700Godzilla

(Photo by Warner Bros. / courtesy Everett Collection)

Godzilla celebrates its 25th anniversary!

Born out of nuclear brimstone, the Godzilla series since 1955 has, by turns, served as a manifestation of ecological fears and unchecked human aggression, a satire on politics and government bureaucracy, and a vehicle for giant monsters yelling each other to death.

In this countdown of the best Godzilla movies ranked by Tomatometer alongside the worst, we have the aformentioned 1955 original, and the kaiju-popularizing American version (Godzilla: King of the Monsters!) with Raymond Burr. Naturally, Japan became Godzilla’s deathmatch ring for decades, with title bouts featuring Ghidorah, Space Godzilla, Ebirah, Mechagodzilla, and more terrors of the deep, earth, space and beyond.

Hollywood productions have come in the form of the 1998 disaster epic, the 2014 update, and now, five years later, Godzilla: King of the Monsters. Warner Bros. is going all claws in with their Monsterverse, as Godzilla vs. Kong stomps into theaters in 2020. Before then, we’re ranking all Godzilla movies by adjusted Tomatometer. Let them fight! —Alex Vo

#1

p21718 p v8 aa

Adjusted Score: 22583%

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: Scientists freeze a radioactive dinosaur and contend with a horde of lethal creatures formed from its cells…. [More]

#2

ems

Adjusted Score: 100998%

Critics Consensus: More than straight monster-movie fare, Gojira offers potent, sobering postwar commentary.

Synopsis: A fire-breathing behemoth terrorizes Japan after an atomic bomb awakens it from its centuries-old sleep…. [More]

#3

p3491 p v8 ad

Adjusted Score: 92270%

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: Japan comes under attack from two monsters in a giant monster battle between a rampaging Godzilla and the colossal genetically… [More]

#4

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Adjusted Score: 89370%

Critics Consensus: Godzilla Resurgence offers a refreshingly low-fi — and altogether entertaining — return to the monster’s classic creature-feature roots.

Synopsis: A mysterious monster emerges from Tokyo Bay and wreaks havoc upon Japan…. [More]

#5

p5356 p v8 aa

Adjusted Score: 62433%

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: An Okinawan monster-god helps Godzilla defeat his bionic double…. [More]

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#6

p3486 p v8 aa

Adjusted Score: 84814%

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: A U.S. newsman (Raymond Burr) in Tokyo recounts the story of a huge dinosaur roused from the sea by an… [More]

#7

p21719 v v8 aa

Adjusted Score: 20722%

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: A radioactive dinosaur fights a genetically engineered monster and battles pterodactyl Rodan for custody of a reptilian infant…. [More]

#8

p35403 p v8 ac

Adjusted Score: 15848%

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: Mothra’s twin fairies appear with a warning to Japan… Kiryu (aka Mechagodzilla) must be put to rest at the bottom… [More]

#9

p21720 p v8 aa

Adjusted Score: 30465%

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: After a meteorite awakens Godzilla, Mothra and a dark counterpart named Battra join forces to defeat him…. [More]

#10

p5845 p v8 aa

Adjusted Score: 43147%

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: Godzilla, Rodan and Mothra team up to save mankind from the deadliest threat of all — a fire-breathing space monster…. [More]

#11

ems

Adjusted Score: 89224%

Critics Consensus: With just enough human drama to anchor the sweeping spectacle of giant monsters smashing everything in sight, Gareth Edwards’ Godzilla satisfyingly restores the franchise’s fire-breathing glory.

Synopsis: Ford Brody (Aaron Taylor-Johnson), a Navy bomb expert, has just reunited with his family in San Francisco when he is… [More]

#12

ems

Adjusted Score: 93681%

Critics Consensus: Delivering squarely on its title, Godzilla vs. Kong swats away character development and human drama to deliver all the spectacle you’d expect from giant monsters slugging it out.

