Gezora, Ganime, Kameba: Kessen! Nankai no daikaijû

Also known as "Yog: The Space Amoeba" which sounds mor Japanese.

The director is Ishirô Honda of home we all know and love.

Samuel Z. Arkoff as producer (US version)

Salvatore Billitteri as producer (US version)

Fumio Tanaka as executive producer

Tomoyuki Tanaka as executive producer

The standard formula "stay out of the water" film. Well, maybe not formulas as we get to cross over stories of the greedy developer, burnt-out photographer, scientist, female interest, Japanese style monsters, and even space Amoebas.

Everyone's agenda conflicts with each other's agenda. I was rooting for the amoeba. However, they may use bats for sound trouncing.

A sparkly-blue blob of light from outer space with the ability to take over and mutate/enlarge a host arrives on Earth. Soon, denizens of a tropical island are threatened by a stupendous squid, a colossal crab, and a titanic turtle. Eventually, the space creature takes over a human, allowing it to gloatingly communicate its nefarious plans of world conquest. An aversion to porpoises and bats yields a clue to the invader's weakness, and plans are made to fight back. Daikaiju-sized plot inconsistencies aside, this is a pretty good Toho monster opus. The tentacled monster ('Gezora') is a nicely done example of suit-mation - yes, we all know that there is an actor within, but the creature still looks good and, for an '60's film, is well integrated into the live footage. The turtle ('Kamoebas') is a little weaker in execution but the giant mutant crab ('Ganimes') is excellent - better (IMO) than the shrimp-based kaiju "Ebirah" ("Godzilla vs. The Sea Monster" 1966). I watched an adequately dubbed English version of the film, so can't comment on the acting or original script, but generally liked the portrayal of the characters (especially the 'natives', who, unlike most stereotypical peaceful islanders, were the ones who kept showing up with more and bigger guns). Directed by Toho's best known kaiju wrangler (Ishiro Honda) and with music by Akira Ifukube, the film has the look and sound of a Showa-era Godzilla outing and is an entertaining time-passer for anyone willing to suspend their disbelief long enough to fear for the lives of the intrepid islanders, who are all that stand between us and extinction. A must see for people concerned with their 'kaiju-life lists', as the three featured monsters are essentially one-offs in the Toho corral: ('Kamoebas' has a bit part as a washed-ashore corpse in "Godzilla: Tokyo S. O. S." (2003), 'Gezora' is briefly glimpsed in the opening montage of "Godzilla: Final Wars" (2004), and 'Ganimes' never again surfaces (despite being a nicely executed giant crab outfit)).

The enjoyment that you derive out of this movie is directly proportional to what your expectations are. I'm a big fan of Honda's work, he's made some of the very best giant monster (not just limited to Japanese kaiju) movies ever made - this is not one of them. It's really pretty bad - not Jun Fukuda bad, mind you, but in the world of Ishiro Honda's works it's quite the stinker.

And yet... It's somehow great. What makes it truly great can essentially be summed up in one word. Gezora. Gezora is a giant squid, or an octopus, or perhaps a cuttlefish, or... It really doesn't matter what Gezora is supposed to be, just know that (unlike the giant octopus from "King Kong vs. Godzilla") Gezora is not a slimy creature that flutters and unfurls itself along the ground like an octopus probably would if it could actually move outside of the water. No, my friends, Gezora is rubbery looking and he walks. Let's say that again so that the utter ridiculousness of it can sink in:

Gezora WALKS. On tentacles.

You see, they didn't have access to high-tech animatronics and kaiju films have always had an aversion to stop-motion animation, so, as was custom - it's a guy in a suit. But how does a guy in a suit impersonate the flowing movement of an octopus/squid/cuttlefish on land, you ask?

He doesn't. He walks around, dragging and swinging tentacles with reckless abandon. That, if for no other reason, is why this movie must be seen to be appreciated. Gezora is, by far, my favorite bad kaiju. Yes, even better and far more ridiculous than King Seesar. This may be difficult to believe, but he's even sillier (and more lovable) than Guiron - knife-headed foe of Gamera. You, too, will love Gezora if you just give him a chance - and that chance has arrived as of today, for "Space Amoeba" has been released on DVD.

Huzzah!

In Director Ishiro Honda's SPACE AMOEBA, those pesky space aliens are once again stirring up trouble by using giant monsters against us. This time, a giant squid creeps onto an island, waving its tentacles of doom. There's also a big crab and a titanic turtle.

So, it's calamary, crab cakes, and turtle soup tonight!

The subplot has the puny humans attempting to turn the island into a resort. Aliens hate resorts!

This isn't a bad effort from Mr. Honda, though one shouldn't expect non-stop monster fighting action. It's pretty low-key on that score...

This is another alien-invasion movie from Toho studios. It features space alien (s) that invaded a tropical island, where it mutates a squid, crab, and turtle to the size of Godzilla. The aliens' main purpose: to conquer Earth. We have a group of explorers visiting an island to investigate the whereabouts of a lost space probe. There, they encounter the alien monsters, and try to stop them, with the help of some very courageous island natives. The hero of the film is portrayed by Akira Kubo. He has been portraying so many heroic roles by the time he filmed this movie that him being type-casted started to get annoying. Aside from that, we have monsters that were surprisingly very campy and rubber-ish looking.

Overall, an OK kaiju film that should have featured more monsters, providing that the aliens mentioned that they were trying to mutate a lot of animals to attack Earth. The film contains a pretty exciting "rescue-the-earth" mission, nonetheless.

Grade B