This time around, an organization known as the "Godzilla Prediction Network" uses high tech equipment to track down the big lizard. They want to learn more about him and the reasons why he is so destructive. Meanwhile, a government agency also wants Godzilla. Since they are the government, they naturally want to kill him. Later on, it is found that Godzilla possesses a substance known as "Regenerator G-1" which allows his cells to fix themselves at an astronomical rate. In other words, his wounds heal with super speed (much like Wolverine of the X-Men).

While searching for Godzilla, they discover an alien spaceship that has been lying dormant in the ocean for millions of years. The ship is awakened after being exposed to the sun and emerges from the water. It immediately locks onto Godzilla, in an attempt to extract the Regenerator G-1. Godzilla finds himself losing to the starcraft and goes into hiding. The ship, meanwhile begins hovering over Tokyo skyscrapers and blowing the city to bits.

Godzilla plays himself in the Toho thriller Godzilla 2000

Wait a minute - doesn't this sound an awful lot like Independence Day, the blockbuster made by none other than Dean Devlin and Roland Emmerich? Yes it does (and believe me, it looks like it too). That's part of the reason why Godzilla 2000 is so much fun. I don't know if it was intentional or not, but you can certainly interpret the movie as an attack on the Hollywood filmmakers who trashed Godzilla's reputation with their multi-million dollar stinker. Godzilla, in this case, represents the Toho studios, who turned the idea of a guy in a rubber lizard suit knocking over model cities into a worldwide phenomenon. The spaceship represents Devlin and Emmerich, who got arrogant after their ID4 success and tried to out-do Toho. A battle royale rages between the two forces. Guess who wins? And it's true. As cheesy as the effects in Godzilla 2000 are, the movie is undoubtedly a whole lot more fun.

I was surprised that I enjoyed this film, but I did. It has more of a story than I expected (albeit an occasionally predictable one) and the effects are cheesy in an affectionate kind of way. Sure, those are obviously Matchbox cars Godzilla is stepping on, but so what? I think the film was made in good spirits, as a sly satire on Devlin and Emmerich. Toho is showing Hollywood who's boss when it comes to Godzilla. The movie knows the effects aren't flawless, and it knows that you know. Somehow, it all works in the end.

Godzilla 2000 just proves an old adage: cheap and creative beats expensive and dull any day.

( out of four)

Godzilla 2000 is rated PG for monster violence and mild language. The running time is 1 hour and 37 minutes.