Godzilla Minus One fans reveal “proper” way to watch movie on Netflix

Godzilla Minus One has landed on Netflix, but did you know that there’s a “proper” way to watch it?

Up until now, there was no legal way to watch Takashi Yamazaki’s Oscar-winning Godzilla movie on streaming with English subs or dubs (leading to it becoming the most pirated film in the world).

However, this all changed over the weekend when Netflix unexpectedly added Godzilla Minus One to its library with subtitles and an English dubbed version. 

This week, fans who had also acquired the Japanese Blu-ray noticed there were some differences between the sound effects on the two versions. But they’ve also pointed out changes the streaming service made to the subtitles, with a few lines reading different to the theatrical iteration. 

“I did not really appreciate the changes to the subtitles that Netflix did, compared to the original,” said one on Reddit. “The meaning is the same, but some jokes were gone, some iconic lines were gone too.”

Another replied, “I agree. When Captain says ‘Ok, nevermind.’ Now they have him saying something like, ‘Ok, we’ll let the Takao handle this one.’ The original was better in my opinion.”

“The ‘Is your war over?’ shouldn’t have been changed in my opinion,” added a third. “That line in the theater hit so f*cking hard.” 

Over on X/Twitter, one fan commented, “A friend pointed this out and I just checked, Godzilla Minus One on Netflix has dubtitles (in which the subtitles match the English dub to the word) instead of proper translation subtitles . Hopefully Netflix does fix this. He mentioned the subtitles on VOD are proper.”

Well, fret not, as there is a simple solution: if you want to see the Godzilla movie with the original, theatrical subtitles, simply opt for ‘English’ rather than ‘English (CC)’ in the subtitles menu. 

The CC stands for closed caption, which is a direct transcription of the English dubbed version of the movie, designed for people who are deaf or hard of hearing to help better identify which person is speaking.

Meanwhile, the ‘English’ version is the original translation seen in the theatrical release, designed for viewers who don’t understand the language being spoken. 

One X/Twitter user explained, “For those watching Godzilla Minus One on Netflix with subtitles noticed that they were just the ‘dubtitles’, I found by choosing regular English subtitles and not the close caption option, you get the original theatrical subtitles. Just in case you didn’t know.”

Another Redditor pointed out, “The English (CC) is the one that is changed. The one that says ‘English’ only is the subtitle that was in the theaters.”

Now you know. For more on the famed kaiju, check out what’s happening with Minus One/Minus Color coming to Netflix. We can also tell you how tall Godzilla is and how old Godzilla is. For more new content, take a look at all the movies headed to streaming this month.