Gappa - Frankensteins fliegende Monster

I was visiting this movie approximately in 1972, when communist allow us to see two or three Japanese "sci-fi" movies. In that time it has been for me something new, I've been a small boy, but I feel it is not good. But it has been from my lovely sci-fi section and now I bought a DVD and look at it with pleasure. There is so much mistakes... For example the rocket propulsion of that giant lizards, the fire from their mouths when they destroyed all military technology - tanks and aircraft, their bullet, bomb and rocket proof skin. The monsters can fly, walk and float under see, just one problem they have - they don't like high-frequency sound, so army can thrust their from the lake under Fuji. On the island, where from are the monsters are living the natives which are waiting tens generations for Japanese liberators, but almost all know the Japanese language! The end is beautiful and very sentimental - first and last time you can see a giant monster to cry:-)

If the plot seems a bit derivative, it was meant to. This was Nikkatsu studios first and only monster flick. It was produced strictly to cash-in at the height of the genre. The writers knew it had all been done before, so they took those cliches, and satirized them. Like the greedy entrepreneur, responsible for drawing the monster's parents to look for their baby. I like the extra touches, like the mother carrying an octopus in her mouth, (while stomping buildings) to feed her young. The effect scenes were shot at Eiji Tsuburaya's newly formed independent studio, which was producing the first UltraMan series at the time. Surprisingly, this film holds up very well, passing the test of time. Besides, these monsters show up only in one film. How many kaiju can you say that about ? This is also one of the few Japanese movies commercially available on video, widescreen and subtitled. Two appendages up !!!

Long thought to be missing but.......here it is. (Apologies to the Ramones.)

This was a late comer to the U.S. video ranks because its script was hard to change to make it more 'American.' Japanese satire would be lost on anyone without a significant knowledge of the country. Most would see this as just another dude in a rubber suit burning Tokyo again.

The monster itself was a bit different. Like Godzilla and Rodan hybridized. The usual happens. Military comes...fails...but this guy knows the secret.

I have a Japanese video copy. It's the original version. But the DVD release was necessary. And the racist tag line never existed.

My youngest picked this one out...after a couple of weeks of sitting through subtitled movies that he couldn't read through fast enough...

He said, "Dad, I want a monster movie that will make me laugh" and laugh my seven year old did. It was a cute movie with a cute trio of monsters. Couple that with a high-powered business man who flies off the handle for absolutely no reason and you've got Japanese monster GOLD, baby! Look for the same special effects as in the early Godzilla movies and the same dead subplots...but, the quality of this picture makes it fun to watch and make fun of...for example, they are inside a cave...where does the light come from? The "night" shots obviously shot in broad noon with a filter. Hilarious!

if you can get by the dubbing, and the sometimes missing of the translation of what was really meant to be said by the actors , then yeah this isn't really a bad movie at all, course i'm bias I love virtually all monster movies,, whether American , or Japanese. thought it was so ignorant of the man in charge for most of the movie not to return the "baby" gappa , meanwhile the mommy and daddy move closer towards Tokyo,, you will have to watch and see for yourself what happens next.. sure this isn't king kong or Godzilla but hey this really isn't a bad movie to watch. you just have to bear with it and try to follow along as best as you can that's all.