Review of Gamera the Brave (2006) by Michael H — 19 Mar 2010

One of the best movies in the Gamera saga. I'm suprised that Toto, son of Gamera, didn't get any sequels.

Like it's predecessor (Gamera: Revenge of Iris) The special effects look great. Cool set pieces and amazing costumes, Zedus in particular.

But of course, this is a Gamera movie, so there will be childish humour. Made most obvious in the kitchen scene (which even includes a reference to the 1969 movie Gamera vs. Guiron).

So, Gamera The Brave starts a year after Zigra attacked back in 1972 and concludes of the Showa series, ignoring the Heisei trilogy and Super Monster (1980). Gamera died while defending humans from Gyoas back in 1973. The year is now 2006, Monsters have not been seen since. Japan decideds to disband the "Giant Monsters Council" Toru is a young boy growing up with no mother. One day, he comes across an egg, in the same place where Gamera died some 33 year before. The egg hatches and (suprise suprise) it's a baby turtle. He names the rapidly growing flying turtle Toto, after the nickname his mother gave him. It's not long before Zedus attacks Japan, and it's up to Toru and Toto to save the day.

It would've been nice to see Garasharp appear in the 1973 section. (for those of you who don't know, Gamera vs. Garasharp was scheduled to be the sequel to Gamera vs. Zigra back in 1973 but Daiei went bankrupt, thus the reason for all the stock footage in Super Monster).