It's Nick Tatopoulos... At least we don't have DATSON!!! DATSON, WE DON'T GOT DATSON HERE!!!

Now, a lot of those that've seen this movie have HATED it... The CG effects are bad as are most 90s CG effects, characters are a bit stereotypically dorky and annoying, people claim the plot is cheesy and campy, but I think the biggest issue of this film is Godzilla not being true Godzilla... This one is an iguana mutated from radiation from French nuclear weapons testing, not a mutated dinosaur. But I'm gonna get a little more into the film and maybe find some redeeming qualities...

Movie begins with seeing nuclear weapons testing, iguana sees explosion and we see the eggs from that mommy lizard. Cue transition to modern day and a Japanese fishing vessel is attacked from beneath the waves by the mutated lizard, the only survivor reveals "Gojira!" but didn't actually see the animal, just claws and spines as he escaped the sinking ship. Now we see our main character, Nick (who little to no one can pronounce his last name... Believable to me as people ALWAYS screw my last name up) who gets assigned by men in black suits to investigate this island left in PSeudo-Godzilla's wake. a million miles away in Manhattan we see Nick's love interest struggling to be taken seriously as a news reporter... Oh I think this giant lizard's gonna show up and give her a shot at fame on this news channel of douchebags and back stabbing assholes!

"Well, no DUH, Mad Wolf!"
-Zilla

So, the animal is in Manhattan smashing up buildings in late '90s CG glory, Nick and Audrey (his ex) hook up and talk about the creature, she steals the classified tape sitting on his desk when he's not looking. She leaks it to her co-workers and SHOCKER, her douche of a boss steals the story, Nick loses his position in the research/hunt Government project and no one listens to his theory that the "monster" is pregnant and nesting on this island... Save for French badass Jean Reno who's here to clean up the mess his started with his country's nuclear weapon testing...

"Give it 16 years... Your Government and military still won't listen to scientists that study these giant monster creatures. At least these
guys don't think nuking the monster is a good idea."
-Jean Reno
(French soldier of common sense in American Godzilla movie)

Without ruining the ending... Well, what the Hell... The majority hates this film. Nick and Jean Reno are stuck in the nest in a scene similar to the raptors chasing the kids in Jurassic Park, Nick hooks up with Audrey, she reports what's going on and gets an exclusive with Nick who essentially says "Hey morons, remember me? The wormy guy saying look for the nest? Well, here's the nest, get off your asses and blow it up!" They escape, run from mama/dada Zilla in a Taxi, Zilla gets trapped and dies from fighter jets, and a single egg survives the fire but everyone lives happily ever after...

All that said, how do I think it holds up? Well, it IS a little cheesy and fun for a serious disaster movie or even a horror flick... But the same can be said for all the Japanese Godzilla films. As for the new idea of Godzilla's mutation, well I stand by the Japanese fisherman that only saw spines, heard the growl, what'd you think that animal was if you were there? Godzilla! But it wasn't the monster they knew, it was something new and that's not crazy for how many monsters appeared in Godzilla films. Godzilla even decimates Zilla in Godzilla: Final Wars. As for the characters being dorky and goofy, once again it happened in like 90-98% of the Japanese films so why is it so bad here? Seriously, if you wanna watch Godzilla redone in a serious disaster mood, watch Gorgo.

"Ooooooooooh, buuuuuuuuuuuuuuuurn!"
-Zilla

Final verdict: Fast action, lots of destruction, simple fun for whole family, a lot of bad '90s CG but at the same time a LOT of great effects like Godzilla coming outta the water and destroying this jetty as a fisherman's trying to escape. Also like the final scenes, there are parts Zilla and his/her babies are cinema magic robots which is always a great effect to see in '90s films like the skeletons in Terminator 2 and the T-Rex in Jurassic Park. Maybe this isn't a movie to own in your collection but it's worth rewatching. And for everyone saying "this is dumb" go back and watch the classic Godzilla movies, they're not cinema masterpieces either. Ultimately, I am more entertained and have a better time watching this than that stale 2014 Godzilla where there's hardly ANY fighting and NO character development for 2 hours, you don't even get to see that much destruction in 2 hours. 1998 Pseudo-Godzilla gets 3 out of 5 Tatopouli but no DATSONS!!! DATSONS, WE NO HAVE NO DATSONS HERE SO CALM THE F*** DOWN!!!

"I ate Datson for trying to steal Godzillasaurus DNA from Jurassic Park!
-Zilla