An atomic blast in the freezing Artic caused by a downed fighter plane awakens a gigantic upright walking, flying, fire-breathing (and eating!) prehistoric turtle from its centuries of slumber. Naturally, said titanic turtle is in a very grouchy mood; he proceeds to lay waste to everything in his lethal path and eventually does the almighty mondo destructo city stomp on Tokyo. When conventional methods for stopping the turtle prove ineffectual, scientists all over the world join forces to concoct a special plan for thwarting the behemoth beast.
Boy, is this delightfully inane creature feature flick an absolute hoot and a half: Among the silly stuff to enjoy herein are the expected lousy dubbing, a derivative plot which blatantly imitates both "Godzilla" and "The Beast from 20,00 Fathoms," choice dopey dialog ("This Gammera is obviously an object of terror"), wonderfully hokey (far from) special effects, amusingly hammy or endearingly wooden acting (Brian Donlevy as a gruff general, Albert Dekker as the pragmatic Secretary of Defense and Dick O'Neill as a grumpy ramrod general all sink their teeth into their roles with delectably juicy scenery-gnashing aplomb), a sickeningly sappy subplot concerning an obnoxious little boy who befriends Gammera, funny characters (one whiny US senator looks like a dead ringer for Henry Kissenger!), and, best of all, a supremely groovy surf-rock theme song complete with a rippin' reverb guitar riff. Sure, this movie is admittedly quite absurd, asinine and juvenile, but that's exactly why I dug it so much.
Boy, is this delightfully inane creature feature flick an absolute hoot and a half: Among the silly stuff to enjoy herein are the expected lousy dubbing, a derivative plot which blatantly imitates both "Godzilla" and "The Beast from 20,00 Fathoms," choice dopey dialog ("This Gammera is obviously an object of terror"), wonderfully hokey (far from) special effects, amusingly hammy or endearingly wooden acting (Brian Donlevy as a gruff general, Albert Dekker as the pragmatic Secretary of Defense and Dick O'Neill as a grumpy ramrod general all sink their teeth into their roles with delectably juicy scenery-gnashing aplomb), a sickeningly sappy subplot concerning an obnoxious little boy who befriends Gammera, funny characters (one whiny US senator looks like a dead ringer for Henry Kissenger!), and, best of all, a supremely groovy surf-rock theme song complete with a rippin' reverb guitar riff. Sure, this movie is admittedly quite absurd, asinine and juvenile, but that's exactly why I dug it so much.