"Godzilla vs. The Smog Monster" is one of the most uneven entries in the series.<br /><br />**SPOILERS**<br /><br />After a rash of boat disappearances in Suruga Bay, Dr. Tohru Yano, (Akira Yamauchi) is sent in to find what is responsible, and a giant tadpole-like monster attacks his son, Ken, (Hiroyuki Kawase) and during the conflict, a small piece of the creature comes off. Examining it, he deduces that it's an alien mineral similar to sludge and names it Hedorah. When a huge creature emerges from Suruga Bay and begins attacking the refineries spewing forth pollution to feed on, Godzilla appears and chases the monster back. When it's' noted that the creature feeds on pollution, industries throughout Japan are turned off to prevent the monsters appearance, but it appears again at a rock festival near Mt. Fuji. When Godzilla is unable to deal with the creature on it's own, the military steps in and helps him defend the Earth from the creature.<br /><br />The Good News: This has a couple of positive points for it. Mainly, the enemy monster Hedorah is quite formidable. It is invulnerable to physical attacks due to it's sludge-like build, can change form at will, Godzilla's energy ray is harmlessly deflected to it's mineral make-up, and he has no defense to it's pollution-based weaponry. Only through a remarkable creative and quite plausible method is this creature capable of being dealt with. It is also responsible for several of the film's best scenes, most notably the nighttime feeding frenzy on an oil factory. Due to the huge eyes on it, the emotions expressed during it are fantastic, as it deeply inhales fumes from a smokestack like a heavily-addicted smoker, it's eyelids drift shut in satisfaction. As Godzilla approaches off-screen, it turns it's head curiously, then flies into rage when he's visible. It's quite a simple shot, but plays out brilliantly and shows the creatures humanity. Other spectacular scenes include a pyrotechnic-masterpiece as it attacks an oil refinery, flies over a crowded city spewing acidic mist, and later attempting to drown Godzilla in a pool of mud. The city scenes might be it's most gruesome aspect, quite evidently killing people in a gruesome manner and is quite shocking to see, especially as the other aspects of the movie are so child-oriented. The battle at Mt. Fuji at the end isn't that bad, and is a long, drawn-out one that is quite nice and very well-done. These factors make it decent-enough.<br /><br />The Bad News: With it being on the lower end of the totem pole, there's a lot to really dislike in this one. One of the most damaging aspects is how badly Godzilla is portrayed in this one. Despite looking the same as before, he starts acting more like a human than a monster with his hand gestures, boxing and wrestling tactics, mugging whenever he can't get a good shot in on Hedorah, and a couple of odd scenes where he scratches or rubs the side of his nose with his finger. It's quite strange to see such maneuvers, and feel completely out-of-place when relating to a monster. On the technical side, he fares far worse and in some cases is quite sloppily handled. For the first time ever, it's plainly evident that the wire controlling his tail is visible on-screen, shimmering in the daylight scenes against the sky. His ray is also a mess, possessing little texture or perspective, goes off in any direction and has an odd and distinctive curve to it. It goes off in one distance then changes when it's apparent it won't hit the target and curves back to hit it. It's quite striking and doesn't really have much there for it. The back-fin animation is only done on occasion, and is off-model when it does appear, a grievous error. Worse of all, he performs one of the most embarrassing maneuvers ever, being forced to perform the infamous flying scene where it uses his atomic breath to propel himself into the air. These are quite painful for Godzilla fans to swallow, as it's quite a shock to see him treated in this level of disrespect. There's also the kiddie aspect of the film, with a child lead who shouldn't be there, lots of pop-culture references and scenes, as well as a pop song for the main title credits. The fact that there's split-screen scenes and hand-drawn animation used for other scenes makes it quite childish and distracts from the more adult-level tone that is being presented. To see images of gruesome death whenever Hedorah flies over a city, spewing sulfuric acid mist and choking the population offsets quite highly with the more pop-level scenes, such as the animation scenes. It's a little shocking to see such a widely different level presented, as it's a little gruesome for the children to see graphic death and dying, while the adults will like the more serious scenes but become bored through the childishness of everything. It's a polar opposite and a little hard to believe would be allowed into such a film.<br /><br />The Final Verdict: One of the bottom-of-the-barrel entries in the series, this is wildly uneven and makes for a weird contrast. Godzilla is obviously meant for the kiddies, but everything else is for the adults, which is too mature for the younger ones, while the older fans will have a hard time accepting the kiddie stuff, making this a tough one to really recommend to.