Although nowhere near the league of the original Godzilla or the Godzilla films from the 1960s, Gamera the Invincible is never the less a decent example of what Daiei could do when they took a giant monster seriously. Atomic testing awakens the slumbering giant turtle, who appears here in pre friend to all children mode, and Gamera commences to trashing the Japanese landscape until a young boy in hot pants develops a psychic link with the turtle and starts bossing the Japanese military around. Hard to believe that the Japanese military went from being the scourge of Asia to taking orders from a kid in hot pants, but that's what fascism will do to ya. The kid is named Kenny, and he gave figurative birth to a whole generation of Japanese kids in hot pants who are looked to for advice in dealing with giant monsters.

Gamera the Invincible isn't one of my favorite giant monster movies (though the three Gamera movies from the 1990s are), but it's good stuff. The effects are surprisingly accomplished for a movie with a low budget even by giant monster movie standards. I do wish I'd seen these growing up, because I would have loved them, especially the outrageous later entries into the series with all their blood drinking and gore. So do your kids a favor: sit them down one afternoon when it's raining (if it's not raining, they should be outside playing -- don't let them just sit there playing Frogger or Pole Position or whatever video games are popular right now. I'm pretty sure it's Frogger) and say to them, "kid, today you're going to watch space girls suck out the brains of someone just about your age, unless a giant turtle with blood squirting out his chest can fly through space to stop them." Trust me, when your kids grow up, they will thank you.

Labels: Set: Sci-Fi Classics