Excellent adaptation.

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one

It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

I'm sorry, but for me, this movie was certainly not one of Toho's gems. I found the film to be quite frustrating actually. I watch these films because I love the amazing creatures and monsters that the humans have to battle. In this movie, the monster did not make its appearance until over halfway through the film. What's worse is that it did not break free and begin attacking anyone until nearly the last 20 minutes of the film. Given that fact, the battle lasted less than 5 minutes with Manda being taken down by the crew of the Atragon very quickly, with no real "battle" as you would have thought there would be. I don't want to say this film was a complete flop however, it seems to me that this film is more of a Japanese patriotism propaganda film in some instances, and a monster flick in others. But to each their own!

This is one of the better non-Godzilla films from the minds of Honda, Tanaka, Tsubaraya and Ifukube. Even though this film pretty much covers the same ground as they did in the Mysterians (even using some stock footage from that film), it still was a great film. The special effect's work by Tsubaraya has to rank as some of his best and the story is better than average for this type of film. I loved how they pretty much showed how tortured Jinguji was as he was torn between his loyalty to Japan, his love for his daughter and the needs of the world as they were being attacked by the Mu Empire. Also, in an interesting bit of casting, Akihiko Hirata and Kenji Sahara play villains instead of their normal heroic roles. It also was interesting that the threat to Earth in this film didn't come outer space but from beneath the ocean by one of the most legendary lost civilizations after Atlantis. This is definitely a great film.

*SPOILER WARNING* Sort of a Japanese Captain Nemo story, ATRAGON has to do with a super submarine that can do damn near anything and the part that it plays in saving the world from invasion by the evil forces of the Mu empire. When the Mu invaders show up, they boast of their superiority, yet they request that we not use Atragon (the super-sub) against them. Those wussies...Anyway, much butt is kicked and the serpent monster Manda makes its debut here. Manda is probably best known for the train derailment scene from DESTROY ALL MONSTERS, and is kind of cool since it looks like a traditional Asian dragon. As Toho flicks go, this has more plot than usual, but I still think it only rates a **1/2 out of a possible ****.

This is an awesome film that is worth seeing if you like sci-fi films about evil civilizations trying to take over the world. The films music (Akira Ifukube) is one of his best scores (my opinion) and is well acted. Before I first saw it, I thought it would be like the corny Godzilla films of the seventies featuring kids or kid themes, but it wasn't. This is a drama and not a comedy. Even if you have never seen this type of movie before, it is definately worth your time seeing.