Gamera: Guardian of the Universe Talkback

[king_ghidorah]

The Basics:

A giant atol, mysteriously drifts through the sea of Japan before finally revealing itself to be the titular kaiju, Gamera who in this film is a relic of Atlantean technology. He has surfaced to battle his ancient foe, the Gyaos, and through a stone amulet, he can "link minds" with a young girl named Asagi Kusanagi. The titanic turtle proceeds to exterminate the Gyoas before they can become the new dominant life form on the planet.

The Plot:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gamera:_Gu ... e_Universe

The Kaiju:

Gamera:

Ok, after the entire Showa era of Gamera essentially looking the same we have a noticable appearance shift in this film. Gamera for the first time is green, with highlights of brown on his shell. His face at times looks like a frog at times, odd.

Still, there's a lot to love about this suit. It's a faithful adaption of the Showa suit, just modernized. Gamera's arms and legs are bulkier than before, making for a much more believable appearance (though making it very unlikely/impossible that Gamera could tuck any of his limbs inside his shell...but this is Gamera, no need for that type of thinking here)

His shell is also different, losing it's dragon scaled look, and having been replaced by a more "plated" look.

This is probably my second favorite Gamera suit behind the 67 one. I think the perfect Gamera would be a combo of those two suits...the body and proportions of the 95 suit, with the color, and slighly more fierce face of the 67 suit. I also think the perfect Gamera shell would keep the segmented, plated looks of the Hesei era suits, but under the dragon scales that covered the Showa era suits.

Gyaos:

Another giant leap from the Showa era. There are a few different stages of Gyaos throughout this film as they mature into adults, but the real big change in each stage of Gyaos evolution seems to be its eyes. Going from a white, muppet looking eyeball, into a shielded, evil looking eye of an adult Gyaos.

Gyaos is largely the same in appearance (not as colorful though) and abilities (not noxious fumes). One drastic departure from the Showa era involves Gyaos' legs, which are now more bird like. The legs, and the body for that matter, work more or less in this film, but Gyaos recieves a much better revamp in Gamera 3.

The Acting:

Excellent on all fronts. The leads are all great. I think the acting here tops most of the Hesei Godzilla films.

A real stand out in the Gamera trilogy is Yukijirō Hotaru. That guy just has amazing comedic timing. To me, he's the Japanese version of Jeffery Combs.


The SPFX:

Pretty darned good. I'd say this film is slighly above the Hesei era Godzilla films. (Destroyer has some pretty decent animated effects in its opening and finale) The minatures in this film are superb and a real highlight of the film. The suits used for Gamera and Gyaos are also excellent and much more expressive than anything that Toho had done in the Hesei era.


The Other Stuff:

-The most "Gamera" of the Hesei Gamera films. This film really is an updated take on the Showa Gamera given some more modern twists.

-Gamera no longer shoots jets of flames, but instead, shoots balls of high velocity plasma....I think I'd prefer if Gamera used both abilities.

-While it looks cool, it always bothered me as a kid, that smoke just flies at the screen and Gamera is never seen tucking in his limbs...something about that just seemed lazy the first time I saw this film. It's hard to figure out how Gamera would pull his gigantic limbs inside his shell but instead of working with it, the film makers just said, ah, "screw it" obscure everything in smoke...that's ok with this film, but they do it for all three films....just a nit pick of mine

-I like the Hesei films, but I prefer the Showa, so don't expect "Nerdgasms" from me on these films. The Gamera trilogy is a great series of kaiju films, I'm just not sure how much they qualify as Gamera films

-The ammulet letting the girl meld with Gamera is a interesting way to allow humans to interact with Gamera without it coming across as cheesy...I personally prefer the cheese though, the ammulet comes across to me like "the drill key" found in Gurren Laggan.

-The trilogy deff has some very anime ish vibes to it...by the time we reach the third film it's practically a live action anime

[The Real McCoy]

I've always been a big fan of the Showa series, but this and the other two films in the trilogy knocked my socks off. The updated special effects were great, but mostly I liked the solid stories and updated Gamera designs. They really did a good job in bringing Gamera back with this film.

[king_ghidorah]

[The Real McCoy]

I see what you're saying. Yeah, it's not the traditional Gamera character. But I really did enjoy the change of pace. They were well-written in my opinion. And as for the anime-style stuff, I'm not familiar with anime, so I don't know; though the second and third films did seem more fantasy-ish than the first. And I haven't seen The Brave yet, but by the looks of things, he does return to his roots.

[Gman2887]

[king_ghidorah]

[The Real McCoy]

[Gman2887]

[king_ghidorah]

[Gman2887]

[heroforhirerob]

[kiryugoji04]

[king_ghidorah]

[kiryugoji04]

[king_ghidorah]

I remember your posts and Mouth and I being a little dumbfounded....you just seem like a prime canidate for liking the Showa Gamera series.

Still, I respect your opinion (even if it's wrong )

And I agree about your assesments on the Showa Gyaos design and Barugon being a great film

I'm watching G2 now...I'll try and have my review up later today

[kiryugoji04]

[king_ghidorah]

[kiryugoji04]

I'm planning on doing a big Gigan-related piece for that movie's 40th anniversary next year.

As for Ghidrah, that's something I'd love to make art for once I can get around to it.

[king_ghidorah]

[MouthForWar]

[king_ghidorah]

[kiryugoji04]

[MouthForWar]

[king_ghidorah]

[MouthForWar]