“Rodan” is a giant monster flick from Toho. The Rodan creature would later appear in several of the “Godzilla” films. His first appearance on the big screen was in his own film and I have to admit, it’s a little underwhelming. It is however notable for being the first Toho monster flick to be shot in colour.

A mining accident near a Japanese village unleashes giant insects and a giant flying reptile. The flying reptile, Rodan, terrorises Japan and neighbouring countries. The creature relentlessly attacks and causes mayhem everywhere it goes. Rodan must be stopped for the sake of the world.

The characters in this movie really are not memorable in the slightest. I even forgot about most of them whenever they were not on the screen. The giant insects and Rodan all look really good, the problem is that we do not get to see them all that often. For ages, all we see of Rodan are contrails with reports that a giant flying creature has been spotted. It reminded me a little of the first act of “The Giant Claw” (before the goofy giant bird is shown). In his later appearances in the “Godzilla” films, Rodan is seen more so it’s surprising that in his own movie, he barely features in it.

“Rodan” has some enjoyable action sequences and the crazy monsters are charming but a lot of the movie is just really dull. There is way too much talking and not enough of the monsters smashing into stuff. The characters are not remotely interesting so we need the monsters to be rampaging around Japan as much as possible. If you want to see Rodan at his best watch some of the “Godzilla” films such as “Godzilla: Final Wars”, “Invasion Of Astro-Monster” and even the American “Godzilla: King of the Monsters”.