1godzillafan
07-06-2006, 09:53 PM
I'm not a very big Gamera fan. His original series was a complete insult to the Kaiju genre. It's a wonder it lasted as long as it did, even if it was aimed at little kids.
That said, I was watching the MST version of the original Gamera a few days ago and for some reason I felt the urge to dig out my old video tape of Guardian of the Universe, Gamera's restart film from 1995. This was probably only the third time I watched it since I blind bought it 6 years ago. I remember being very disappointed, especially since it was considered one of the greatest Kaiju films ever made.
But, upon watching it and the original back to back, I did enjoy it a great deal more this time around. No matter how one looks at it, this was indeed a step up from the original series. I still don't consider it the greatest of the Kaiju genre, but I admire it for being ambitious. Not only did they take a laughing stock like Gamera and churned out a respectful movie under his name, they even seem to take the idea of a giant turtle flying around like a UFO and say it with a straight face without it ever seeming wrong. I like the whole ancient civilization angle to explain it all. I also liked some of the wilder visual ideas they tried in the film, like trying to trap the Gyaos in the baseball stadium. The Godzilla films always stayed out in the open, and I thought that was a pretty cool and refreshing idea. The darker tone was also welcome, even if it does feel rediculous given Deiei's kaiju creations have always been on the slightly out there side.
Still not fond of the whole psychic link angle. I wasn't all that into it during the Heisei Godzilla films, and I wasn't here either. "Gamera needs my strength!" So he's the all mighty Guardian of the Universe but he needs to draw his energy from a 14 year old girl? Bull shit. Perhaps this was just their way of trying to keep "Friend to children of all!"
But it did get me to blind buy the other two entries into this series off of Amazon. Haven't arrived yet, but my curiousity in this series will probably never be this high again. 3 is supposed to be spectacular, so I hope it lives up to it's reputation.
On a sidenote, the new Gamera the Brave film just opened in Japan and flopped. Supposedly it was a much lighter take on the character than this series, and while I heard it was still respectable, just too much of a letdown after this series to hold iself up.
In conclusion, all Gamera conversation must bring one thing up, so I'll do it for you...
"Gamera is really neat!
He is made of turtle meat!
We've been eating Gamera!"
That said, I was watching the MST version of the original Gamera a few days ago and for some reason I felt the urge to dig out my old video tape of Guardian of the Universe, Gamera's restart film from 1995. This was probably only the third time I watched it since I blind bought it 6 years ago. I remember being very disappointed, especially since it was considered one of the greatest Kaiju films ever made.
But, upon watching it and the original back to back, I did enjoy it a great deal more this time around. No matter how one looks at it, this was indeed a step up from the original series. I still don't consider it the greatest of the Kaiju genre, but I admire it for being ambitious. Not only did they take a laughing stock like Gamera and churned out a respectful movie under his name, they even seem to take the idea of a giant turtle flying around like a UFO and say it with a straight face without it ever seeming wrong. I like the whole ancient civilization angle to explain it all. I also liked some of the wilder visual ideas they tried in the film, like trying to trap the Gyaos in the baseball stadium. The Godzilla films always stayed out in the open, and I thought that was a pretty cool and refreshing idea. The darker tone was also welcome, even if it does feel rediculous given Deiei's kaiju creations have always been on the slightly out there side.
Still not fond of the whole psychic link angle. I wasn't all that into it during the Heisei Godzilla films, and I wasn't here either. "Gamera needs my strength!" So he's the all mighty Guardian of the Universe but he needs to draw his energy from a 14 year old girl? Bull shit. Perhaps this was just their way of trying to keep "Friend to children of all!"
But it did get me to blind buy the other two entries into this series off of Amazon. Haven't arrived yet, but my curiousity in this series will probably never be this high again. 3 is supposed to be spectacular, so I hope it lives up to it's reputation.
On a sidenote, the new Gamera the Brave film just opened in Japan and flopped. Supposedly it was a much lighter take on the character than this series, and while I heard it was still respectable, just too much of a letdown after this series to hold iself up.
In conclusion, all Gamera conversation must bring one thing up, so I'll do it for you...
"Gamera is really neat!
He is made of turtle meat!
We've been eating Gamera!"