I've seen quite a number of the Japanese man-in-rubber-suit monster movies, and this one rates right down there at the bottom. Gamera has always been confusing to me. At least with Godzilla I suppose there's a chance that radioactivity could turn him into a giant radioactive lizard.
But I think Gamera is a pretty hard sell, even to kids. Here we have a giant, fanged turtle that walks upright, breathes fire (even under water), and has rockets under his shell and uses them to fly. He also dances, and comes when children call, like a giant puppy with a shell.
But, if you can buy that premise, I suppose none of the other strangeness in this movie will effect you either. Zigra is a giant shark-like thing from another galaxy that can stand on its tail, has a razor bladed head, a bird's beak and some sort of fourth dimensional laser beam for a nose. It also speaks English (originally Japanese) under water. Even Gamera can't speak our language, and he lives here. Zigra has come to enslave humans and eat them.
Much like the other Gamera films, preschool children figure out all the answers to problems grown scientists have no clue about, then they call Gamera to come save the day. Which he does, of course, finishing up by playing his theme song on Zigra's ribs with a boulder. Nothing unusual in that, really. It's the sort of stuff that's been happening in Japan for decades.
Another gift from "Producer" Sandy Frank, who never met a film that was too awful to import to America. It makes me wonder what the Japanese think when we export some nuttiness like Spiderman to their country.
But I think Gamera is a pretty hard sell, even to kids. Here we have a giant, fanged turtle that walks upright, breathes fire (even under water), and has rockets under his shell and uses them to fly. He also dances, and comes when children call, like a giant puppy with a shell.
But, if you can buy that premise, I suppose none of the other strangeness in this movie will effect you either. Zigra is a giant shark-like thing from another galaxy that can stand on its tail, has a razor bladed head, a bird's beak and some sort of fourth dimensional laser beam for a nose. It also speaks English (originally Japanese) under water. Even Gamera can't speak our language, and he lives here. Zigra has come to enslave humans and eat them.
Much like the other Gamera films, preschool children figure out all the answers to problems grown scientists have no clue about, then they call Gamera to come save the day. Which he does, of course, finishing up by playing his theme song on Zigra's ribs with a boulder. Nothing unusual in that, really. It's the sort of stuff that's been happening in Japan for decades.
Another gift from "Producer" Sandy Frank, who never met a film that was too awful to import to America. It makes me wonder what the Japanese think when we export some nuttiness like Spiderman to their country.