YMMV / Gorgo

• Designated Hero: Really, the entire conflict of the movie is pretty much Joe's fault, as he double-crosses the Irish in order to steal Gorgo for himself and use him as a circus attraction to strike it rich. Sam is a lesser example, as while he doesn't bat an eye to Joe's plan to double-cross the Irish, he does object to Joe's sleazier actions such as trying to abandon Shaun and later insisting that Gorgo be kept locked up even when they learn that his mother is on her way. He's also generally far more pleasant and moral than Joe, especially towards Shaun. To be fair, this was intentional.
• Fan Nickname: Gorgo's mother is sometimes called "Ogra" (though it's pronounced "Oogra") after the mythic name for the beast mentioned at the start of the movie. Other fans (particularly those who either read or write for the Kaiju Amalgam’Verse fanfic series) use Orka instead, both to avoid confusion with the entirely unrelated monster Orga and to nod to the fact that Orka is an antiquated term for Sea Monster.
• Fridge Horror: What is to stop a grown-up Gorgo from coming back to shore? The comic-book adaptation showcased how Constantly Curious the monster is of humanity in general. The world can't stop a nigh-invulnerable kaiju wanting to play with people, and those helpless people can't expect his mother Ogra to make a Destructive Saviour appearance.
• Fridge Logic: It's never properly explained exactly how the scientists figured out that Gorgo was only a baby, not to mention how they estimated the size of an adult Gorgo using two differently-sized drawings of an Iguanodon skeleton.
• Harsher in Hindsight: The scene of a man and woman jumping out of a window to escape Ogra's rampage nowadays brings to mind 9/11 where people did the same to escape the World Trade Center.
• Heartwarming Moments: Shaun happily watching as Gorgo and his mother go back to the sea, finally free to live in peace. Just the fact that Gorgo's mother/Ogra stops her rampage as soon as she and her baby are reunited, proving that neither were evil mindless monsters, just creatures afflicted by humanity's actions.
• Ho Yay: Sam and Joe.
• Just Here for Godzilla: This was definitely Mike and the Bots' reaction. Others love to see the film for being one of the earliest examples of Kaiju being portrayed as sympathetic victims of humanity, as well as for the amazing special effects, especially the monsters'.
• Rooting for the Empire: Part of the intent behind this movie was to make a giant monster film where the audience rooted for the monsters. And considering that neither Gorgo nor Ogra are mindless rampaging beasts, leave in peace once reunited and the only human to genuinely care for Gorgo's well-being until the end is Shaun, it's not hard to do so.
• Visual Effects of Awesome: While the effects were miles beyond anything that Toho made up to that point, YMMV on how it holds up today. That said, most fans of special effects generally consider them to hold well for their time, especially the animatronic scenes.