The Basics: It's the 1970 World's Fair in Osaka and all is right in the world until, at the nearby Wester Island, an ancient statue is removed unleashing the mighty kaiju Jiger! Gamera comes to save the day and loses. He comes back...and loses again...Will Gamera ever be able to beat Jiger? And why was I never able to pilot a mini sub as a child? Also, why is the Gamera march theme so darned catchy?
The Plot: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gamera_vs._Jiger
The Kaiju:
Gamera:
Yeah he's back and a little less fierce looking than before. Each Gamera since 67 has gotten increasingly cheaper and cute looking. Still, there are no large differences in the suit or how his flying or fire breath are brought to life.
Jiger:
She's one bad mamma. Very effective quadraped suit and manages to avoid the "walking on knees" thing that most other 4 legged kaiju suffer from. She has an incredible array of powers and abilities making her one of Gamera's deadliest foes ever. I love the recycled Barugon roar. Design wise she's a little "meh" BUT...there's enough there to work with for an awesome re-design. Which brings me to the Trendmaster's Jiger figure. One of the best re-vamps of a kaiju I've ever seen. Just my personal taste. I love that figure. And even though her design is a little lacking...I love the latter series Showa kaiju in the Gamera films...Guiron, Jiger and Zigra are where it's at! Heck I just love the Showa Gamera kaiju in general.
Though I will say Jiger's "flying" ability is one of the most bug nuts insane things ever on a kaiju film to behold. Not a fan of Jiger flying lol.
The Acting:
You know...it occured to me while watching this film that the children in these movies really don't annoy me like I always hear fans complaining about. They're kids...they get into trouble and do stupid things but that's to be expected. Largely, all of the children in these films are interchangeable....wise Japanese boy and his gajin American partner.
The SPFX:
I think the effects in this movie are superb for the most part. This film reintroduces minatures once again and most of them look great. The matte effects shots are done pretty well there's a great scene of a 4 legged Gamera on a beach confronting a research party that blends relatively smoothly together.
Gamera's internal system could use a little work...it seems a little cheap even for these films but it's not bad enough to hurt the film really.
The Other Stuff:
-Gamera gets the crap beaten out of him in the film...twice!! Usually the formula for these films has Gamera arriving to save the day, losing, and then coming back for the win but in this film he loses twice before finally coming out on top.
-I love how the children are just able to walk into a secret military meeting
-The Jiger larvae could use a little work...looks a little too close to the adult form to come across effectively.
-This is the second film in this series to show children hijacking a mini sub...such an odd plot point to be featured once...let alone twice
-I'm not really sure how far away the island is supposed to be...maybe I missed it, at times it seems like it's supposed to be in Africa and at other times it seems like it's right next to Japan
-The sub-plot involving Gamera's parastites is slightly horrific, and pretty cool for a kaiju film
-I enjoy how there's always an attempt to educate children in these films with science and usually some zoological footage of some sort...it's just the right amount of education and it doesn't seem preachy or dull...