Search - ATTACK of the MONSTERS on DVD

Matt B. from GETZVILLE, NY
Reviewed on 2/7/2012...

This was fifth Gamera movie. The jaded movie-goer knows the fifth entry of a franchise may as well be the fiftieth, we can hear the gears grinding so badly. This effort is so bereft of ideas that the director cobbles together footage from the previous movies.

At least, the outtakes do serve as a review of an important theme. The monster Gamera assumes the role as the friend of children. According to tradition, he does make friends with the three tykes in this one. Mercifully, they are bearable, not annoying. The girl Tomoko (Friendly Child, probably) is concerned about her brother not getting hurt or into trouble (sweetly calling her brother, “Brother”); the American boy Tom is just a normal kid; and the Japanese kid Akio feels idealism we like to see in kids who, unlike adults, still believe in stuff. In this case, Akio (Man of Autumn, if anybody cares) wants to work toward a world with no war and no traffic accidents. Even better, there is no song dedicated to the monster and the music is cornily upbeat, as we’d expect a Japanese soundtrack from the Sixties to be.

Anyway, the two boys take a flying saucer to a dying planet even though Gamera tries to warn them off. They meet what they call “groovy space girls.” For reasons I don’t want to spoil in a review, they plan "And while they are sleeping, we will eat their brains raw." While fighting the monster Guiron (the Japanese is Giron, which seems to me easier to say) to save the boys, Gamera spins around on a high bar.

Approached in the right mood – mild boredom - and the right spirit – innocent openness to silliness – this movie is okay.