I'll harken back to Vincent Canby's review of Phantom of the Paradise where he points out that you can't make a parody of something that is already so ridiculous. The premise of Notzilla is nothing original, it sets to spoof the long tradition of Japanese monsters, namely Godzilla. What sets this film apart is that despite the infinite spoofs of Godzilla films in the past, their hasn't really been a full length one. (Well technically that's not true, there are films like Death Kappa and the X from Outer Space Strikes Back. In retrospect some of the films it attempts to parody are already parodies in an of themselves). Notzilla doesn't really do anything different then your average episode of MST3K does. A film like this has to tell you what to laugh at and sometimes literally spelling out the joke.
The main issue that Notzilla has is it's length. The jokes and humor becomes constantly repetitive. This is a genre that has always been mocked and derided so you really have to be inventive in developing some original jokes. And every single joke is exactly what one expects. Add to that a copious amount of flatulence humor and it runs itself a bit thin. It can fill up a short, but not necessarily a feature length film. Also there tries to be an emotional story with the Japanese scientist and the woman scientist but it the film's tone and acting works against it. It wouldn't be all bad if the film didn't focus on it since you barely get any monster action.
The effects are unfortunately more reminiscent of Full Moon projects like Zarkor or Kraa. They lack the campy artistry of the old Godzilla flicks, or even the silly creativity of the Gamera films. I'd say more miniature sets instead of the use of rear projection would be nice. It's more of a parody of what general audiences picture old Godzilla movies to be, rather than a genuine deconstruction or parody. Simply put the effects in this makes something like Godzilla vs. Megalon look like Jurassic Park (And no, it supposed to look like that is not a valid excuse, you need to actually put in some actual effort).
If one is looking for an intelligent parody that takes apart the genre and flip some tropes then this won't really satisfy. There are a few laughs to be had but the end result is overall a miss.
The main issue that Notzilla has is it's length. The jokes and humor becomes constantly repetitive. This is a genre that has always been mocked and derided so you really have to be inventive in developing some original jokes. And every single joke is exactly what one expects. Add to that a copious amount of flatulence humor and it runs itself a bit thin. It can fill up a short, but not necessarily a feature length film. Also there tries to be an emotional story with the Japanese scientist and the woman scientist but it the film's tone and acting works against it. It wouldn't be all bad if the film didn't focus on it since you barely get any monster action.
The effects are unfortunately more reminiscent of Full Moon projects like Zarkor or Kraa. They lack the campy artistry of the old Godzilla flicks, or even the silly creativity of the Gamera films. I'd say more miniature sets instead of the use of rear projection would be nice. It's more of a parody of what general audiences picture old Godzilla movies to be, rather than a genuine deconstruction or parody. Simply put the effects in this makes something like Godzilla vs. Megalon look like Jurassic Park (And no, it supposed to look like that is not a valid excuse, you need to actually put in some actual effort).
If one is looking for an intelligent parody that takes apart the genre and flip some tropes then this won't really satisfy. There are a few laughs to be had but the end result is overall a miss.
