The latest Godzilla film is Godzilla, Mothra, King Ghidorah: Daikaiju Soukougeki (The Great Battle of the Giant Monsters). It is the twenty-fifth in the series and was released in Japan on December 15, 2001. Shusuke Kaneko, the tenth director in the series, was in charge of the production and script. The leading roles are played by Chiharu Niiyama and Ryudo Uzaki.

In the story, the heroine, who works for a TV station, and her father, who belongs to Japan's Self-Defense Forces, are trying to track down Godzilla, who has reappeared in Japan after 50 years. Having landed at Yaizu harbor in Shizuoka Prefecture, Godzilla heads for the hot-springs resort town of Hakone, Kanagawa Prefecture, where he fights Baragon (avatar of the earth) before moving on to the streets of Yokohama, where he wages a fierce battle with Mothra (a giant moth) and King Ghidorah, a gold, three-headed dragon.

All three of Godzilla's opponents are holy beasts charged with protecting Japan. Godzilla, as usual, is the bad guy. White-eyed and spewing radioactive flame, the monster has a lifelike appearance as he destroys Yokohama's cherished symbols, Landmark Tower (the tallest building in Japan) and the Bay Bridge (one of the world's longest suspension bridges). In reality, of course, Godzilla's movements are not those of a living being but are produced by an array of special-effects technology.

Photos: Toho Co., Ltd.