Godzilla was always going to be a risky project for Gareth Edwards. His 2010 debut Monsters scored critical acclaim and the filmmaker immediately caught the attention of the major studios with their hefty budgets. Movie buffs could be heard sniggering when Warner Bros announced a reboot of Gozilla, but after landing Edwards as director and Bryan Cranston in the lead, things fell into place quickly.

GodzillaGodzilla Stars Bryan Cranston

And now, as Godzilla hits theaters across the globe, the critics have weighed in. And it's good news for Warners.  

"In form, it's no wham-bam VFX sizzle reel replete with sputtering, ejaculatory climaxes. It's the magnificently sustained equivalent of Ravel's "Bolero," with nuclear warheads in place of timpani rolls," said Eric Henderson of Slant magazine.

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"It's all fun in its own (by now) very far-fetched way but reinforces the sense that Godzilla movies will never fully be able to transcend their own innate, cheesy preposterousness," said Geoffrey Macnab of The Independent. 

"Edwards wants to do more than make our eyes bulge and our popcorn crunch," said Peter Howell of Toronto Star.

"Aiming for a titanic tale that is also seriously ominous, Godzilla opens with a bang and concludes with an exhilarating roar," said Claudia Puig of USA Today.

"The family dynamics give the picture a fierce human focus and Cranston is terrific as a lonely Cassandra; his surname Brody presumably a nod to Roy Scheider's Brody in Jaws," said Henry Fitzherbert of the Daily Express.

Godzilla hits theaters today (May 15, 2014).

Watch the extended 'Godzilla' trailer: