H H

PG-13, 123 minutes. Niantic, Groton, Waterford, Stonington, Westbrook, Lisbon.

"Godzilla" belches back to life in a new Warner Bros. film that harks back to the kid-friendlier versions of these Japanese "Kaiju" (big monster) movies. In an increasingly radioactive world menaced by radiation-eating beasties, the return of the almost cuddly "King of the Monsters" may be the least of our troubles. The opening credits cleverly revisit the 1940s and '50s atomic testing that awakened Godzilla once. Gareth Edwards' film then jumps to the late '90s, where mysterious goings on in mining operations in the Philippines and near nuclear plants in Japan hint that something bad is about to go down. Bryan Cranston is an American engineer working with his wife (Juliette Binoche) when a tragic accident means their little boy Ford will grow up without a mom. Years later, Ford (Aaron Taylor-Johnson of "Kick-Ass") is a Navy bomb disposal expert, and Dad's still hanging around the ruins of that Japanese reactor, a wild-eyed loon determined to get to the bottom of a cover-up. Something is awakening. Call it a MUTO (Massive Unidentified Terrestrial Organism). And call in the military. Dr. Ichiro Serizawa (Ken Watanabe) has been following developments all these years. He knows what's up. He's seen the Toho movies. He's heard the Blue Oyster Cult song. Visual effects master turned director Gareth Edwards impressed Hollywood with his low-budget version of this sort of story, "Monsters." Given a huge budget and hours to tell the tale, he delivers a lumbering movie that's as bloated as this new roly-poly version of the Big Guy, whom we only see in all his glory in the later acts.

- Roger Moore, McClatchy