gavin6942 A giant monster that emits a destructive ray from its back attacks Japan and takes on Gamera.While I am not terribly familiar with the Gamera series, or giant monsters in general, this one was mildly amusing and somewhat confusing. I thought Barugon was a good monster, and his frozen breath was pretty cool. But then the rainbow beam... that was more than a little strange, and I presume it was only in the film to show off their new color cameras.Different versions of this film probably exist, but the one I saw had ten minutes or less of Gamera. I thought for a film called "Gamera vs. Barugon" there would be a lot more of the title creature, but I guess not.

Aaron1375 This movie follows the original Gamera film and is the first Gamera film to feature an opposing monster for the giant turtle to fight and it is the only Gamera to not feature a kid or kids in a predominate role. However, I scoff at some of the other reviewers claims that this film is darker than the previous film or even the next film. The first film featured a scene where Gamera uses his flames to roast fleeing people. That is pretty dark! Then in the next film, the monster Gaos eats people, once again that is pretty dark. Just because there is a deranged child (Kenny from the first film) cheering Gamera on does not minimize the destruction the beast caused. I would say this film is not really more dark than the two Gamera films I mentioned, but it is more somber as there is a sad tone to the film that permeates it. This one is actually pretty good too, more so than the first film which was just a carbon copy of the first Godzilla film. I saw it featured on the riffing show Mystery Science Theater 3000, and while I think the jokes they made were good, it helped that the film was not too bad to watch. I actually like films they riff that I would find enjoyable without them because it just means you can listen to their jokes or watch the film.The story starts up by showing us that the Z plan enacted in the first film pretty much failed right away as an asteroid frees Gamera who immediately comes back to Earth. Considering he can get back to Earth so quickly makes me think even if he had landed on Mars he still would have come back. Of course, he does not look up Kenny to see how his number one fan is doing, but rather he trashes a dam and then disappears for a while. During his absence, three men go to an island to find an opal. The villagers beg them not to go to the cave where it is stashed, but they do so anyway and one of the men promptly turns on the other two. One of them dead, the other rescued by the villagers. The one who escaped with the opal heads home, where a monster emerges from the opal as it was actually an egg! This beast immediately goes on the rampage! The man who was rescued by the villagers accompanies one of the villagers who tries to help defeat the beast, but it seems everything they try fails! The only hope may be the beast that once terrorized Japan, himself...Gamera! This made for a good episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000 as I enjoyed the movie and the jokes. Gamera is not in this much, but I am sure the first time he appears there is a bit more of a fight between he and Barugon than what MST3K showed. Still, he is not in this one much considering he is the top billed monsters. He destroys a dam, fights Barugon and gets beaten and then returns for a quick fight at the end. Still, there is plenty to riff just watching Barugon do his thing and the humans do everything they can to stop it! So, not a bad movie in my eyes, though my favorite film of the Gamera films during this era was the next film where Gamera fought Gaos. There were three films I did not see as they were never featured on MST3K which I can kind of understand as eight films in a series would kind of be overdoing it. Though two of the films would have probably made for good episodes, the final Gamera film would simply be kind of a compilation film where the battles of Gamera's previous films would be shown with some weird extra footage thrown in to make it look like a new film. After Gaos, the films did become more light than before and kind of goofy, but despite what others have said I do not really consider this one the darkest of the films, but it is the most somber.

DrGlitterhouse If you're a fan of Gamera from '90s trilogy, Gamera vs. Barugon may be the original Gamera movie for you.The movie begins with Gamera's being freed from the rocket he was trapped in at the end of Gamera, the Gigantic Monster and returning to Earth to wreak havoc on a dam. He then disappears for a good 45 minutes while the movie follows a trio of treasure hunters to a tropical island on their quest to retrieve an opal the brother of one of the hunters hid in a cave during the Second World War. Not to give away too much, but the procurement of this opal leads to the emergence of Barugon, in the middle of Japan, who Gamera (eventually) fights in typical Gamera fashion.Three things immediately stand out about the second entry in the Gamera series:• There are no kids in this movie. As in its predecessor, Gamera is apparently motivated purely by a quest for energy sources. • Gamera is barely in the movie. He opens the movie, returns to fight Barugon, then comes back after another long absence to fight Barugon again. The bulk of the movie deals with the birth of Barugon and the Japanese's attempts to defeat him. (Maybe this was the genesis of the military's conflict in Gamera: The Revenge of Iris over which monster to attack first.) • Finally, the movie is in color, and Daiei seems eager to exploit that fact. The opening titles are played out over shapeless colors, and one of Barugon's weapons is a rainbow beam emanating from his back.The movie contains some silly moments (most notably the theft of the diamond), but the human conflicts and relationships are played surprisingly straight and adult, at least in comparison to those in a typical Godzilla movie; everyone doesn't necessarily agree on strategy, and it's probably safe to say the two leads don't view each other as siblings. The biggest problem with the movie is its odd pacing, but without a delusional kid and several characters who do virtually nothing running around, Gamera vs. Barugon is a decided improvement over the original.

JoeKarlosi This was the first color sequel to the original black and white GAMERA, and it's pretty good though you have to be patient in waiting to see much of our favorite fire-breathing, flying turtle. A new monster named Barugon (not to be confused with the similarly-named creature from the Toho series of Japanese giant monster movies) is born and has the ability to freeze people and cities. The monster suits in this series were never quite up to the ones in the Godzilla films, but the effects in general are not too bad. The real fun in this one is savoring the villainous exploits of one of the main human characters... a sneaky creep named Onodera. He steals the show as one of a group of men on an expedition to New Guinea to retrieve a glowing opal believed to be worth millions. There's a fight sequence between this guy and another man who can barely walk late in the movie that's better (and much funnier) than the monsters' battle! **1/2 out of ****