Bad Acting and worse Bad Screenplay

Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

While the latest Gamera film is more "kid friendly" than the 90's trilogy, it still maintains enough death and destruction to be a watchable film for adults. I was also impressed with how well the special effects turned out. It is refreshing to see a film where CG isn't used as a catch all for effects. As good as CG has gotten, there is still a very tactile realism to model and make-up effects that can still look good when done well. As mentioned earlier, the story is aimed at children but it is taken seriously and doesn't spare the audience from the carnage that would happen when giant monsters fight or why a monster would be so bad that we would put up with Gamera's usual "bull in a china shop" style of heroics. The main character does get a bit annoying with his protectiveness of and failure to accept that his "Toto" is Gamera. The monster fights were done well enough to painfully leave me hungry for more. With as well as this one turned out, it really deserves a sequel.

This is the first and only Millennium series Gamera that was ever filmed, returning him as a kid-friendly monster who this time is raised by a little boy named Toru (Ryô Tomioka) when he was first born and then grows up in full adult monster form, just in time to battle the evil, man-eating monster Zedus.Of all the kid-themed Gamera movies, this is actually the best one to feature a kid as the main character. He is not annoying or screaming songs like the kid characters in the earlier Gamera movies and his relationship with Gamera is actually quite heartfelt. There is also some strong character development between Toru and his widowed father Kousuke (Kanji Tsuda), who in the movie's prologue witnessed a Gamera sacrificing himself to destroy the Gyaos birds, which I thought gives the movie a heroic, yet sad touch. There are also scenes where Toru frolics around the beach in a lazy afternoon with friends and where he reminisced about his late mother Miyuki (portrayed by Megumi Kobayashi of the "Rebirth of Mothra" trilogy). All this adds some pensive drama to an otherwise monster-action-packed film.The special effects were quite good and the story has some decent monster action and battles (you really want to root for Gamera to defeat the cruel Zedus), though I thought the human drama does tend to drag the movie a little somewhat. It's not as thrilling or suspenseful as Gamera: Guardian of the Universe or Gamera: Attack of the Legion and it does not surpass most of the Godzilla movies in overall entertainment, but this is one of the better of all the Gamera films in my opinion.Grade B-

The latest entry in the Gamera series is something of a a let-down, for me at least.To start on the positive side of things, it boasts some of the best special effects work in any kaiju film to date, surpassing any of the Millennium Godzilla films. (Though in the case of GMK and Tokyo SOS, not by much) Also, Zedus (Jidas) is an awesome monster which is likeably evil, and looks great.Unfortunately, pretty much everything else is below par. The story is overly simplistic and very child-orientated, the Gamera suit makes the cookie monster look intimidating, and the music is bland and even corny at times.Problems also arise with the pacing, as the final battle is constantly interrupted by poorly placed scenes of human drama.The worst part, however, is that for the most part, the final battle isn't that great to begin with, as it largely fails to evoke a strong sense of struggle, mostly because it's very one sided and frequently quite slow.In the end, Gamera the Brave is a mediocre kaiju film, on par with Godzilla vs Megaguirus or Godzilla 2000. If you're a kaiju enthusiast, you may want to check it out, but if you want to see a great modern kaiju film, watch GMK* instead. (*Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-out Attack)

Restart of the Gamera franchise is a throw back to "the kid in peril" Gamera movies of the 1970's is actually better than it has any right to be.The movie begins in 1973 when Gamera dies fighting a group of Gaos (bat-like creatures). Jump to now. Strange monsters are a thing of the past and the government disbands its giant monster bureau. Meanwhile in a town near where Gamera died, Toru, a young boy, is dealing with the death of his mother a year before. His dad runs a local diner and doesn't have time to really spend with him so he gets by playing with his friends including the girl next door. The boy notices an odd red light on an island in the harbor. Swimming over to investigate Toru finds a glowing red stone and an egg from which hatches a tiny turtle. Toru names the turtle Toto, then takes it home as a pet. He is forced to hide Toto from his dad since Dad won't allow a pet because of the diner. To Toru's amazement Toto begins it grow rapidly and in a few days is almost as big as Toru himself. More amazing is the fact that Toto can fly. Crossing through this story are news stories of missing ships in the sea. No one is sure whats going on. Whats going on is a giant monster from under the sea has begun to develop a taste for human flesh and he's soon come ashore where the people are plenty. Will Toto be able to grow fast enough to save his friend Totu? Of course he can.This is a weird hybrid of the "Gamera and kids" films from the 70's and the gorier Gamera movies of recent vintage. Its a movie that shouldn't work for any number of reasons, the turtle is overly cute, the film for a good chunk of it is really a family drama/comedy which go against the nasty monster attacks. Somehow, I don't know why, it works. Maybe its because the characters seem real, even with the giant monsters. For some reason the filmmakers make you care about everyone, even the men in suit monsters. I was really pleasantly surprised.No, its not a great film, especially when you compare the film to some of the recent giant monster films from Japan. But the film manages to over come its flaws (in particular a too precious for words kid relay toward the end of the film) to be a really solid adventure film that is more than just some people in suits beating on each other. (And yes the battles are, for the most part really good).What may confuse some people is the cute look to the new Gamera, which makes the film seem like it would be perfect for really small kids. I'm certain that kids will like the film, but parents may wish to consider whether their kids can handle the blood (green though it maybe),some graphic spearing and the tearing of monster flesh. (I'm probably over stating the violence, however having only the pictures on the DVD case to go by, I was a little shocked by the couple of gory shots.) You have to keep in mind what type of movie this really is.For me, a long time Gamera fan, this was a real treat. Worth seeing for anyone who likes the giant monster genre or those just wanting a non-run of the mill "family" movie (with giant monster fighting to the death) 7.5 out of 10, 8 out of 10 for IMDb purposes.