Gamera: Guardian of the Universe

[SuperDave]

Hey there--love the site and reviews! I just wanted to comment on this one because it was released in theaters the same month I moved to Japan. A bit over a year later I was watching it on TV with my fiance (now my wife). That baseball stadium used to try to trap the monsters was in Fukuoka, very close to her apartment, and in the fight after, Gamera and the birdie-head things were stomping all over our neighborhood! We were cheering them on and hoping to see our apartment building get stomped--unfortunately, it didn't happen, but it was still pretty cool seeing buildings that we could see out the window getting destroyed by giant monsters on-screen. Just a teeny bit spooky, as well.

[BorgPuppy]

Fortunately, everyone quickly realized two things about Asagi:

(1) Watching a young girl hemorrhaging has limited entertainment value, outside of a small group of sickos. (I'm not sure why she didn't reflect ALL of Gamera's injuries, though. At one point, she should have burst into flames, then exploded.)
(2) Like her father, Ayako Fujitani can't act. Worse, when she starts whining (like she does in the taxi), she can cause hemorrhaging in the audience. (You have to watch it with the original Japanese soundtrack to truly appreciate this.)

Subsequently, her role in the next two "Gamera" pictures was greatly reduced and her link to the giant turtle was broken.

And as good as "Gamera" is, those next two movies (and the director's own Godzilla movie, which is rumored to finally have its US television premier on SciFi in late August) are leaps and bounds above it!

[James Perry]

I watched this the other day and was disappointed.  It was not as good as Godzilla 2000 (I own that DVD) or as bad (good-bad, that is) as the MST3K Gamera film episodes.  I like all the cute Japanese girls, however :) .  But not enough to buy the DVD.

[Travis Basemann]

The best scene was when the flying monster attacked a train and the train fell down over the people that were fleeing below in Tokyo.  

[Lance]

This movie was all right, but I prefer the old goofy Gamera movies! This one was like getting a new pair of shoes. No matter how great they are, they arent as comfortable as your old shoes. And the old Gaos looked and sounded better. I would like to see reviews of more classic Gamera movies on here, especially DESTROY ALL PLANETS.

[Adman]

This is one of the best kaiju movies ever made! Gamera takes a leap from perpetual whipping boy of MST3K to one of the most powerful creatures on earth! And this time, he may protect humanity, but if you don't get out of the way, see-yah! This is the first in the Heisie trilogy. I loved the third, but the ending was disapointing. I give this movie 5 of 5

[SuperDave]

Oops--a trivia-point addendum to the above: I just noticed that the movie comes from Daiei Studios, which happens to be the owners of that baseball stadium, and of the Fukuoka Daiei Hawks baseball team, which won last year's Japan Series. (Gooooo Hawks!) This of course explains why the kaiju spent any time in Fukuoka, which may be a decently large Japanese city, but is definitely regarded as a bit "out in the sticks" by most Japanese people. (If you think of Tokyo as Japan's New York & Osaka as LA, Fukuoka is sort of the equivalent of Kansas City, MO. A nice place to live, but an odd place to set half a monster movie.)

[Mark Radburn]

Gamera is back and he is not Happy like people said He's mean, He's green, he's back on screen and yes that's right because your Hero is back on the cinema screen and this time he's gonna blast Gaos out of the sky the Special effects are great the new design for Gaos and Gamera look great I give this movie a 5/5 this new Gamera movie will blow you away with it's destructive battle scenes Enjoy.

[Peter Hansen]

Suffice it to say, Gamera in his latest incarnation is far and above the creature that was previously mocked by many.  I own all of the films on DVD and look forward to watching numerous times in the future.

[George]

This is the first Gamera movie since Gamera-Super Monster,in some ways it was good,Gamera fighting Gaos again,and the specialeffects were good too,but unfortunatly this would eventually lead to a whole new different looking Gamera that I'm not pleased with,taking the Gamera we all knew and loved in the original series and trying to turn him into something he's not,is just--yea that's what the late Noriaki Yuasa was talking about too,Irs I'm not very found of,Gamera is only in it for like what a few sceens,and in the dark,this was a good Gamera movie of the first 3,it led to Legion and then,well,however,there are two other Gamera movies we've heard about but not seen yet,Gamera 4-The Truth(made by Gamera fans in Japan)and Gamera-The Littlest Braves,one can only hope the good people of Japan will remember and restore Gamera to the way he was from Gammera to Gamera-Super Monster,and have him breath fire again,Galiela is the only monster who shoots fireballs,maybe a few others I don't know about,but not Gamera,which only goes to prove,that all change is not a good thing,maybe I could come up with new ideas and Gamera movies.

[Listen2Reason]

By the way...I haven't seen the movie, but this caught my eye:

The most interesting find is that the atoll is covered with strange metal objects. The items look like either a comma, half of a Ying&Yang symbol, or a human embryo at a very early point in the first trimester.

These objects are almost certainly Magatama. They're sacred beads from ancient Japan. Nobody really knows their true purpose, except as jewelry...so they occasionally show up in Japanese movies (and anime, for example Blue Seed) as "objects of power".

[Tsukasa Macleod]

Okay, whoever complimented "Godzilla vs Mothera and King Ghidorah." F*** you that was terrible. Anyway, Gamera is bigger, badder, stronger, and well better in every way to godzilla. Godzilla's red spiral ray cannot compare to Gamera's mana cannon from "Gamera vs Legion", and no Godzilla movie can ever compare to this amazing masterpiece, and it's still not as good as parts 2 and 3. GAMERA KICKS ASS!

[Tsukasa Macleod]

BTW the medallions are called Magatama. They already exist in old japanese religion

[Flangepart]

Okay, whoever complimented "Godzilla vs Mothera and King Ghidorah." F*** you that was terrible. Anyway, Gamera is bigger, badder, stronger, and well better in every way to godzilla. Godzilla's red spiral ray cannot compare to Gamera's mana cannon from "Gamera vs Legion", and no Godzilla movie can ever compare to this amazing masterpiece, and it's still not as good as parts 2 and 3. GAMERA KICKS ASS!

Yo, chill out, Sparky. I dig both wee beasties. Remember, disagree without being disagreeable...
Love the 90s reboot of Gamera. Even the 'saucer effect' looks way cool!
And the lady playing the scientest/hero...she is heartbreakingly beautiful...Yes, I'm in love, why do you ask?

[Craig D.]

I can't sympathize at all with the people who say that Gamera 2 and Gamera 3 are better than this movie. Gamera 2 is an insufferable bore and Gamera 3, while much better than Gamera 2, isn't quite as good as Guardian of the Universe. I also can't relate with the legion of giant monster movie fans who insist that Godzilla, Mothra, and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack (from Shusuke Kaneko, the same director of Guardian of the Universe, Gamera 2, and Gamera 3) is the best Godzilla movie since the 1954 original. It's not even the best Godzilla movie of the Millenium (1999-2004) series. (If it wasn't for Godzilla vs. Megaguirus, it would be the worst.) Kaneko knows action, but he has a major problem with cramming way too much boring human s**t into his movies. Guardian of the Universe manages to overcome that flaw, though. It's one of the handful of movies that I would recommend to someone with little or no interest in giant monster movies. (The others would be Godzilla 1954 and Godzilla: Final Wars.)