Review of Varan the Unbelievable (1962) by Jason D — 22 Sep 2008

Varan (a.k.a. Baran) represents the end of an era in several ways. Not only does it wrap up the 50's era begun with Godzilla, it's also the last of Toho's black and white kaiju films. Also, while it's hardly the last Toho film to rely entirely on a new monster, it does clearly mark the point at which Toho's stream of new creations would be less memorable than the recurring stable. Also, Varan is unusually derivative of previous Toho films (especially the original Godzilla) to a degree more expected from a lesser, rip-off studio than the big guys themselves. Seriously, there is NOTHING in this film that hadn't already been done better multiple times by this point. Oh, and then there's Varan himself. I'm sorry, but this lumpy, awkward crossbreed of Godzilla and the later Baragon is one of the least impressive Kaiju Toho ever built a movie around. He's dull, forgetable, and not the least bit imposing. In fact, even director Ishiro Honda seems to be a little embarassed over the guy, shooting him almost excusively from dull, far away angles. Oh, and then there's the AWFUL flying squirel wings. It's not hard to see why poor ol' Varan returned so rarely. It's nice to see another genuinely serious Kaiju film (no Kenny), but it's too cookie cutter to be interesting to more than Kaiju faithful.

(By the way, although it was called "Varan the Unbelievable," the movie I saw was actually the uncut version of "Daikaijū Baran" with the title of the Amarican dub. Confused yet?).