Throughout the fifty-year career of the Godzilla saga, there have been multiple entries that can be considered schlock, even in the eyes of the G-fans. Godzilla began as a powerful, heart-shredding dramatic allegorical monster movie and has since made many turns in his career from other powerful films to campy fun movies. And even most of the campy, made-for-children films of the late 60s and 70s, (which this film is a part of) can be at least laughed at or enjoyed.<br /><br />However, the series isn't without its pieces that are unbearable to watch. Even for a long-time Godzilla fan like myself. "Godzilla vs. the Smog Monster" is an extremely campy film that failed to live up to my expectations, even as a low-budget monster movie for kids. Like many Asian science-fiction cinema pieces, the film tries to bring a message to the world. This time, it's about pollution and its deadly effects on the globe and how nature could turn back against us with it.<br /><br />And "Godzilla vs. the Smog Monster" does bring us a message, but unfortunately, its ridiculous style and poor screenplay make the film so hard to believe that we cannot see the message clearly and even if we do, we cannot get past its inferior style to get the full feeling of it. The first Godzilla film, in some regards, had some inferior special effects. But the filmmakers worked so hard together on that film and it resulted with a masterpiece so powerful we don't even realize the out-of-date effects. But "Godzilla vs. the Smog Monster" cannot do the same.<br /><br />The fight scenes between Godzilla and the new monster, Hedorah, a monster made out of sludge and pollution, are extremely weak. Godzilla does a lot of childish, funny actions such as wiping his lips or even flying through the air like a superhero to the point where it's just annoying. The music score, all of which is terrible, just makes it worse. And there's no shortage of annoying songs playing throughout the film.<br /><br />As Producer Tomoyuki Tanaka said to Director Yoshimitsu Banno, this film ruined Godzilla. I can agree that it is a weak point in the Godzilla series and not recommended in my book. But there are worse Godzilla films out there. And past them are even WORSE and more schlock-filled films created by American studios.