Retrospectively, the film has received more praise, and is considered a favorite among Godzilla fans for its "audacious and simple story", "innovative action sequences",[5] and a "memorably booming" score by Akira Ifukube.

At the close of the 20th century (1999 in the dub), all of the Earth's kaiju have been collected by the United Nations Science Committee and confined in an area known as Monsterland, located in the Ogasawara island chain.

A special control center is constructed underneath the island to ensure that the monsters stay secure and to serve as a research facility to study them.

When communications with Monsterland are suddenly and mysteriously severed, and all of the monsters begin attacking world capitals, Dr. Yoshida of the UNSC orders Captain Yamabe and the crew of his spaceship, Moonlight SY-3, to investigate Ogasawara.

There, they discover that the scientists, led by Dr. Otani, have become mind-controlled slaves of a feminine alien race identifying themselves as the Kilaaks, who reveal that they are in control of the monsters.

With all of the monsters under the control of the UNSC, the Kilaaks call King Ghidorah, who is dispatched to protect the alien stronghold at Mount Fuji, battling Godzilla, Minilla, Mothra, Rodan, Gorosaurus, Anguirus, Kumonga and Varan.

Refusing to admit defeat, the Kilaaks produce their ace, a burning monster they call the Fire Dragon, which begins to torch Tokyo and destroys the control center on Ogasawara.

Special effects director Sadamasa Arikawa noted that Toho were going to potentially end the Godzilla series as "Producer Tanaka figured that all the ideas had just run out.

(The word chushingura refers to a famous historical story in Japan about the rebellion of 47 samurai who took revenge after their master was unjustly forced to commit suicide).

In an interview with David Miller, Ishiro Honda even said “the original idea was to show all of the monsters.” The first initial screenplay, preliminary titled Monster Total Advancement Order (怪獣総進撃命令, Kaijū Sōshingeki Meirei), by Takashi Kamura (as Kaoru Mabuchi) was submitted on November 22, 1967, and included a confirmed roster of Godzilla, Mothra (larva), King Ghidorah, Rodan, Baragon, Varan, Kumonga, Manda, Maguma, and Ebirah.

However, despite the director's fascination with this concept, the final movie devotes very little time to it outside of the brief introduction to Monsterland and showing Rodan feasting on a dolphin.

[2][11] As with Ebirah, Horror of the Deep, Teisho Arikawa was the actual special effects director for the movie, although Eiji Tsuburaya is credited for it.

During the movie's production, Toho arranged for a visit to the Mount Fuji set by a group of around 100 kids who were entering first grade, who got to see all the monsters in action, as well as actors Akira Kubo and Jun Tazaki.

Actress Yukiko Kobayashi, as well as the monsters, also paid a visit to a member of the child actors cast of an Imperial Theater of London production of Oliver!

At the climatic battle at Mount Fuji, Haruo Nakajima wanted Godzilla to reprise his “jumping shie” from Invasion of Astro-Monster, but Ishiro Honda removed it from the final film.

The largest was 1 meter (3 feet) long used mainly used for shots of the spaceship flying across the surface of the Moon, landing and taking off, and for battle with the Fire Dragon (UFO).

The film was reissued theatrically in Japan in 1972 where it was re-edited by Honda to a 74-minute running time and released with the title Godzilla: Lightning Fast Strategy (ゴジラ電撃大作戦, Gojira Dengeki Daisakusen).

[11] Among the more notable removed elements include Akira Ifukube's title theme (the credits are moved to the end of the film) and a brief shot of Minilla shielding his eyes and ducking when King Ghidorah drops Anguirus from the sky.

Variety reviewed the English-dubbed version of the film stating that it may appeal to "Sci-fi addicts and monster fans" while stating that the "plot is on comic strip level, special effects depend on obvious miniatures and acting (human) is from school of Flash Gordon" and that the film's strength relied on its "monster rally".

"[23] Matt Paprocki of Blogcritics said the film is "far from perfect" and "can be downright boring at times" but felt that "the destruction scenes make up for everything else" and "the final battle is an epic that simply can't be matched".

[5][25] In Steve Ryfle and Ed Godziszewski's 2017 book covering Ishiro Honda's filmography, they expressed that Destroy All Monsters is now seen as the "last truly spirited entry" in Toho's initial series of kaiju films, due to "its audacious and simple story, a bounty of monsters and destruction, and a memorably booming soundtrack from Akira Ifukube".