Clever, believable, and super fun to watch. It totally has replay value.

If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

This movie was so-so. It had it's moments, but wasn't the greatest.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

Japanese "monster" movies of the post-war 1950s were cleverly-disguised satires of the American occupation.Two things were going on: The Americans were every where and they had lots of money. The US set the exchange rate at 360 yen to the dollar. The Japanese were desperately trying to rebuild their economy and taxes ran high along with barely submerged resentment of Americans.Enter the low-budget film maker. Finding production money was tough so they were rather frugal in their spending on everything but film and sound tape. Indulge in a guilty pleasure and re-visit the genre; imagine sitting in a theater full of Japanese kids cheering every time the giant mutant monster destroys a US tank or airplane.

The Mysterians defined Toho scifi. If you watch this movie, you will notice a shocking similarity between Star Wars(1977) and this film. The Special effects are quite good. The only complaint I have is MOGERA's suit is a bit wobbly at times. The miniatures and sets, and matte shots are good. The score by Akira Ifukube is riveting. He composes many famous themes here. Some of which appear in 1991's Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah. He even makes some stirring themes. I really like the direction and acting here. Ishiro Honda's favorite theme, the brotherhood of mankind, makes an appearance here. My favorite performance is that of the Mysterian leader. An actor from the classic Kurosawa film The Seven Samurai appears here.I love this movie. Recommended.

How many American science fiction movies have conceived of survivors of the lost 10th planet (source of the asteroid belt) occupying a small chunk of territory before being attacked? NONE! Although "The Mysterians" uses some logical lapses to make the invaders clearly the bad guys (just WHY did they send the giant robot BEFORE attempting peaceful coexistance) and progresses WAY too quickly to its rousing finale (the world had these plans for superweapons just laying around), "The Mysterians" is an exciting, entertaining addition to any one's collection of "space invader movies." Well photographed, beautifully scored, decently executed (for the 50s) special effects" and freshly conceived, "The Mysterians" is better, in many ways than later films such as "Independance Day" and "V". Too bad Toho didn't make it longer and make a sequel (though it appears, that's what "Battle in Outer Space" was originally supposed to be.) See it.

Although best known for their Godzilla series, Japan's Toho Studios made many other sci fi and fantasy films. This was the first of many that would be about aliens from another world invading Earth {that idea would be later incorporated into quite a few Godzilla films}. It's dated in some respects but still pretty good fun and must have seemed quite impressive at the time of it's western release. Before that the only major film that dealt with alien invasion on a "full scale,open war" kind of level was The War Of The Worlds, and The Mysterians attempts even more, if not quite succeeding, in the way of spectacle.The first half hour is terrific, the characters are briefly introduced, strange things happen and a large bird-like robot goes on the rampage in Godzilla fashion. After this,things go downhill a little bit, too much time is taken up with meetings and the lengthy battle scenes between the aliens and the humans are a bit static and go on a little too long. Nevertherless there is a charming toy-like nature to these scenes, as various futuristic weapons are employed against the invaders.Special effects are occasionally poor {watch out for the awful superimposed explosions} but generally better than most Hollywood sci fi films of the time. Filmed in very garish colour {which particularly highlights the alien's costumes} and with a tremendous main march theme by Akira Ifikube, the Mysterians has it's dull bits, but is still worth watching for some childish fun. Toho would perfect the alien invasion idea two years later with the incredible Battle In Outer Space.