Earth of the future has become a smoldering den of kaiju in Godzilla: Planet of the Monsters, the new animated feature from Polygon Pictures and creature-feature titan Toho. In this 3D animated tale, a group of space travelers whose family had once abandoned the ravaged Earth now return to the place humanity once called home, for one last battle against the horde of monsters that now rule in their stead. Let’s check out the trailer.
That beam tho.
Planet of the Monsters comes to us three years after Legendary Pictures released their own Godzilla, and one year after Toho’s Shin Godzilla woke the fire-breathing beast from cinematic hibernation on its native shores of Japan. It proves an unexpected follow-up to the live-action effort from Attack on TItan filmmaker Higuchi Shinji, re-entering the animation medium for its first high-profile anime title.
This new story is helmed by directors Seshita Hiroyuki and Shizuno Kobun, from a screenplay written by Kamen Rider Gaim author Urobuchi Gen.
This marks another in a surge of kaiju flicks stampeding through the next few years, with Kong: Skull Island continuing Legendary’s MonsterVerse series, Pacific Rim: Uprising set to continue its own saga, and sleeper hit Colossal all jumping off within months of each other. And we’re just getting started, with Legendary’s sequel Godzilla: King of Monsters and Godzilla vs Kong on the horizon, and speculation running rampant about potential crossovers between the MonsterVerse and the world of Pacific Rim, it’s a great time to be a kaiju fan.
While I’m not terribly enthused by the choice to render Planet of the Monsters with 3D animation, the visuals of the creature and its ominous visage roaming across a smoking landscape can’t easily be dismissed. Live-action or 3D, rubber-suited or computer-generated, this is the Big G, and he’s here to dominate like few others can. And, with the film in Urobuchi’s capable creative hands, I trust I’ll get something interesting to tide me over until Godzilla returns to a more traditional venue.
Godzilla: Planet of the Monsters hits Japanese theaters November 17 and will be released on Netflix shortly thereafter.
