For reasons I'm not figuring out some Japanese scientists working for the United Nations are conducting experiments in climate control and want to make it snow on a tropical island. First you heat the place up intolerably and then if it works it's supposed to snow. When it doesn't work you enlarge some already large insect life and you uncover the egg that hatches the Son Of Godzilla. When those nasty big insects start threatening the newly hatched young Godzilla, papa comes a running.

The only other things I haven't mentioned is a large spider who throws some nasty webs which look like ticker tape that can be melted with heat. Godzilla's breath does the trick or if you can get to your cigarette lighter, that works also. There's also a young woman who is the orphaned daughter of a Japanese anthropologist who came to the island before World War II and her character is seems to be a Japanese version of Rima the Bird Girl from Green Mansions who Audrey Hepburn played in the previous decade.

Unlike most Japanese monster films this one never gets to modern Japan where the monsters just keep tearing up the cities and countryside. This one stays on the island where Papa Godzilla tries to teach the young one how to survive and patiently waits for the kid to learn to use that breath of his. Instead of smoke that melts, the young Godzilla blows smoke rings that sound like monster flatulence.

But it's all pretty funny in its own way.

SON OF GODZILLA is a notable kiddified addition to the long-running franchise, perhaps made to cash in on the rival Gamera films which were being made at the same time and which went straight for the child-friendly market. This film's a lot smaller scale than previous instalments, with the action limited to a small jungle island and the only destruction limited to a scientific research base. The good news is that the titular character is a real hoot, played for laughs constantly and quite hilarious with it. Godzilla adopts the role of exasperated parent while the pair's wits are pitted against not only a trio of giant mantises but a huge spider too. The human story is very limited here, although the island native girl is fun, but the monster action is surreal enough for this to work.

Aka Son of Godzilla. Eager reporter parachutes onto an island where scientists are trying to implement a weather control system to improve food production. There are giant praying mantises. There is a native beauty. An egg hatches producing the son of Godzilla. Soon, Godzilla arrives to protect its son.

When a franchise gets to The Son of, it's on its last legs. All the music cues are doing silly comedic turns. It's getting more silly. The son looks bad and silly. There is now slapstick in the monster fights. It's moving into the Scrappy-Doo and Saturday morning cartoon area. I guess this may be good for kids but it is fully in the region of bad monster flicks. It's just way too silly.