One of my all time favorites.

One of those movie experiences that is so good it makes you realize you've been grading everything else on a curve.

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

This production from Toho rival Daiei definitely does not compare to "Gojira", the high water mark among of all these Japanese monster movies; it doesn't have the same level of gravitas or panache. But that also doesn't mean that it's bad at all; it is pretty entertaining. Director Noriaki Yuasa creates some reasonably exciting action scenes. The acting from the main actors is good, but I watched the version where there are some hilariously awful thespians playing American bit parts. Tadashi Yamauchi composes a good music score, and the atmospheric black & white cinematography by Nobuo Munekawa likewise impresses. Best of all is Gamera itself, an interesting addition to the Japanese creature canon. It's well designed and performed in the best "man in a costume" tradition.Representatives from a college are visiting an Eskimo community to dig up information on the legend of an enormous turtle named Gamera when the Arctic is disrupted by an A bomb test. This creates a great big crack in the ice from which Gamera emerges. And it's a bad ass: a fire breathing, jet propelled thing that lays waste to much of its surroundings. Individuals such as scientist Dr. Hidaka (Eiji Funakoshi), his assistant Kyoke Yamamoto (Harumi Kiritachi), and photographer Aoyagi (Junichiro Yamashiko) are among those who are witness to the events, and it's up to the dedicated Hidaka and his associates to devise the best way possible of dealing with this out of control menace.Gamera is truly a force to be reckoned with here, as traditional weapons don't work against it; it seems to derive only sustenance from firepower. Finally, experts decide that a plan Z will be used. What this will involve should intrigue the viewer to some degree. Anyway, one hopes that this will work because it doesn't look like there will be any deus ex machina to help our heroes out. The main debit from this viewers' perspective is that annoying kid Toshio (Yoshiro Uchida) who keeps putting himself in danger because he's a turtle addict and is convinced that the big guy doesn't mean any harm. But overall this is still an amusing bit of escapism that is somewhat adult; the sequels, however, were decidedly more kid-friendly.This is good entertainment for fans of this genre.Seven out of 10.

It helps to be a kaiju fan if you watch this as an adult. I was able to see the English subtitled version, and found it enjoyable for what it is. It's monster destruction along the vein of Gojira, albeit a cheaper budget, yet more updated special effects. The movie is short so its fairly easy to get through. I love the atmosphere of black and white, and the seriousness of Gamera as a threat to humanity. There is a child present, but he will not totally turn off adults. I'm not gonna pick the film to pieces and tell you what's wrong. It's just good kaiju fun! This movie is as important to the series as the original Godzilla was to his. I recommend it to all true fans of the genre.

1965's "Gamera: The Giant Monster" is notable for three things: Daiei Studio's Gamera, the giant fire-breathing turtle of Atlantean origin, was the only significant rival to Toho Studios' Godzilla; two, this is the only movie in the "Gamera" series of films in which the titular chelonian does not battle another monster; and three, this was the last Japanese monster movie to be filmed in glorious black & white. Godzilla is my favorite movie monster of all time - "Gojira" (1954) is my favorite giant monster movie, period - since I was first exposed to the badly dubbed Japanese "kaiju-eiga" (Japanese monster movie) series of films as a young kid. Gamera was my #2 favorite monster from Japan. I deeply regret that Gamera never really obtained the same sort of recognition that his other fire-breathing rival did, but that does not mean that the movies were not bad.Directed by Noriaki Yuasa, "Gamera: The Giant Monster" has a plot ripped straight from the original "Gojira," but with a significantly lower budget and lacking a meaningful social and political subtext or emotional resonance: at the height of the Cold War, American and Soviet bombers in the Arctic Circle clash with one another, leading to a Soviet plane being shot down and thus inadvertently detonating its atomic payload. The resulting explosion revives Gamera, who had been imprisoned in the ice for over 8,000 years. Gamera, who breathes fire and can fly, makes a beeline toward Japan where he soon causes great destruction and finds nourishment in fossil fuels such as gasoline and petroleum, and other rudimentary forms of energy. Since Gamera is impervious to conventional weapons and the so-called "nuclear options" are quickly ruled out, only a brilliant scientist, Dr. Hidaka (Eiji Funakoshi), has the means of stopping Gamera's destructive rampage once and for all."Gamera: The Giant Monster" is not a perfect film. I'll say that it pretty much pales in comparison to "Gojira." But that's because the "Gamera" series of films often had significantly lower budgets and one of the most nagging problems with these films were the inclusion of annoying little children as the main protagonists, which helped earn Gamera the nickname of "friend of children" and the films were often marketed as such toward children. (1966's "Gamera vs. Barugon," a direct sequel to "Gamera: The Giant Monster," is noteworthy for being the only film in the series to not feature any children as the main protagonists, and is my favorite film in the series after this one.) And although there is a kid here, an implacable young boy Toshio Sakurai (Yoshiro Uchida), he is at least made useful to the plot and does not become the annoying little nuisance that his successors would eventually become. And he is also sympathetic in some regard since he comes to view Gamera as his only friend (the exact circumstances of this "friendship" are actually quite touching if viewed with an open mind), and likewise we identify with this unique little bond.Having viewed the film for the first time in its original, uncut Japanese format, I can say that "Gamera: The Giant Monster" is a worthy kaiju film, despite its flawed attempts at a pro-environmentalist subtext and as an anti-Cold War message movie (different nations coming together to face a worldwide threat, etc.) The film marked the beginnings of another great movie monster, one who never really got the popularity that he really deserved. But at least since his movies are getting the DVD treatment and are being released in their original Japanese formats, a new generation of Gamera-lovers has the chance to view Japan's heartiest export next since the mighty King of the Monsters himself, Godzilla.7/10

Gamera is one of those classic Japanese horror films that contains awful acting, worse English dubbing, and sometimes laughable special effects, but is still great fun to watch. A skirmish between American and Soviet jets over the arctic results in one of the Soviet bombers crashing and its nuclear bomb load detonating, which causes Gamera to be melted out of the ice and wreck havoc on the world (particularly Japan). As usual, a little kid who is sympathetic to the monster is thrown in, and probably as a result Gamera is not killed at the end (though I have to admit, if it really could have worked, the way they dispatched Gamera at the film's conclusion was rather ingenious). Probably the funniest scene is at a dance for teenagers in Tokyo, where a band is singing the Gamera theme song and eventually the monster himself makes an appearance! All in all, this is not a film that takes itself too seriously, and if the viewer takes the same attitude it is a whole lot of fun to watch. Gamera rules!