Gamera the Brave (2006)

recommended

Admirable film.

Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

One of the best movies of the year! Incredible from the beginning to the end.

If you're a fan of the Heisei Gamera films, you may find yourself displeased with this film, but give it a chance. Gamera the Brave marks a return to the Gamera franchise's roots as a friend of children and the movie is primarily aimed at this demographic. However, I will say that it's like other good children's movies in that it's well done enough that people of all ages should find a certain entertainment value.Starting with the core essence of the movie, the plot may be unoriginal but it works. It never set out to be some legendary masterpiece of cinema anyway. Our characters work well with each other and have good chemistry; the friends act and feel like friends, the parents act like parents, all good. The visuals used are excellent. Gamera looks good enough for what it is. I'm torn here since I'm not really a fan of this design but it is appropriate for depicting Toto as a young Gamera and not the adult we saw in the Heisei series, for example. It is what it is. I have to insert a cliché here and admit I was disappointed to see Gamera's classic roar discarded in favor of something generic, but I suppose it could've been worse. Zedus looks genuinely superb here in almost any angle or action sequence. Overall, the suits here are darn good and lend some credibility to the continuation of suits in a world that transition to CGI some time ago. To continue, the miniatures and model cities looked excellent. Someone clearly took care in making them.Gamera the Brave is thoroughly well executed and may not continue in the fashion of the dark Heisei trilogy, but one must be able to appreciate more than just one style of film. I miss the 1990s Gamera movies as well, but this movie does its job well. Sadly, Gamera the Brave did not perform well at the box office in Japan, earning only $2.6 million. The word on the 'net is that this was to be the first film in a new trilogy but that was canceled after Gamera the Brave's financial failure. Numerous factors have played a role in Gamera's future being in limbo, but let's hope this wasn't the last outing for our favorite flying turtle.

The original Gamera series quickly aimed for the 5 to 8 year old set after two attempts at the standard "adult" monster film typified by the Godzilla series (although these kept lowering the age bracket with each film). Gamera films usually revolved around turtle loving children put in peril by aliens until their rescue by Gamera. The children sometimes would help Gamera either by cheering him on or in a more disgusting case, going into his body and fighting a parasite infection. Strangely, the original Gamera films features more gore and gross damage to the monsters then the Godzilla films ever attempted. The revived series directed by Shusuke Kaneko featured a more mature approach although Gamera had a psychic connection with a teenage girl. Kaneko also introduced a more integrated approach to the kaiju genre and raised the bar for all kaiju films. The re-revived series has aimed to return to Gamera's roots in the 1960's, once again presenting Gamera as "friend of all children".Director Ryuta Tazaki comes from Japanese sci-fi action television with quite a resume with the Japanese Power Ranger Shows and never ending Kamen Rider series. This film shows little of his TV roots as this film is very well directed, well photographed with some modest experimentation with visuals and sound design. The film has a sort of naturalism that you don't usually get in a kaiju film. The hero just lost his mom to a car crash and his friend is afraid she won't live thru a heart operation in the hospital. THe parents are working class shop owners. A few moments of over-sentimentality and cuteness are here but the rest of the film makes up for it. The special effects live up to the level of the Kaneko Gamera films with a couple of shots that are excellent. Tazaki doesn't have Kaneko's dramatic flair for the action scenes but they are well done. As a note, this film does have some rather gross green gore when Gamera is hurt during the fights, this may upset children here in the west.Once again Gamera sets a high standard. Recommended.