Synopsis: Legends collide in “Godzilla vs. Kong” as these mythic adversaries meet in a spectacular battle for the ages, with the… [More]

#13

p3189 p v8 aa

Adjusted Score: 24226%

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: Scientists (Jun Tazaki, Yoshio Tsuchiya) face Godzilla, Rodan, Mothra and more obscure Japanese monsters sent by she-aliens…. [More]

#14

p14725 v v8 aa

Adjusted Score: 42519%

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: The monster dinosaur wrecks Tokyo some more and meets a monster plant created from his own cells…. [More]

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#15

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Adjusted Score: -1%

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: The human race takes to the stars and abandons Earth after Godzilla wreaks havoc upon the planet. Thousands of years… [More]

#16

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Adjusted Score: 15905%

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: Godzilla and Angorus fight three-headed dragon Ghidrah and huge bird Gigan at a cartoonist’s theme park…. [More]

#17

ems

Adjusted Score: 64211%

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

#18

p32536 p v8 ab

Adjusted Score: 43449%

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: Three monsters battle the giant lizard to prevent it from destroying Japan…. [More]

#19

p809 p v8 ac

Adjusted Score: 31806%

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: Godzilla fights pollution in the form of living sludge found by a scientist (Akira Yamauchi) and his son (Toshie Kimura)…. [More]

#20

p7323 v v8 ad

Adjusted Score: 60441%

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: In this Japanese monster movie, the massive Godzilla comes to the aid of his newborn son, who hatches from an… [More]

#21

p32534 v v8 aa

Adjusted Score: 11291%

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: The Japanese government has devised a new weapon, dubbed the Dimension Tide, in their fight against radioactive monster Godzilla (Toshiyuki… [More]

#22

ems

Adjusted Score: 17949%

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: The powerful, three-headed Ghidorah threatens to destroy the world…. [More]

#23

p15748369 p v8 aa

Adjusted Score: 15771%

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: Haruo and his allies encounter a mysterious aboriginal tribe descended from the humans left behind on Earth 20,000 years ago,… [More]

#24

p26089 p v8 aa

Adjusted Score: 58787%

Critics Consensus: Godzilla 2000 is cheesy, laughable, and good entertaining fun.

Synopsis: It has razor sharp teeth in a gargantuan mouth; claws that can cut through steel; a roar that echoes back… [More]

#25

p3721 v v8 ab

Adjusted Score: 57087%

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: An astronaut (Akira Takarada) goes to Planet X to fetch Rodan and Godzilla, lent to aliens supposedly in distress…. [More]

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#26

p7109 v v8 aa

Adjusted Score: 16603%

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: Godzilla and Mothra put aside their differences to battle a giant crustacean that can regenerate its broken limbs…. [More]

#27

p23797 v v8 ac

Adjusted Score: 15017%

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: Godzilla prepares for battle with an extraterrestrial creature that was formed from his own particles in space…. [More]

#28

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Adjusted Score: 20902%

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: Time-travelers’ efforts to prevent a dinosaur’s mutation result in the creation of a three-headed dragon that terrorizes Japan…. [More]

#29

p3743 p v8 ab

Adjusted Score: 53369%

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: The monster ape and dinosaur toss around a boulder and slug it out on Mount Fuji…. [More]

#30

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Adjusted Score: 24976%

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: Humans revive a frozen and gargantuan creature to save the Earth from sinister aliens and the monsters they control…. [More]

#31

p5963 p v8 aa

Adjusted Score: 12519%

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: The real Godzilla fights a cyborg Godzilla and another monster sent by aliens…. [More]

#32

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Adjusted Score: 62087%

Critics Consensus: Godzilla: King of the Monsters delivers spectacular kaiju action — and reaffirms that cutting-edge effects are still no substitute for a good story.

Synopsis: Members of the crypto-zoological agency Monarch face off against a battery of god-sized monsters, including the mighty Godzilla, who collides… [More]

#33

p4217 p v8 aa

Adjusted Score: 28922%

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: Godzilla and flying cyborg Jet Jaguar meet a giant cockroach and a big black chicken sent by Seatopians…. [More]

#34

p8740 p v8 aa

Adjusted Score: 21584%

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: The Japanese dinosaur wakes up and swims toward Tokyo, leaving a wake of nuclear destruction…. [More]

#35

p1494 v v8 aa

Adjusted Score: 8325%

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: A bullied schoolboy dreams of traveling to Monster Island, where Godzilla’s son, Minya, is also dealing with the the problems… [More]

#36

ems

Adjusted Score: 26284%

Critics Consensus: Without compelling characters or heart, Godzilla stomps on everything that made the original (or any monster movie worth its salt) a classic.

Synopsis: During a nuclear test, the French government inadvertently mutates a lizard nest; years later, a giant lizard makes its way… [More]

#37

p164194 p v8 aa

Adjusted Score: -1%

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: Japanese scientists create a robotic creature to fight a destructive monster…. [More]

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