Gamera, the Giant Monster (1965)

I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

If you like to be scared, if you like to laugh, and if you like to learn a thing or two at the movies, this absolutely cannot be missed.

The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

First of all, he looks likes big serving dish with spikes. Secondly, he is still a turtle and the effects look ridiculous, like he is on a string or something. Then there are those awful children who befriend him. The little fat guy with the baseball cap. The scenes of destruction are as tiresome as can be with little or no imagination involved. I wonder if these silly movies could have been written a little bit better. Granted, what most people want to see is destruction with people running down the streets and buildings toppling over, but maybe some decent writing and a true science fiction plot (even a bad one) would have made it a little more engaging. Finally, the usual tanks and fighter planes that never work use up the first half of the movie before someone finds a more unique way to do something. Of course, the monsters always come back.

This production from Toho rival Daiei definitely does not compare to "Gojira", the high water mark among of all these Japanese monster movies; it doesn't have the same level of gravitas or panache. But that also doesn't mean that it's bad at all; it is pretty entertaining. Director Noriaki Yuasa creates some reasonably exciting action scenes. The acting from the main actors is good, but I watched the version where there are some hilariously awful thespians playing American bit parts. Tadashi Yamauchi composes a good music score, and the atmospheric black & white cinematography by Nobuo Munekawa likewise impresses. Best of all is Gamera itself, an interesting addition to the Japanese creature canon. It's well designed and performed in the best "man in a costume" tradition.Representatives from a college are visiting an Eskimo community to dig up information on the legend of an enormous turtle named Gamera when the Arctic is disrupted by an A bomb test. This creates a great big crack in the ice from which Gamera emerges. And it's a bad ass: a fire breathing, jet propelled thing that lays waste to much of its surroundings. Individuals such as scientist Dr. Hidaka (Eiji Funakoshi), his assistant Kyoke Yamamoto (Harumi Kiritachi), and photographer Aoyagi (Junichiro Yamashiko) are among those who are witness to the events, and it's up to the dedicated Hidaka and his associates to devise the best way possible of dealing with this out of control menace.Gamera is truly a force to be reckoned with here, as traditional weapons don't work against it; it seems to derive only sustenance from firepower. Finally, experts decide that a plan Z will be used. What this will involve should intrigue the viewer to some degree. Anyway, one hopes that this will work because it doesn't look like there will be any deus ex machina to help our heroes out. The main debit from this viewers' perspective is that annoying kid Toshio (Yoshiro Uchida) who keeps putting himself in danger because he's a turtle addict and is convinced that the big guy doesn't mean any harm. But overall this is still an amusing bit of escapism that is somewhat adult; the sequels, however, were decidedly more kid-friendly.This is good entertainment for fans of this genre.Seven out of 10.

Gamera's debut film and the rise legendary rival of Godzilla as the King of Japanese monster cinema. I'm going to say this right now, but I'm not much of a fan of Gamera's early films. There were a few interesting ones, like "Gamera vs. Gyaos" and "Gamera vs. Barugon", however, the original series went to sh*t at a much faster rate than the showa Godzilla films. 1968's "Gamera vs. Viras" is a staple to that statement and of course the series would only get worse till the 80s film "Gamera: Super Monster". This film isn't as good as "Gamera vs. Gyaos" and "Gamera vs. Barugon", but is far superior to latter entries.Positive notes, well for his debut, Gamera looks pretty awesome. The city stomping scenes are well done, of course Japanese studios by 1965 having had lots of practice. The pacing is brisk and believe it or not doesn't drag. Most kaiju films have interesting finales and if you haven't seen this one you'll either laugh or sit in awe. Either way good fun. And the score is far from Akira Ifukube quality, with wildly switching moods, but it hold together.Bad points, eh, too much borrowed from other monster movies. A monster emerging from the ice, obviously lifted from "Beast from 20, 000 Fathoms" and the black and white look of the film is borrowed, if you will, from the original 1954 Gojira. I suppose that's what happens when you come in that lame in the game. Plus the child character kind of grated on my nerves, a true turtle lover all right. The movie takes itself rather seriously with notions of the Cold War as opposed to the 1965 Toho release "Invasion of Astro Monster" which was light-hearted but more memorable. That film had awesome colorful cinematography, the likes of three monsters (Godzilla, Rodan, and King Ghidorah!!" and a fun and yes zany plot. Plus it was scored by the maestro Akira Ifukube. Comparing it to this film isn't really fair, but Godzilla for the win this round.However, I still highly enjoy the vintage sci-fi and I recommend the movie to classic sci-fi lovers.

This film features a giant turtle kaiju which is simply a knock off of Godzilla and that is that. Sure, the Gamera films in the 90's did feature good effects and darker stories, but I would still take a Godzilla film as it was the film that inspired the people at this studio to make their fire breathing turtle. This would be the first of several films that would, like the Showa era Godzilla films get more kid like and goofy as they went on. Godzilla would, however, at least close out the Showa era with a couple of good films, Gamera would not. Granted, the woman in the bikini in the Zigra film at least looked really good. This film is the origin film where we get to see Gamera emerge for the first time and would feature no other monsters other than the title monster. Godzilla would become more friendly as his movies progressed, but in his first film, he was clearly the villain as he stomped through Tokyo and created damage and mayhem. Here, Gamera does just about the same, only they try to make him sympathetic too as he saves a very deranged child named Kenny in the dubbed version I watched. It is almost laughable as at one point Gamera lets his fire breath loose on people trying to escape the terror this beast unleashed and then you have Kenny trying to persuade everyone that Gamera is good. This aspect of the film is a fatal flaw and one not present in Godzilla, he was bad and he was killed. The Godzilla in the later Showa era films would be a different Godzilla. However, the goofy lovable monster in the later Gamera films is still this same monster that killed a few thousand people.The story is a bit messed up at the beginning. There is an expedition in the arctic and something with some planes overhead and they interject some Americans in this, I am guessing the same way they put Raymond Burr in the original Godzilla. The original Japanese Godzilla film is immensely better than the Americanized version and I am guessing it is the case for this one too, but I have only seen the Sandy Frank version. Well, Gamera is released rather quickly, not too much build up here and soon there are reports of a UFO too! Well, Gamera reemerges at a lighthouse and saves Kenny, the dark child who loves turtles and will always stand by Gamera no matter how many he kills; however, the Z plan lurks on the horizon and may prove the only way to defeat the might Godzil...Um, I mean Gamera.I saw this film as an episode of MST3K. The show would do several of the Gamera films of the original era only skipping three of them, though it is a shame they didn't do the one with the giant squid monster. This one provided a lot of laughs as they riffed poor Kenny too and Joel was on top of his game here doing Kenny's voice. All the episodes featuring Gamera films are pretty good, the least funny being the next film in the series featuring Baragon, probably because the gang on the satellite of love did not have a child who loves Gamera to riff! So, no, I am not a huge Gamera fan as to me it is just a rip off of Godzilla. I did like the three Gamera films made in the 90's a bit, but at the same time, I found that they were overrated as well. That they were trying too hard to distance Gamera from the monster that is said to be friend to children. I also thought the third part of that particular trilogy was really anticlimactic. Here, we get what we normally get, huge monster stomps through city while nothing anyone does seems to hurt said beast. Heck, not only had Godzilla done this, but the British too, by this point with the film Gorgo. Which, coincidentally also features a child who delights in the deaths of many people as he pulls for the monster.