THE RULES:
• Significantly bigger than a human
• Can't be an extra-large real world animal. For example, no JAWS, no CONGO, no MOBY DICK. Unless the animal is absolutely MASSIVE - like KING KONG.
• Similar to the above rule, not a *natural* dinosaur. No JURASSIC PARK franchise, no LOST WORLD, etc.
• Dragons are too much of their own genre to count as kaiju. Some exceptions on this list.
• Movie has to be *about* the kaiju - not just feature them as a side attraction along a journey or relish on another plot. SHANG CHI does not count even though it features two A+ Kaiju that battle late in the third act - the film isn’t about…
THE RULES:
• Significantly bigger than a human
• Can't be an extra-large real world animal. For example, no JAWS, no CONGO, no MOBY DICK. Unless the animal is absolutely MASSIVE - like KING KONG.
• Similar to the above rule, not a *natural* dinosaur. No JURASSIC PARK franchise, no LOST WORLD, etc.
• Dragons are too much of their own genre to count as kaiju. Some exceptions on this list.
• Movie has to be *about* the kaiju - not just feature them as a side attraction along a journey or relish on another plot. SHANG CHI does not count even though it features two A+ Kaiju that battle late in the third act - the film isn’t about them, and they don’t have enough screen time.
* There can be multiple or even many Kaiju that appear - like PACIFIC RIM - but they must all be unique and strange in their own ways, like in PACIFIC RIM or several of the Godzilla multi-villain face-off movies. THEM! Should probably not be considered a Kaiju film, but is too good to be excluded from this list.
There are some debatable, potential exceptions on this list - MIGHTY JOE YOUNG for example. The exceptions occur when a film spiritually, thematically, and/or structurally “feels” like an authentic Kaiju story.
