The Best Godzilla Movies, According To Metacritic | ScreenRant
Most fans would argue that Godzilla's peak years were the 15 films in the Shōwa era (1954-1975) and seven films in the Heisei era (1984-1995). However, the franchise has impressively extended even beyond those 22 films. There was also the six-film Millennium era, which didn't really have any standout films, and the Reiwa era, which gave audiences Shin Godzilla and a trilogy of animated Netflix movies.
Then there were the two major attempts at starting a franchise, one of which was successful. First, there was Roland Emmerich's critically-panned Godzilla (1998), which disappointed devoted fans just as much by straying almost entirely from the source material. However, even that film has its merits. Then there was the slightly more successful Godzilla (2014), which opened to nearly $100 million before slowing down quite a bit, ending up with a hair over $200 million domestic.
9 Godzilla 1985 (1985) - 31
1984's The Return of Godzilla, a franchise reboot released nearly a decade after Terror of Mechagodzilla (1975), ranks amongst the best Godzilla movies of all time. However, the version released to American audiences, Godzilla 1985, had a lot of the best Godzilla footage excised in favor of awkwardly placed English language scenes featuring Raymond Burr reprising his role as the overtly stoic reporter, Steve Martin.
The Americanized version received a Metascore of 31, which is just over half of what it received from general audiences, who were more mixed with a 6.0.
8 Godzilla (1998) - 32
Roland Emmerich's Godzilla is notoriously different from the original Japanese films, and the drastic liberties that were taken rubbed fans the wrong way.
However, critics liked it even less, as Emmerich's disaster movie take on the property only received a Metascore of 32 in comparison to its user score of 5.1. Godzilla (1998) is a fun movie in its own right that's come to serve as a nice late-90s timepiece, especially now that Hollywood's given fans several more faithful adaptations with the Monsterverse.
7 King Kong Vs. Godzilla (1963) - 40
Before Adam Wingard's wild and fun take on the clash with 2021's Godzilla vs. Kong, there was King Kong vs. Godzilla, the third installment of the franchise as a whole. The inferior Americanized version, released to U.S. audiences one year after the Japanese version, tossed its hat into the Metacritic ring, but response varied. On one hand, its user score of 6.1 is encouraging, while its Metascore of 40 is less so.
The first movie with either Godzilla or King Kong to be shown in color, the cast is also stacked with some of the franchise's most beloved repeat performers. It was the Godzilla movies finding their footing, as its tone is a little off from the remainder of the series. Even still, it was a step in the right direction after the confused and action-lacking Godzilla Raids Again (1955), which gave the character an eight-year gap in his filmography. King Kong vs. Godzilla is an important installment for the franchise, even if it was swiftly improved upon by Mothra vs. Godzilla (1964) and Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster (also 1964).
6 Godzilla 2000 (2000) - 41
Like The Return of Godzilla, Godzilla 2000: Millennium (1999) was a franchise reboot, kicking off a new era of the series. Furthermore, it had an Americanized version intended for theatrical distribution, marking the first time since that 1985 entry. Unlike Return, 2000 wasn't altered to the point of incomprehensibility.
Like other installments of the franchise, Godzilla 2000 (2000) received a mixed response from critics, resulting in a 41 Metascore. However, its response from users was through the roof, with a score of 7.1.
5 Godzilla: King Of The Monsters (2019) - 48
One of the more quotable movies of the franchise, Godzilla: King of the Monsters was a mixed bag with critics but went over like gangbusters with fans of the franchise.
The epic, world-sprawling narrative essentially served as a revised take on fan-favorite early installment Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster (1964). This could help explain why the movie holds a very good 7.1 user score and a much more muted 48 Metascore from critics.
4 Godzilla Vs. Kong (2021) - 59
Godzilla vs. Kong was an unexpected box office hit after the worrying financial response to Godzilla: King of the Monsters. This is especially true given the fact it was a part of Warner Bros.' experimental day-and-date theatrical/HBO Max distribution strategy, which was the studio's 2021 response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
This was commensurate with its critical response, but not quite with audiences. On the latter side, it received a comparable user score of 7.0, but its Metascore was at 59. However, that wasn't enough to make it Godzilla's highest-rated Monsterverse adventure.
3 Godzilla (2014) - 62
Featuring a classic use of Godzilla's atomic breath—a running occurrence throughout the Godzilla franchise—Gareth Edwards' version received far better reviews than Emmerich's less faithful rendition.
Unlike its immediate sequel, Godzilla's Metascore (62) and user scores (6.8) are fairly comparable. Both figures are stand-ins for "Generally favorable reviews," even if just about everyone who saw it wished there was more of the Big G and that Bryan Cranston's Joe Brody was the lead instead of Aaron Taylor-Johnson's Ford.
2 Shin Godzilla (2016) - 67
Shin Godzilla changed some things key to the franchise, but it also retained a fair amount of reverence for what's taken place. However, the film itself is independent of the remainder of the franchise, including the 1954 original, essentially serving as a remake with a more powerful monster and a heavier focus on political commentary.
Gojira and Godzilla Returns both served as allegories, one for Hiroshima and one for Cold War paranoia. Shin is much more direct, going so far as to show in-depth, politically-driven conversations about how to handle the never before seen crisis.
1 Gojira (1954) - 78
Putting the inferior Godzilla, King of the Monsters! (1956) aside, Gojira (1954) is now both widely available and the definitive starting point even for non-fans. The Americanized version has a game performance from Raymond Burr, but the scenes add nothing to the narrative, with the edit even excising some of the original version's surprisingly grim scenes.
The original film holds an excellent Metascore of 78, and an even higher user response to the tune of 8.3, signifying universal acclaim.