As "gigantic monster reptile attacks New York" movies go; you've got to admit that Godzilla delivers the goods; although its critical drubbing and box-office disappointment were arguably deserved. It's a shameless; uninspired crowd pleaser that's content to serve up familiar action with the advantage of really fantastic special effects; and if you expect nothing more you'll be one among millions of satisfied customers. There's really no other way to approach it--you just have to accept the fact that Independence Day creators Roland Emmerich and Dean Devlin are unapologetic plagiarists; incapable of anything more than mindless spectacle that can play in any cinema in the world without dubbing or subtitles. The whole movie plays out like a series of highlights stolen from previous blockbusters of the 1990s; it's little more than a rehash of the Jurassic Park movies. The derivative script is so trivial that it's unworthy of comment; apart from a few choice laughs and the casting of Michael Lerner as New York's mayor; whose name is Ebert and who closely resembles a certain well-known movie critic. Perhaps that's a clever hint that this movie's essentially critic-proof. It's stupid but it's fun; and for most audiences that's a fitting definition of mainstream Hollywood entertainment. The widescreen Special Edition DVD includes a wealth of bonus materials--audio commentary by the film's special effects supervisors; a "making of" featurette; the Wallflowers' music video "Heroes;" a photo gallery; and a variety of features related to this and all the classic Godzilla films from Japan. --Jeff Shannon