by Giganfan » Mon Sep 17, 2012 8:31 pm
I've always had a soft spot for Varan The Unbelievable. I think it's because when I saw the original Japanese version for the first time, I was actually surprised by how it looked, sounded and...smelled like your typical Toho kaiju epic. Having seen the Myron Healy U.S. version back in '93 and not being impressed at all by it even at the young age of 8-years old, Daikaiju Baran looked like one of the best monster movies I'd ever seen! Now, of course, it is far from that, and to be honest, watching it today, I find it a bit dull and uninspired, but there's still some good stuff in there, chief among them is the brilliant score by Akira Ifukube. To my taste, it's his best ever, atleast from what I've heard. Also, I've always thought Varan was a really cool kaiju, both in design and execution. He is my "dark-horse" favorite of Toho's monster gallery, and it's a shame that he never made it into more films. I would have REALLY loved to see him play a more active role in Destroy All Monsters, and I really REALLY wish he had made it into GMK as originally intended.
So no, not the best by any means, but I still think Varan The Unbelievable fits comfortably along-side the rest of Toho's classic fantasy films. Oh, and the "flying-squirrel" bit is really neat, even if it was only a brief shot in the movie. Imagine how cool it might have looked in subsequent flicks!
"EVERYONE FORGET YOUR TROUBLES! ENJOY YOURSELVES!THERE'S NOTHING TO WORRY ABOUT!" - Gigantis The Fire Monster
"It was HUGE...It was...IT WAS LIKE A MONSTER!!! Suddenly the rocks rose...ALIVE!" - Godzilla 1985