Restart of the Gamera franchise is a throw back to "the kid in peril" Gamera movies of the 1970's is actually better than it has any right to be.The movie begins in 1973 when Gamera dies fighting a group of Gaos (bat-like creatures). Jump to now. Strange monsters are a thing of the past and the government disbands its giant monster bureau. Meanwhile in a town near where Gamera died, Toru, a young boy, is dealing with the death of his mother a year before. His dad runs a local diner and doesn't have time to really spend with him so he gets by playing with his friends including the girl next door. The boy notices an odd red light on an island in the harbor. Swimming over to investigate Toru finds a glowing red stone and an egg from which hatches a tiny turtle. Toru names the turtle Toto, then takes it home as a pet. He is forced to hide Toto from his dad since Dad won't allow a pet because of the diner. To Toru's amazement Toto begins it grow rapidly and in a few days is almost as big as Toru himself. More amazing is the fact that Toto can fly. Crossing through this story are news stories of missing ships in the sea. No one is sure whats going on. Whats going on is a giant monster from under the sea has begun to develop a taste for human flesh and he's soon come ashore where the people are plenty. Will Toto be able to grow fast enough to save his friend Totu? Of course he can.This is a weird hybrid of the "Gamera and kids" films from the 70's and the gorier Gamera movies of recent vintage. Its a movie that shouldn't work for any number of reasons, the turtle is overly cute, the film for a good chunk of it is really a family drama/comedy which go against the nasty monster attacks. Somehow, I don't know why, it works. Maybe its because the characters seem real, even with the giant monsters. For some reason the filmmakers make you care about everyone, even the men in suit monsters. I was really pleasantly surprised.No, its not a great film, especially when you compare the film to some of the recent giant monster films from Japan. But the film manages to over come its flaws (in particular a too precious for words kid relay toward the end of the film) to be a really solid adventure film that is more than just some people in suits beating on each other. (And yes the battles are, for the most part really good).What may confuse some people is the cute look to the new Gamera, which makes the film seem like it would be perfect for really small kids. I'm certain that kids will like the film, but parents may wish to consider whether their kids can handle the blood (green though it maybe),some graphic spearing and the tearing of monster flesh. (I'm probably over stating the violence, however having only the pictures on the DVD case to go by, I was a little shocked by the couple of gory shots.) You have to keep in mind what type of movie this really is.For me, a long time Gamera fan, this was a real treat. Worth seeing for anyone who likes the giant monster genre or those just wanting a non-run of the mill "family" movie (with giant monster fighting to the death) 7.5 out of 10, 8 out of 10 for IMDb purposes.

I was able to catch one of the last showings of Gamera this week in Hachioji, Tokyo, and I can say that the experience was a good one.In 2004, as many already know, Toho announced that the king of kaiju, Godzilla, will be taking an indefinite vacation. This of course has happened before, but in Godzilla's absence someone needs to take the reigns. So, like before, the torch was passed to Godzilla's younger brother/rival Gamera.Gamera took the torch, and ran with it. Hard. Here are some of the good things about this movie: -Characters: The main human is a young boy (as always, after all, Gamera IS the friend of children). His mother is dead, and he lives with his father on an island fishing community. Gamera has a history on the island, so when the boy finds a fast-growing baby turtle which flies, some eyes are opened immediately... Other characters include a female neighbor with heart problems, the boys' friends, his father, and some evil government people. All are likable (or hateable), and the acting as far as I could tell was spot-on.-Story: Its there, so this is not just the full-on kaiju fightfest that characterizes many Godzilla and Gamera movies. But we do have full-on kaiju fighting...-Full-on Kaiju Fighting: This is probably the reason most people will see this movie, and it doesn't disappoint. The enemy monster this time around is a man-eating dinosaur named Jidas, and while he is not as charismatic as some of Gamera's other foes, he exudes evil and you will be rooting for the big-eyed turtle the whole time. The special effects are absolutely top-notch, in fact I think Jidas is one of the most convincing dinosaur suitmations I have ever seen.-Music: Powerful when it needs to be. Exactly what it should be in a kaiju movie: it aids the awe that someone should feel when watching 30-story monsters duke it out.Why I didn't give it a ten: The only thing that disappointed me about this movie was the fact that they replaced Gamera's signature roar with a stock roar, which I believe has been previously used for various incarnations of King Kong. But, this is a very minor complaint. Go see this movie when you can!