YMMV / Godzilla vs. Megaguirus

• Awesome Music: For all the films faults, one thing many fans have agreed on is that the score composed by Michiru Oshima is top notch. Special mention goes to the 1996 Osaka attack music, which has been seen as the definitive theme of the Millennium era Godzilla.
• Contested Sequel: It’s either an enjoyable Godzilla film with some great fights and music, a mediocre movie with bland characters and a sluggish pace, or a So Okay, It's Average Kaiju film that does enough right to keep it from being downright bad.
• Designated Hero: While trying to stop Godzilla is understandable, the methods the protagonists go through to get rid of him are extreme. They get the incredibly bright idea to create and use a Black Hole Satellite on him, despite the fact that a black hole has vast potential to be even more dangerous than Godzilla ever was. Not only does this fail both times they try to use it on him, but it's also what brings in Megaguirus. Yet the film never presents them in any morally questionable light.
• Designated Villain: Godzilla isn't nearly as destructive in this film as he usually is. He goes on maybe one or two rampages through the city and the only reason he does is because of the reactor which the characters note is like a freaking beacon to him. This makes the lengths the protagonists go to in order to kill him border on extreme at best (they make a satellite that shoots black holes and tears holes in the fabric of space and time).
• Harsher in Hindsight: Could double as Hilarious in Hindsight, but the "Kids Kingdom" show-within-a-show predates most of the kids-themed Youtube channels in 2017 (When it comes with the first half of this trope, some of the "kids-themed" channels provide cringeworthy (albeit varied) stuff).
• Just Here for Godzilla: The movie is rather mediocre at best, but the climatic fight scene between the two title monsters is generally considered the best scene in the film and the only reason to watch it.
• Moral Event Horizon: Secretary Motohiko Sugiura turns out to have crossed it with an energy experiment that used the very type of energy that attracted Godzilla, knowing the dangers but feeling any gains he could get were more important than the people killed by Godzilla.
• Nightmare Fuel: The scene in which the two teenagers are attacked, killed, and eaten whole by the Meganulon is easily one of the creepiest scenes in the whole series. Especially since it's one of the few times in the entire franchise we see a monster actually eat people.
  • On that notion, certain points in the fight between Godzilla and Megaguirus are portrayed in a strangely uncomfortable way, with off-kilter camera techniques being utilized, along with the music cutting off once, adding an oddly eerie vibe to the scene. Plus, Godzilla's grunts sound oddly like, of all things, a Scare Chord.
• Rooting for the Empire: With how bland, unlikeable and downright idotic the human characters in this film are, it's very easy to find yourself rooting for Godzilla instead, especially since he actually wins in the end.
• Signature Scene: Godzilla's body slam on Megaguirus (accompanied by her Oh, Crap! face), generally seen as the silliest Godzilla scene since his gravity-defying dropkick in Godzilla vs. Megalon.
• So Okay, It's Average: General consensus is that it’s not the worst Godzilla film ever made as it still has some great things going for it to make it worthwhile like its soundtrack and the final monster fight, but felt that it’s characters were either uninteresting or Unintentionally Unsympathetic and that its plot didn’t take enough advantage of its premise, leading it to be seen as a middle-of-the-road entry.
• Special Effects Failure: In the first few shots of Megaguirus, the strings holding her up are blatantly visible.^note  This, however, is not visible in the Japanese print. The American version had the contrast of the film changed, which made the wires visible
  • Her "hyperflight" ability is also very clearly just the effects department buzzing her wings, speeding up the shot, and then blurring them rather poorly.
  • The battle between Godzilla and Megaguirus is a mess of sluggish editing marred by frame rate errors and speed alteration artifacts (or "ghosting"). This is especially notable, as most consumer grade editing software allows the editor to disable such resampling.
  • Like its predecessor, only moreso, this entry uses a lot of Chroma Key. In one overhead shot of Godzilla walking down a city street, he and the street are actually scrolling at different speeds. It's almost a relief to see him start smashing actual models again.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot: Many have noted that the premise of the Oxygen Destroyer never existing and this Godzilla being the same one from 1954 had potential to be expanded upon, perhaps by having the main characters try to understand how this creature was able to survive being an irritated dinosaur for decades and how it’s evolved into its modern design. Instead, nothing comes of this concept aside for being the setup to this movie’s universe.
  • The absence of Rodan or indeed any mention of him, given that the principal antagonists originated with his film, is noteworthy in and of itself. Especially since Megaguirius’ demonstrated abilities are more suited to a battle with the flying Fire Demon rather than the King of the Monsters.
• Unintentionally Unsympathetic: Kiriko Tsujimori. Her main motivation is to get revenge on Godzilla for the death of her commanding officer, but said death happened because she didn’t obey his orders to retreat and he tried to drag her away physically; at no point does she take responsibility for this, and no one else calls her out for it. She also has a tendency to act cold and mean to her allies, particularly Hajime Kudo.