May 24, 1998 -- "Godzilla" is almost a good movie, but it lacks a couple of essential ingredients, a good script and interesting characters.

Once again, Hollywood gives us a movie with great special effects, but not much else. Doesn't anybody in Hollywood know how to write a compelling story?

Some of the ideas in the story are clever, but the basic plot runs out of steam after the first 20 minutes, leaving the viewer with two hours of repetition, the intellectual equivalent of listening to Elmer Fudd sing "kill the leezard, kill the leezard" to the tune of "Flight of the Valkyries" for two hours, over and over.

Among the inside jokes in the plot is a character, Mayor Ebert, who looks like movie critic Roger Ebert. His campaign slogan? Thumbs up, of course. Yuk, yuk. The first boat attacked by Godzilla, is, of course, Japanese, a salute the cheesy old Japanese Godzilla films. A running gag has a bunch of French secret agents (led by Philippe Roche, played by Jean Reno) who have no trouble eavesdropping on the U.S. Military, but can't find a decent cup of coffee in New York.

The movie tries to blend humor with carnage, and doesn't quite succeed. There's a weak love story featuring Matthew Broderick, who plays biologist Nick Tatopoulos, and old flame girlfriend, Audrey Timmonds (Maria Pitillo). Although both characters are appealing, the romance isn't convincing.

What you've got left is a series of scenes with people, helicopters, submarines and helicopters chasing the lizard and then the lizard chasing people, helicopters, cars, etc. It gets tiresome after a while. This film could have been cut by at least 30 minutes without losing anything. As it is, despite good special effects and some funny bits, all that you are left with is an average movie that is just too long. This film rates a C.

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