YMMV / Godzilla vs. Biollante

• Awesome Music:
  • Composed by Koichi Sugiyama. Yes, that Koichi Sugiyama. It even features a remix of Godzilla's theme with electric guitars and drums (which incidentally, Akira Ifukube hated, but most viewers don't share his dislike).
  • Also, just before Osaka is evacuated, a snippet of the Yuki Saito cover of Yume no Naka e can be heard.
• Alternative Character Interpretation: The usual Godzilla interpretations apply. Is he at heart a violent and mindlessly destructive beast going after whatever living thing is closet to him? Is he a mutated victim of humanity's hubris turning a vengeful eye on those who have wronged him? Is he Gaia's Vengeance made flesh, protecting the balance of nature? More uniquely to this film, why does he go after Biollante? Although she is explicitly stated to be calling him, his reasons for responding could be any number of different things. Is it because he could feel Erika's soul calling him? He notably does respond to Miki's psychic contact, and Erika has been contacting her telepathically. Is he just territorial? Heisei Godzilla is well known for ferociously attacking any monster he comes across. Or could he instinctively tell that there was something of himself in her, and his loneliness compelled him to seek her out? In the previous film, the human cast took advantage of this exact trait to lure Godzilla into the volcano he escapes from at the beginning of this one. As always (almost,) since Godzilla remains The Voiceless, a concrete answer is impossible to find.
• Ensemble Dark Horse:
  • Lt. Goro Gondo, due to being a genuinely funny badass who goes out shooting Godzilla in the mouth and mocking him for it.
  • Biollante. While the film wasn't the success Toho hoped, the character herself still remained a popular monster, though not enough to make a reappearance. She does show up quite constantly in video games and other material from the franchise.
  • Kuroki is also well liked, to the point that he was brought back for Godzilla vs. Destoroyah , making him and Miki Saegusa some of the only human characters to appear in more than one Heisei movie. The manga adaption of Vs Destoroyah even bumps him up to main character status!
  • The BioGoji suit is widely considered one of the (if not the) best designs the Big G ever had - it worked so well that every suit for Godzilla used in the rest of the Heisei era films had its design adapted from it.
• Even Better Sequel: While The Return of Godzilla is still considered one of the better movies in the series, this film is considered an improvement in terms of special effects and pacing as well as having more interesting characters.
• Fan-Preferred Cut Content: There's a deleted scene from after Godzilla's initial encounter with Biollante where she causes a field of giant roses to bloom across the hills, which seems to mesmerize even Godzilla for a moment and actually pacifies him. Many fans wish the scene had the been kept due to its hauntingly beautiful imagery and the shots of a peaceful Godzilla in a film where he's otherwise violent and angry, as it would've given him and his relationship with Biollante more depth.
• Fridge Brilliance: In The Return of Godzilla, Godzilla was a curious explorer, but mankind responded by throwing him into a volcano. In this film, he emerges from the volcano incredibly vengeful, explaining why he's incredibly destructive in this film compared to the last.
• Memetic Mutation:
  • Traditional Godzilla Violence, the hilariously bizarre content descriptor which currently graces the page image for Media Classifications.
  • The music track Bio Wars is often used in Mr. Incredible memes.
• Narm:
  • The English dub was produced by the infamously known Omni Productions, so this is to be expected. That being said, the dubbing here is somewhat more competent than their usual standard, and depending on your preferences, can still be rather enjoyable.
  • "We're the lethal weapon!"
  • The opening gun fight is ridiculous with no one stopping to fire at targets that are just ten feet in front of them. On the bright side the Saradian Agent's boring but practical methods of ambush and sniping are far more effective.
• Narm Charm:
  • Biollante dissolving and allowing Erika's spirit to ascend into heaven. It looks quite silly, but it can still be rather touching in the right mindset.
  • Meta example, also a Funny Moment; the official MPAA rating for this film has it rated PG for "Traditional Godzilla Violence".
  • The room of psychic children, asked to draw what they all dreamed of, all cheerfully holding up crayon drawings of Godzilla rampaging, with his theme song suddenly blaring, should be silly, but actually comes off effectively dramatic.
• Nightmare Fuel: During their second fight, one of Biollante's tendrils pierces Godzilla's hand, going well beyond the traditional violence of the Godzilla series. While it may not necessarily be as scary for adults nowadays due to better knowledge of his Healing Factor, Biollante wounding Godzilla in that manner can be quite frightening to see if you're a child, considering up to that point, no other monster had managed to wound Godzilla in that kind of way. And that's not even getting into how frightening Biollante can look in her second form.
• Older Than They Think: Shinichiro Kobayashi (the dentist who came up with the script) actually first wrote the script when he was 16. It was pitched to Tsuburaya Productions as part of a contest to make your own Ultraman episode. It won and went on to become Episode 34 of Return of Ultraman, "The Life that Can't be Forgiven" where Ultraman Jack battles Leogon, a giant Planimal created by a scientist.
• Too Cool to Live: Gondo again.
• Vindicated by History: The film was considered a disappointment compared to The Return of Godzilla at the time, with some (including Toho themselves) believing the introduction of a new Kaiju lead to its poor ticket sales, thus leading to the reintroduction of King Ghidorah and the rest of the "big five" in the next couple of films. Nowadays it’s seen as a major fan favorite within the series, with many praising the addition of Biollante herself, the outstanding visual effects and its themes of meddling with nature. When fans and movie critics rank the best films in the series, Godzilla vs. Biollante often makes the top ten. Some even say it surpasses The Return of Godzilla in terms of story and character.
• Visual Effects of Awesome: The suits, models and wirework are widely praised as being some of the best designed of the series

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