Scott-8

If I was a die hard fan who sat six weeks waiting to get in to see this movie, then you might think, well, you were expecting too much. No, I'm an average movie goer who snuck in to the early Friday show.

This was awful! I felt more like someone had licensed the "Star Wars" franchise and made a big budget overblown rip-off. I can't believe this was made by the same man who did the original, I only hope Lucas opts out on directing the next two.

The dialog was stale, the pacing was off, the lines were read, not spoken, the music didn't have any memorable rhythm and intruded more than accentuated, and things like the two headed announcer seemed a little too earth like.

Lucas even rewrote some of what made his original movies so good.

But what I hated most about the movie wasn't the character everyone loves to hate- Jar Jar Binks, it was cute little Anakin Skywalker. I've never understood why film makers want to stick in a kid to make it more "appealing," the effect is more often to ruin the film. And Jake Lloyd just isn't right for the part- THIS is going to be Darth Vader?

Not only that, we are told over and over about how wonderful and intelligent and here to save us Anakin is, and how he's the "chosen one." If Lucas expected us to feel foreboding at the tragedy that will forefall Anakin, he missed the mark. I was more irritated at how Anakin seemed to be there for product placements for games and toys.

George, you blew it this time, big. But you can still save it; let someone else direct, spin Jar Jar off into a Saturday morning show, and ditch the kid. Especially the kid.

I'm not a fan per se of the Japanese monster movies, although I do know who Godzilla is, but have never heard of Gamera before. This movie modernizes the Japanese monster movie agenda with newer and better special effects; several sequences work very well and are just as good as mainstream Hollywood, others are pretty lousy. Many scenes were shot outside in, where before it seemed all Japanese movies were filmed entirely on sound sets. At the heart though, is the main event of all these movies, two guys in rubber suits stomping all over a model of downtown Tokyo. It's nice to know in the era of CGI animation that model makers still have a bright future.

Gamera is not quite as heroic as Godzilla; he's a chubby tortoise with upward pointing tusks, but he does get around with a jet "engine" he has built in his shell. He also has a tendency to suddenly fall from huge heights and go ka-boom. As for the plot, well, the main part I remember about the movie was Japan looks really nice in the springtime.