Notzilla (2020) from writer and director Mitch Teemley is clearly a spoof of The King of Monsters, Godzilla. This had disaster written all over it, but instead Teemley planted tongue firmly in cheek, took cues from classic film spoofs and gives us a pretty entertaining movie.
Plot: in 1962 a young paleontologist, Dr. Honda rescues an egg after the Japanese army kills its mother. Escaping with the egg via a plane to Ohio, because Ohio means Hi in Japanese. He accidentally flushes it down the airplane toilet, it falls into the Ohio River where its found by physicists, Richard Blowhard and Shirley Yujest. Dr, Honda tells them that the kaiju will remain small as long as it doesn’t drink alcohol. What could go wrong?
This movie only works because of how aware it is. It knows its a low budget spoof, it knows we know, and they want us to know that they know that we know. Its full, as in every scene, of jokes, gags, tomfoolery and downright silly nonsense. Mitch Teemley could have held back on the jokes or tried to make it a more serious film but it would have been a disaster. Watching it i’m reminded of the 1984 movie Top Secret. Not a great movie, but very funny and entertaining one. Like Top Secret, Notzilla isn’t a great movie but it is funny and entertaining. Only downside i can complain about is its about 10 -15 min too long.
Overall its a solid 6 / 10. if you’re in the mood for a silly movie, give this a shot.
