Description:Gamera, Japan's favorite jet-propelled giant flying turtle, was Daiei's child-friendly answer to Toho's Godzilla franchise. This decidedly juvenile staple of the 1960s became a modest success, but those early features, with cut-rate special effects and gooey child stars, rate little beyond camp nowadays. With such a legacy, his 1995 rGamera, Japan's favorite jet-propelled giant flying turtle, was Daiei's child-friendly answer to Toho's Godzilla franchise. This decidedly juvenile staple of the 1960s became a modest success, but those early features, with cut-rate special effects and gooey child stars, rate little beyond camp nowadays. With such a legacy, his 1995 rebirth Gamera, Guardian of the Galaxy, is a delightful surprise. Now taking over the franchise, Toho comes through with an old-fashioned giant monster adventure in candy colors with excellent special effects and an attitude that straddles serious science fiction and outrageous spectacle. Gamera, still a hero of the people, is given a mythic back-story and a foe of apocalyptic dimensions, the flying people-eating lizard Gyaos that the government, in all its misguided wisdom, decides to protect while attacking the misunderstood Gamera. There's romance (featuring the best come-on line ever: "Someday I'd like to show you around a monster-free Tokyo"), bureaucratic satire, and a well-meaning environmental message, but that's all gravy to the movie's meat: giant monsters battling it out in the traditional Tokyo war zone, laying waste to acres of lovingly detailed miniatures. That's what Japanese monster movies are all about.
---Sean Axmaker... (more)(less)
"First time seeing the movie in years and it still holds up. The characters are pretty good, the acting is decent and the movie was a nice fresh start for the Gamera franchise. "
Lamourderer added this to a list 8 months, 4 weeks ago
" I have to say that I love the old Gamera movies. They are silly and a fun alternative to the movies from Toho. However, it's the 90's Gamera trilogy that established everyone's favorite giant turtle as more than just a Godzilla knock off. This movie (and it's sequels) completely one up everything that was already great about the Heisei Godzilla movies."
Larry Talbot added this to a list 1 year, 3 months ago
"
Gamera (Heisei)
Height: 80 meters
Weight: 120 tons
Length of Shell: Approx. 60 meters
Width of Shell: Approx. 40 meters
Origin: Unknown, but believed to be over 150 million years old and created by an ancient civilization as a guardian of the Earth.
Top Speed (Underwater): 180 knots/hr
Top Speed (Flight): Mach 3.5
Abilities/Weapons:
1995:
Eyesight: Above average eyesight. Furthermore, Heisei Gamera's eyesight increased as well as his plasma blast accuracy.
Mouth: "Plasma Blast" - Fired from Gam"
Explore
Join Listal
Movies
TV Shows
DVDs
Music
Books
Games
Lists
Reviews
Images
39 comments
Watched in 2012 with Commentary
Watched in 2012
Monsters over Tokyo!!!
Legacy of Toho
History of Horror
Gamera