Daikaijû kettô: Gamera tai Barugon

This used to be my least favorite of the original Gamera series but I watched it recently (minus the Joel and bots comments, since I have the old MST3K episode on tape) and I was really surprised with the special effects. The opening scene where Gamera (the narrator butchers his name too) attacks the damn was well done. There are a lot of cool miniatures and as it has been mentioned several times already- this movie is 'kenny' free.

Sadly, there really isn't a lot going on in this film. I do like the overall weirdness of it all: a giant flying turtle battling against a creature who attacks people with his tongue and a rainbow! Hey, it was the 60s ... what can I say? Sady Franks either had a brainstorming session or they were high when they made these movies.

There's actually a coherent plot to this movie and I suppose Gamera changes from a baddie to a good guy in this one. They just really stretch everything so thin and there aren't enough monster fight scenes to make me happy. I'm being really generous with rating this ...

This was the first color sequel to the original black and white GAMERA, and it's pretty good though you have to be patient in waiting to see much of our favorite fire-breathing, flying turtle. A new monster named Barugon (not to be confused with the similarly-named creature from the Toho series of Japanese giant monster movies) is born and has the ability to freeze people and cities. The monster suits in this series were never quite up to the ones in the Godzilla films, but the effects in general are not too bad. The real fun in this one is savoring the villainous exploits of one of the main human characters... a sneaky creep named Onodera. He steals the show as one of a group of men on an expedition to New Guinea to retrieve a glowing opal believed to be worth millions. There's a fight sequence between this guy and another man who can barely walk late in the movie that's better (and much funnier) than the monsters' battle! **1/2 out of ****

Four men launch an expedition to the jungles of New Guinea to retrieve a valuable opal hidden in a cave during WWII. The jewel is brought to Japan, but turns out to be the egg of an ancient monster called Barugon, that hatches after being exposed to infra-red rays. The creature grows to enormous size and stomps cities; the authorities try different plans to try and defeat the beast, but fail. Gamera, the giant flying turtle, is attracted by Barugon's destructive rainbow energy beam and picks a fight.

Of the Gamera films I have seen thus far (the first four in the series), this is the best, which isn't saying much, I know. Gamera vs. Barugon benefits from being in colour (unlike the original movie), and isn't aimed at kiddies like subsequent efforts (meaning that there is no annoying child to befriend the turtle). The film opens with some enjoyable jungle adventure (superstitious tribesmen, dangerous swamps and deadly scorpions), the monsters are hilariously bad - clearly men in badly designed rubber suits with supporting wires visible throughout - and there's just enough general mayhem and silliness to make the whole thing bearable, especially if really dumb monster movies are your thing.

Not only does Barugon have his ridiculous rainbow beam, but he's also armed with a chameleon-like tongue that sprays a sub-zero vapour to freeze his enemy in their tracks, which makes for a lot of fun (the movie's villain, treacherous treasure hunter Onodera, played by Kôji Fujiyama, meets his fate via the tongue!). Gamera is frozen early on, meaning that he isn't seen for much of the movie, and only shows his scaly face again for the finalé, once he has thawed out, but there's plenty of implausible but entertaining nonsense in the meantime, as the army try to lure Barugon into a lake with a big diamond and reflect the deadly rainbow beams back at the lizard using a giant mirror. Neither ploy defeats Barugon, leaving it up to Gamera to save the day.

4.5/10, rounded up to 5 for the bit where Gamera socks Barugon in the face, resulting in the spillage of gallons of purple blood!

This probably is the most adult oriented of all the Gamera films mainly because it is the only film in the original series not to feature a child as the main human character. However, I also think that it is the one of the weaker films in the series. The human characters aren't really that interesting and this is one of the flaws of the Gamera series. At least with the Godzilla series (or for that matter Toho kaiju films altogether) the human characters, especially in the earlier films, are fully dimensional whereas in the Gamera films they are treated as more of an afterthought. This film is not really one of the brighter moments in the whole Gamera series.

If you're a fan of Gamera from '90s trilogy, Gamera vs. Barugon may be the original Gamera movie for you.

The movie begins with Gamera's being freed from the rocket he was trapped in at the end of Gamera, the Gigantic Monster and returning to Earth to wreak havoc on a dam. He then disappears for a good 45 minutes while the movie follows a trio of treasure hunters to a tropical island on their quest to retrieve an opal the brother of one of the hunters hid in a cave during the Second World War. Not to give away too much, but the procurement of this opal leads to the emergence of Barugon, in the middle of Japan, who Gamera (eventually) fights in typical Gamera fashion.

Three things immediately stand out about the second entry in the Gamera series:

• There are no kids in this movie. As in its predecessor, Gamera is apparently motivated purely by a quest for energy sources.

• Gamera is barely in the movie. He opens the movie, returns to fight Barugon, then comes back after another long absence to fight Barugon again. The bulk of the movie deals with the birth of Barugon and the Japanese's attempts to defeat him. (Maybe this was the genesis of the military's conflict in Gamera: The Revenge of Iris over which monster to attack first.)

• Finally, the movie is in color, and Daiei seems eager to exploit that fact. The opening titles are played out over shapeless colors, and one of Barugon's weapons is a rainbow beam emanating from his back.

The movie contains some silly moments (most notably the theft of the diamond), but the human conflicts and relationships are played surprisingly straight and adult, at least in comparison to those in a typical Godzilla movie; everyone doesn't necessarily agree on strategy, and it's probably safe to say the two leads don't view each other as siblings. The biggest problem with the movie is its odd pacing, but without a delusional kid and several characters who do virtually nothing running around, Gamera vs. Barugon is a decided improvement over the original.