Nuclear testing in French Polynesia converts an ordinary lizard into a giant mutant, Godzilla. The creature heads towards NYC destroying ships & drowning fishing fleets along the way. The French secret service interviews the lone surviving fisherman who mumbles the word "Godzilla".Scientist Niko "Nick" Tatopoulous (Matthew Broderick) studies effect of radioactivity in mutations In Chernobyl. Nick studies had shown how the Chernobyl accident changed the DNA of the earthworms in the area and made them 17% larger than they were before. Nick & is asked to help the team in charge of handling the Godzilla phenomenon. Nick then arrives in Panama where Col Hicks (Kevin Dunn) & Elsie (Vicki Lewis), are part of the team. Elsie is from the National Institute of Paleontology. Elsie is Nick's boss for the duration of the assignment.Audrey (Maria Pitillo) is an assistant newscaster in NYC & Nick's old squeeze. She wants a promotion but is not getting one as her boss Charles Caiman (Harry Shearer) keeps stealing all of her good stories and only gives her meaningless research assignments.Nick & team fly to Jamaica & take flesh samples of Godzilla from a boat destroyed by it, which washed up there. Phillipe Roache is French and is in Jamaica and says that he is from the Insurance company. He notices Nick carefully taking samples from the site. Plotting the course of the reptile, Hicks determines that it is headed for the Eastern Seaboard of the USA. Nick theorizes that Godzilla is a hybrid mutated aberration, a fallout from the nuclear tests conducted in French Polynesia.Godzilla arrives in NYC and causes mayhem, but then suddenly disappears somewhere underneath the huge city. Audrey sees Nick arriving in NYC on TV. Lucy (Arabella Field) is Audrey's best friend and Victor (Hank Azaria) is Lucy's husband and also Audrey's cameraman. Victor risks his life and gets Godzilla on film and becomes famous.Hicks arrives at the city and sets up a mobile command center in New Jersey. He asks for a status report, Sgt. O'Neal (Doug Savant) reports that Godzilla has disappeared. A French scientist (posing as an insurance agent) Phillipe Roache (Jean Reno) follows the mayor Ebert (Michael Lerner) & places a microphone on the back of his jacket collar. The mayor then goes to a meeting with Hicks and the crew with Roache and his team listening in. O'Neal and his team figure out that Godzilla is hiding in the tunnels underneath the city. Nick suggests baiting Godzilla out with fish, as that's what is common in every incident with the creature.Godzilla arrives & destroys everything when attacked. The missiles are not able to lock on to Godzilla as it is a cold-blooded creature. Nick takes a blood sample from Godzilla & finds that it is pregnant. Audrey meets Nick when he goes to pick some pregnancy tests & steals secret files & tapes from him. Nick theorizes that Godzilla is in NYC for nesting. Godzilla reproduces asexually. She makes a news report and submits it to her station. But to her horror, Charles steals her report and presents it as her own. Nick realizes that Audrey stole the tapes from him. Nick wants Hicks to help find the nest, but after the airing of Audrey's report, Nick loses all credibility.Nick is fired & Roache picks him up. Victor follows Nick into the French Secret Service mobile HQ. Victor connects with Audrey and informs her about Nick working with the French. Victor convinces Audrey that she should be the one resurrecting Nick's reputation in the world by proving he was right. Roache is part of the French Secret Service, Godzilla was made in the French Polynesia during the nuclear testing. Nick agrees to help Roache find the nest because Hicks doesn't want to find it. Nick helps Roache find Godzilla's nest. Audrey & his cameraman follow Nick into the NYC subway secretly. In NY, Army sets another trap & lures Godzilla & fires. Godzilla dives into the sea where subs attack him & take him down.Nick discovers Godzilla's nest in Madison Square Garden with 200 eggs. The eggs hatch & look for fish to eat & attack the humans. Audrey & cameraman manage to send a TV feed live from the media center of the Madison Square Garden asking the military to attack & destroy the building before the hatch-lings escape. Nick says that each of the hatch-lings is born pregnant and the 200 hatch-lings will convert to 40,000 Godzilla in less than a year.Airforce attacks & destroys the building just after Nick & all move out. Just then Godzilla arrives & is angry. Nick & the survivors get into a cab & run. They lure Godzilla to the Brooklyn bridge & send a message to Air Force to be available to kill Godzilla when it gets tangled in the wires. The plan works and Godzilla is killed. Roache takes all the tapes Audrey made & disappears. One egg survives.