Godzilla - The Official Movie Novelization

It's not often that I write reviews on physical media such as books of this nature, but I haven't seen any reviews on here for the book yet (as it was just released today.) I thought i'd do the community a favor and post one. When I saw the Amazon listing go up for this a few months back I pre-ordered it, and I just got this book this morning on it's release date (Yay, Amazon Prime!) I spent most of the day reading it and just finished it around dinner time, a short while ago. It's about 300 pages, but it's an easy read (especially if you've seen the film.) I'll first start out by saying that I greatly love movie novels! They can make an awesome movie better by expanding on plot elements and including altered or deleted scenes, as the novels are based on earlier drafts of screenplays. Of those I have read, Alan Dean Foster has particularly written some phenomenal ones! Greg Cox is a new author to me, but I checked online and he's written several tie ins, including Star Trek and Underworld. This book was pretty standard fare for a movie tie in. Well written, providing another dimension of depth to the elements of the story by providing background information on characters, such as Ford's favorite ice cream flavor and Joe's history with his wife. Some of the dialogue was different from what I remember seeing on-screen, but I don't recall anything majorly different. Surprisingly, the book did a great job on the fight scenes in my opinion, explaining details of the path of destruction left by, *SPOILER ALERT* the two MUTOs and Godzilla with consistency and clarity. At some points the book did manage to get a little tedious, as the plot jumps around a bit in locations and situations. That being said, the pacing of the book wasn't rushed or too drawn out. It seemed just right. The buildup to the climax mirrored that of the film but went into more detail in doing so, I enjoyed that. I liked the addition of the added information on characters, it wasn't unnecessary like you would think-- until we get a BluRay/DVD release this will have to tide us over, as it has plenty of good details and the author, Greg Cox, really hit it out of the park with a solid, easy reading movie novel filled with plenty of detail. The novel did, in my opinion, a nice job capturing the emotion of the characters in the film. Serizawa is written exactly as his on-screen counterpart would compose himself and Joe Ford, especially. Bryan Cranston's role in the film was incredible, go watch the movie! All in all I enjoyed reading this novel. Fan of the movie? You'd probably like this, then. I'd bet there's details you missed. If you haven't seen the film yet I would really recommend it. I won't spoil anything, but, it is worth the price of admission for the last half hour of the film alone (which I might add was well-written in the novel.) For $7, I'd be hard pressed to find a better movie novel based on a recent film. 9/10

Pretty much followed the movie so I was pleased with it. Brought back memories. Well written and a must if you did not see movie.

This novel starts of in 1954, but quickly skips ahead to 1999, and there's been a mining accident in the Philippines and Dr. Ishiro Serizawa and his aide Dr. Vivienne Graham are sent to investigate. And when they investigate they find that the accident has uncovered something. Meanwhile Ford Brodie wakes up to find his mother Sandra, and his father, Joe, upset because there is a problem at the Janjira Nuclear Power Plant, and that the big day that Ford had planned, because it is his dad's birthday, will have to be put off. And for those who have seen the movie, we know that Ford's special celebration of his father's birthday will now be put off forever. This is because there will be a nuclear power plant meltdown, which is especially visual in the movie, and which will cause his mother's death. A death that will cause his father to have a breakdown, and from then on, nothing will ever be the same for Ford. This novelization will then jump to the present day (2014), and Ford is now an adult and he's back on leave from the service to visit his own new family, which consists of his wife Elle and his young son Sam As he's settling down to enjoy his break from diffusing roadside bombs he gets a call from Japan that his father has been arrested. Again. Leaving his young family to go help his father, and after some tension-filled discussion between the two, Joe and Ford, as in the movie, will make their way back to Janjira and their old home. Joe to get his old records, and Ford to accompany him, and in this scene the novel expands upon what we see in the movie, as Ford has to relive that last day of his life in their old home as he sifts through the reminders of a his past. And as we know it from the movie, the Brodies really step into it big time as they are caught and hauled unceremoniously back to ground zero. It is here that we meet Dr. Serizawa again, and after fifteen years he still has his faithful assistant Dr. Graham with him, and their both seriously deep into what has destroyed the nuclear plant. And what is there that once destroyed the plant will now wake up. Like the movie, this novelization will tell its tale from multiple viewpoints, something that I like, but it will be mostly the story of Serizawa as he documents one side, and Ford's, as he is caught in various circumstances as he tries to fight his way back to his family, and to stay true to his duty and fight alongside those others in the service and help destroy the MUTA (Massive Unknown Terrestrial Organism). First of all, this novel has a lot of the minor details from the movie, and it expands on them. For instance, there is the little scene where the Japanese goth teen is bailed out of jail. Not only is it included, but it is referenced several times in the novel, often when Ford is thinking about his family, or his father. There is the bittersweet homecoming scene in Janjira where Ford is looking at his father's Happy Birthday pennant, and the remnants of his terrarium, in the movie, but this scene is expanded upon and Ford's emotions are better delineated in the book. Of course, some things are better in the movie than the book. The plant's destruction and Elle's death, the creatures themselves, and the final battle, because, nothing shows big explosive action like video, but that's to be expected. Emotions are better on the page, while action is better on the screen. There're also some very good comparisons here. Ford finds a cocoon that has hatched something in his terrarium just as the MUTA had hatched in Janjira; the separation of the child Akio from his family and Ford's separation from his family; the saving of Akio as compared to the death of the little girl and her family, something that wasn't in the final cut of the movie I think. And yes, while this novelization is Commercial Writing 101, but when it's done well, it cool to experience. Now, of course, this novel ain't perfect, but what is. It's true that Ford has way too many adventures where he has way too many last minute escapes. I mean, at times I thought that I was watching "Die Hard", the "Godzilla" version. Also, much has been made by several reviewers about Cox' flubbing the geography of San Francisco, but, since I've never been there, these mistakes not only didn't bother me, but I didn't care. And true, the science is pretty damn dodgy, but, we are talking about a giant monster movie, and if you're worrying about the science behind the monsters being flawed, then you're not only reading the wrong novel, but you've probably went to see the wrong movie. This version of the Godzilla mythos was so much better than the last American turd fest, and Cox's novelization is a cool souvenir of the movie, with a great picture of the King of Dinosaurs on the cover. I have a real fondness for novelizations, and for this site I have reviewed these other novelizations: "Barb Wire": Novelisation by Neal Barrett, Jr. The Condemned (WWE) by Rob Hedden. The Frighteners: A Novel by Michael Jahn. Mutant Chronicles by Matt Forbeck. Ju-on Volume 1 by Kei Ohishi. Ju-On 2 by Takashi Shimizu and Meimu. O'Shaughnessy's Boy by Lebbeus Mitchell. Plasmid by Robert Knight (Christopher Evens). Reptilicus by Dean Owen. Whodunnit by Alan Radnor. Rabid by Richard Lewis.

The book is an excellent read and sticks for the most part to the movie. I would have liked to have seen more depth, but it was an enjoyable read. It is well worth the read if you see the movie especially with its ending. The ending in the movie and the one in the book are different. Possibly there will be alternate endings on the DVD.

Boa novelizaçao do filme Godzilla de 2014

I love it when someone writes a novelasition for a movie and this one is one of my favourites

非常に満足しています。 続編を誰か書かないかなあ。 PACIFIC RIMとかが出た後で市場が盛り上がったのだと思う。

Al realizar la compra (en las características) ponía que el libro era nuevo y etc. Acabo de recibirlo y no me ha gustado nada!! Arrugado y etc, ¿No hay manera de devolverlo o algo? Por que para una persona que cuida todos sus libros, este a sido el peor estado que he visto en mi vida. Respecto al libro, me gusta, ya que es la novela oficial de la película.

reading it was very interesting, I read it before seeing the movie and I have to say that it is exactly as the movie, the story is great , although I would've liked to see Godzilla in the movie as much as we see him in the book and unfortunately it seems the american have a hard time with the word indestructible if they don't show it in the movie they have to mention it in the book that he was wounded buy their planes shots guess it is just because they don't want to admit that they can't injure him, if you want to write or make movies about Godzilla you have to deal and accept that fact like it or not. They can admit that they can't win against nature and them they say that Godzilla is nature fighting back. But beside that the book is great, hoping that the sequel is going to be as good or better !!