of the ocean. But a new threat has arrived in the form of a huge, long-necked, dragon-like creature, which has developed from an animal-eating chrysalis, believed to have come to Earth in a meteor strike.

Scientists name this creature Ghidorah. Ghidorah turns out to be just as dangerous and destructive as Godzilla, devastating the city of Matsumoto.

A Disaster Response Bureau is assembled, headed by Kenji Noda (Hidetaka Yoshioka) and meteorologist Makoto Aoyama (Masami Nagasawa). Koichi Shikishima (Ryunosuke Kamiki), a former kamikaze pilot who destroyed Godzilla, volunteers to fly the aircraft that will drop weapons on Ghidorah. This dismays his wife Noriko Shikishima (Minami Hamabe) – who survived Godzilla’s Ginza attack but now lives with physical mutations – and their adopted daughter Akiko (Sae Nagatani).

As the attacks on Ghidorah intensify, the creature evolves into a 3-headed, 2-tailed monster, now known as King Ghidorah. Meanwhile, Godzilla regenerates and re-emerges from the ocean.

Kanji Murakami (Min Tanaka), a survivor of the Hiroshima bombing who still grieves the loss of his wife and children on that dreadful day, believes the only way to destroy both creatures is to have them fight each other. With Noriko’s help, Kanji uses his high-frequency, wave-amplifying device to lure Godzilla to fight Ghidorah. Kanji is also intent on getting revenge for his family, but Kenji Noda talks him out of this and gets him focused on the immediate threat.

The monstrous creatures confront each other, with the humans hoping that one will be killed and the other severely weakened – but things don’t go according to plan.

Themes

Science fiction; fantasy; war; death and destruction; orphans; abandonment of a child

Violence

Godzilla Minus Zero has a lot of violence. For example:

• Ghidorah tramples buildings and people, breathes out lightning bolts, lifts and smashes heavy objects with his gravity beam, and generates hurricane-force winds.
• A giant chrysalis swallows whole animals.
• Murakami has visions of what happened on the day of the Hiroshima bombing. He looks for his family among the death and destruction and finds their charred bodies. He weeps over them.
• Scenes show the aftermath of Godzilla’s attack, 2 years before. Dozens of wounded people are in the hospital and there’s blood everywhere.
• Several bombs and spears are dropped on Ghidorah, and he explodes in fire.
• Ghidorah chases Koichi’s plane and sets it on fire.
• Koichi punches Kenji in the face and argues vehemently with Noriko against helping Kanji with his wave-amplifying device.
• The battle between Godzilla and Ghidorah is brutal. Godzilla bites off one of Ghidorah’s heads. Ghidorah then bites off Godzilla’s arm and tosses it away. Godzilla falls to the ground and Ghidorah starts biting chunks out of him. Blood pours out.
• Ghidorah breathes fire on Kenji’s car, overturning it. Covered in blood, Kenji tries to escape from the car.
• Koichi points a gun at Kanji.

Sexual references

There are no sexual references in Godzilla Minus Zero.

Alcohol, drugs and other substances

Godzilla Minus Zero shows some use of substances. For example, several characters smoke and drink.

Nudity and sexual activity

There’s no nudity or sexual activity in Godzilla Minus Zero.

Product placement

There’s no product placement in Godzilla Minus Zero.

Coarse language

Godzilla Minus Zero has some coarse language, including ‘fricken’ pathetic’, ‘my ass’, ‘hell’ ‘damn’, ‘shut up’ and ‘crap’.

Ideas to discuss with your children

Godzilla Minus Zero is a Japanese movie and a sequel to Godzilla Minus One (2023). It’s the 39th movie in the Godzilla franchise.

Godzilla Minus Zero is set in post-Hiroshima Japan, with the suggestion that mutated creatures developed because of the radiation fallout. Most of the movie is science fiction, but there are some scenes that show the devastation of the Hiroshima bombing. These scenes are hard to watch. This makes the movie more suited to a mature audience, and we recommend parental guidance for 15-year-olds.

The main messages from Godzilla Minus Zero are that the aftermath of war continues for a long time and that sometimes you must have the will to prevail against all odds.

Values in Godzilla Minus Zero that you could reinforce with your children include selflessness, introspection, bravery and courage.

Godzilla Minus Zero could also give you the chance to talk with your children about real-life issues and questions like the following:

• What are the ethics of pitting monsters to fight to the death? How does this relate to the ethics of dropping a nuclear bomb, especially when the consequences are known?
• Godzilla represents a dreadful, unknown and unbeatable force, which can destroy a whole city. Is this a metaphor for the Hiroshima bombing?
• Kenji Noda manages to dissuade Kanji Murakami from taking revenge for the loss of his family. Is revenge ever worth it, or does it only cause more devastation?