Gamera

Gamera (1965)

Runtime: 78 minutes

Directed by: Noriaki Yuasa

Starring: Eiji Funakoshi, Harumi Kiritachi, Junichiro Yamashiko, Yoshiro Uchida, Michiko Sugata

From: Daiei Studios

What a blast from the past this was for me: 

This universe was strangely not incredulous of the news that there suddenly is a 60 meter tall FLYING bipedal fire-breathing turtle roaming around.

As a kid I actually saw this film and the first few sequels on VHS; they were videostore rentals. A few years ago I purchased for real cheap the entire 11 movie franchise on DVD. Sure, it's from the not so revered Mill Creek but at least they are all in widescreen and are subtitled prints. Soon after purchase that set got misplaced; just last night I finally found it again so in the future I'll make my way through the set. The sequels quickly became silly and juvenile, but the original was more serious... although the inspiration for this initial kaiju flick was blatantly obvious.

In fact, you could argue this was a ripoff of Gojira, from how the monster is let loose due to nuclear weapons to how it breathes fire... stomps around miniature sets and scientists have to figure out a unique solution to eradicating it because electricity and military weapons do not work against it. In Gamera's case the theme that was stressed was not Japanese guilt over World War II but instead the Cold War so naturally Japan wishes those two sides would get along. This does have something that the original Godzilla doesn't: an annoying little boy who thinks the kaiju is his pal. This goofball is named Toshiro and he is pretty much the “I Like Turtles!” meme kid but thankfully for me he was not such an irritant that he ruined the movie... even if he does some dumb S. Other things like the movie at times spinning its wheels and killing time was a bigger issue for me.

This is lesser than the 1954 Godzilla in just about every facet, but that does not mean this is a bad movie. There is the expected kaiju action and as wacky as a 60 meter tall flying bipedal fire-breathing turtle is, from memory this is far more serious than the juvenile sequels that were to follow.