soulexpress This was the fourth installment of the massively popular Gamera films out of Japan. It was also the first one that's unabashedly made for kids. And before you ask: no, MST3K never riffed on it.The unashamedly silly plot goes as follows: alien beings in a spaceship that looks like bumblebees plan to kill everyone on Earth so they can populate the planet themselves. Cue Gamera, the giant prehistoric flying turtle with fangs, fiery breath, and jet propulsion in his feet. Before the aliens can get near the Earth, Gamera kicks ass on them. The would-be invaders retreat but dispatch a second bumblebee ship. This time, the aliens trap Gamera on the bottom of the ocean with some kind of electronic net thingy. But Gamera frees himself, prompting the aliens to affix a mind- control device to the turtle. He eventually loses the device and trashes the spaceship, only to do battle with Viras, the aliens' lord and master. If the storyline sounds familiar, it was recycled the following year for GAMERA VS. GUIRON, a/k/a DESTROY ALL MONSTERS.When director Kinji Yuasa realized he only had about an hour of footage, he padded the film out with scenes from the previous three movies. Never mind that the first two were in black and white. The same thing happens when the aliens order Gamera to destroy Tokyo. Since the turtle had done so in the first film (when he was still a bad monster), director Yuasa merely inserted the footage here. So approximately one-third of this 90-minute film is in black and white.There's also a sub-plot involving two mischievous Boy Scouts (or whatever the Japanese call them) who steal a mini-sub and end up racing with Gamera on the ocean's floor. They also get caught in the electronic net thingy when the aliens catch their turtle foe. Later on, they abduct the boys and take them aboard the Starship Bumblebee as leverage against the child-loving Gamera—not to mention the Japanese miiltary. That's right, folks. These two boys are apparently worth the annihilation of the rest of humanity!It's ludicrous, but who cares? Certainly not the kids in the audience, who just wanted to see Gamera locked in mortal combat with his latest goofy-looking monster foe. In that regard, the film delivers. And unlike the next chapter, neither kid is obsessed with traffic accidents.

Red-Barracuda Destroy All Planets is another in the 50's/60's cycle of Japanese sci-fi movies that featured an array of their very own giant monsters. This one has a few but mainly focuses on Gamera, the fire-breathing, flying giant turtle who inexplicably loves children. With this in mind, it's hardly surprising that this one is really a children's movie. Its two human heroes after all are a couple of young mischievous boy scouts who inadvertently become captives on an extra-terrestrial spaceship. These evil aliens and their giant squid creature are intent on attacking the earth for its nitrogen supply or something. The good natured Gamera comes to the aid of the puny earthlings and fends off these nefarious villains.As much as I wanted to like this, I just couldn't. In theory, it sounds great and I do appreciate the concept behind these Japanese monster movies and to be fair there are some other entries that I have found okay. But this one was somewhat interminable. It seems to spend a lot of time showing a series of best-of Gamera fight moments from earlier films. This should give you some indication that there weren't too many ideas at this one's disposal in the first place. The monsters themselves are the stars and are quite good but it all does get a little tiresome after a while with a barrage of quite samey action scenes becoming increasingly less interesting as it goes on. In fairness, this is meant for children so maybe I'm in no position to complain to be perfectly honest!

wes-connors "Gamera, the giant flying turtle returns to save humanity when an alien spacecraft approaches Earth intent on world domination. Gamera destroys the alien ship, but a second craft captures two boy scouts to shield them from Gamera. The aliens then place a control device on Gamera to make him attack Tokyo. The boys foul their plans when they manage to reverse the controls and Gamera confronts the squid-like beings in a climactic battle," according to the DVD sleeve's synopsis. Re-titled "Destroy All Planets" for American consumption, this is a bad mix of ideas from other films, action sequences from previous "Gamera" movies, and the usual formulaic children.** Gamera tai uchu kaijû Bairasu (3/20/68) Noriaki Yuasa ~ Toru Takatsuka, Carl Craig, Kojiro Hongo, Junko Yashiro

stmichaeldet We open on a shot of one of the most wonderful alien spaceships in film history - six large black-and-yellow globes linked together in a tight circle, resembling a huddle of giant cartoon bees. Of course, the aliens have arrived to take over the Earth (to gain control of our nitrogen supplies, no less). So, Gamera, Friend to Children Everywhere, is obligated to destroy their ship, but not before they get off a message to their homeworld. "Send Ship Number 2. . ." I've always liked this Gamera film best. Its Kennys (tm - in honor of Gamera's pal from the original film, all Gamera-film children are known as "Kenny") - a pair of pranksters who get held hostage to compel the big turtle's obedience - are more appealing than most. The flight sequences are still awesome. The Evil Monster (who never really gets a name, but its race is named something like "Varian") is an incredibly cool blade-headed squid-thing (Gamera always had the slickest, if somewhat unbelievable, costumes - see Gaos). There's plenty of Gamera's signature technicolor gore, including a huge sucking chest wound and a review of the (blue-, white-, purple-, and orange-)bloodiest scenes from previous films (which, admittedly, does go on a bit too long). Really, something for everyone.