Wow! Such a good movie.

Perfect cast and a good story

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

Admittedly, the English-dubbed version I watched may not have done the film justice, but "Gamera vs. Zigra" is pretty awful, even by bargain-basement kaiju-eiga standards. Briefly, an alien spaceship attacks a moonbase, then plunges into the ocean near Japan, from where Zigra kidnaps two kids and their fathers. There is a lengthy expositional scene where an alien space-babe (with '"super-celestial powers"), who seems to be channeling some kind of giant space-shark, explains Zigra's backstory, informs us that resistance is futile, and demonstrates diverse abilities such as causing earthquakes and hypnotising subjects with a snap of her finger. Typical of the Showa-era Gamera series, grownups are ineffectual, but the children manage to rescue their stupefied fathers and escape. Gamera attacks the submerged spaceship, which inexplicably changes into a monster resembling a gigantic, robotic 'goblin shark'. Various adventures and battles follow, with the two children always in the thick of things. As usual, Earth's puny weapons are proven useless and only Gamera, the children's friend, can save us. At times, the film (or at least the dubbed dialogue) makes no sense: explaining Zigra's origins, the space-babe states "We on Zigra planet, we used to live in the sea but your Earth science polluted the water and we could no longer live there", this despite the fact that Zigra is 400 light-years from Earth. The special effects are low-budget and not very effective, with most of the monster action underwater or on a beach. The Gamera suit looks as unconvincing as ever and the silly Zigra costume is on par with most of Gamera's goofy kaiju foes (Gyaos being an exception). In keeping with the drift toward 'environmental values' in the genre ('Godzilla vs the Smog Monster' was released the same year), the film has lots of preachy moments about valuing the oceans, etc., yet opens with what is essentially a plug for "Sea World". There are also several references to Coke, the tiresome little girl's libation of choice. For a kaiju film, there is not a lot of 'action' and far too much time is spent on the space-babe's pursuit of the annoying children, descriptions of carnage and destruction that we don't get to see, and Zigra's continual gloating about his superiority, our dismal fate, etc. His comeuppance for this verbose posturing is to have his dorsal fins played like a xylophone by the triumphant turtle, who then breaks into dance (even sillier than Godzilla's infamous victory jig in 1964's 'Invasion of Astro-Monster'). Incongruously, after this lighthearted song-and-dance moment, Zigra is incinerated while still alive. The Gamera formula was getting pretty tired by 1971 and, perhaps fortunately, this was the last of the original Showa-era films. Other than 'starring' in 1980's dire "Gamera Super Monster" a compilation of fight scenes frame-worked by a ridiculous (and possibly imaginary) story involving 'space women', the giant, jet-powered, flying turtle hibernates until 1995's excellent "Gamera: Guardian of the Universe". One bonus: the score includes the 'Gamera Song', this time with lyrics and sung by a children's choir. If this memorably cheerful ditty doesn't lay an egg in your inner ear, nothing will.

Ah, I'm near the end of my self-imposed Gamerathon. While the showa series started off well enough, Gamera became worse and strange as it dragged on. In the last one Gamera faced the crap-monster Jiger; now he faces…Zigra!! All I can say is watch the Mystery Science Theater 3000 episode featuring this crapfest. It is HILARIOUS!! However, watching this movie without the commentary is practically suicide. Once more, a hot Japanese chick in a strange leotard wishes to take over the Earth because we of course treat it like a crappy car. The interior and exterior of the alien ship looks like a rejected set from "Peewee's Big Adventure". The movie is technically pretty short, but because of its budget and poor writing the first half really drags on. Hell, the whole movie drags on. Whole squadrons are wiped out, magnitude 18 earthquakes rock Peru, and all off-screen, of course. At the same time, there is a humongous debate on who gets to buy fish. Practically an hour in, where's that Zigra guy? At the same time, there's a chase sequence that's choreographed like one from Scooby-Doo. You know, one person runs in one door, somehow exits thru another, snazzy music plays? At long last Zigra appears, and I actually like the design of the fish-creature. But wait, he can talk? WTF…Wait, Gamera uses the spikes along Zigra's back like a xylophone, WTF?!! This is one sh*tfest I can't comprehend.

I've seen quite a number of the Japanese man-in-rubber-suit monster movies, and this one rates right down there at the bottom. Gamera has always been confusing to me. At least with Godzilla I suppose there's a chance that radioactivity could turn him into a giant radioactive lizard.But I think Gamera is a pretty hard sell, even to kids. Here we have a giant, fanged turtle that walks upright, breathes fire (even under water), and has rockets under his shell and uses them to fly. He also dances, and comes when children call, like a giant puppy with a shell.But, if you can buy that premise, I suppose none of the other strangeness in this movie will effect you either. Zigra is a giant shark-like thing from another galaxy that can stand on its tail, has a razor bladed head, a bird's beak and some sort of fourth dimensional laser beam for a nose. It also speaks English (originally Japanese) under water. Even Gamera can't speak our language, and he lives here. Zigra has come to enslave humans and eat them.Much like the other Gamera films, preschool children figure out all the answers to problems grown scientists have no clue about, then they call Gamera to come save the day. Which he does, of course, finishing up by playing his theme song on Zigra's ribs with a boulder. Nothing unusual in that, really. It's the sort of stuff that's been happening in Japan for decades.Another gift from "Producer" Sandy Frank, who never met a film that was too awful to import to America. It makes me wonder what the Japanese think when we export some nuttiness like Spiderman to their country.

Campy and low-budget, all the things that make the old Gamera movies great. This movie follows a creature named Zigra, who first destroys a moon base then threatens Tokyo. Gamera arrives late and generally just mucks things up. He does somehow save the day, in one of the cheesiest fight sequences ever made. If you like stupid old movies, this one's for you."Gamera is really neat, Gamera is full of meat, We believe in Gamera!"