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According to this movie, the original Gamera - the giant flying sabre-toothed do-gooder turtle - has self destructed in 1973 to save the world (and especially Japan) from evil flying monster Gyaos. It's 33 years later, and little Toru (Ryo Tomioka), who has just lost his mother in a car accident, finds a turtle egg on the beach, and sees a turtle hatch. He's so touched by that that he decides to keep the turtle and call him Toto. Thing is, his father Kousuke (Kanji Tsuda) is not likely to allow him to have a pet, so he keeps him a secret. The turtle grows rather quickly though, plus apparently he can fly, too. It's not long until Toto has grown too big for Toru's room, and he and his friends Ishimura (Shingo Ishikawa) and Katsuya (Shogo Narita), and neighbour girl Mai (Kaho) move him to a shed by the seaside - but Toto soon disappears from the shed ...

Mai has been sickly for a while and is now due for life-saving heart surgery, so Toru gives her a red shining rock he has found with Toto's egg back when as good luck charm.

Out of the blue, the town is attacked by a giant monster called Zedus, but luckily, Toto, by now pretty giant as well but only about a third as big as Gamera back when, can fight him off. Upon that, the army takes Toto, now dubbed Gamera, and under professor Amamiya he's to be speed-grown to full size - but then Zedus attacks again before that's even achieved, and Gamera just takes up the fight as he is ... and it looks as if he's losing badly. Mai, who's now in hospital, somehow knows the red rock Toru as given her will give Gamera the power he needs, but she's in no condition to go anywhere, so she lets Toru know, and he and Ishimura and Katsuya decide to fetch the rock and bring it to Gamera - but that's much easier said than done as with two giant monsters brawling, the city's pretty much a warzone, and they're just little kids ...

While by 2005, fellow giant monster Godzilla had been reinventing itself (within genre and design confines of course) several times over several reboots, this second (attempted) reboot of the Gamera series really goes back to the basics, being once again about a turtle obsessed with a sad backstory being the heroic monster's best friend. So do expect a rather sappy "human plot" as the backbone of the movie - even if that plot causes at least one memorable scene, when random kids pass the red rock on like a baton to get to Gamera through all the chaos that surrounds them. But if you can accept the sappy parts (that have long been a mainstay of the Gamera series anyways), you'll probably find plenty to like about this one, from the quite inventive monster fights to the mostly practical creature and miniature effects. Basically, it's old school - in a very likeable way!

review © by Mike Haberfelner

 

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