People are voting emotionally.

How wonderful it is to see this fine actress carry a film and carry it so beautifully.

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

My involvement the last time with the Godzilla films, on the occasion of the new movie that came out in theaters a few days ago, I revealed another kind of film, a sub-genre in fantasy or science fiction, if you will, that of kaiju. Accurate translation of the term kaiju, is "strange creatures" and has been associated with giant creatures with features usually animal-like. In the kaiju flicks therefore, the case is always simple: a giant creature attacks a city and destroys it, as is most common, two of these creatures fight each other, with one being usually with the side of people. The most famous of kaiju remains until today Godzilla, with dozens of films to his credit, animated series, comic books, action figures and anything else you can imagine. Somewhere in the 90s, Godzilla meets a powerful opponent, who makes his reappearance in the cinema after fifteen years and after a series of films in the 60s and 70s, not particularly successful. The name of the kaiju that soured his omnipotence Godzilla is Gamera. Gamera is a creature that is actually a giant turtle with tusks, which can fly using jet thrusters, shown in place of the rear legs (spiteful say that there is not his legs ...). Gamera never had the glamor of Godzilla but with the trilogy he gained in the 90s, for many is what best in Japanese cinema of kaiju. So I decided to take a look at the Gamera trilogy, starting from Gamera: Guardian Of The Universe. The first encouraging sign, even before the movie was the name of the director, Shusuke Kaneko, who is the man who directed the best of the series of Godzilla movies, I've watched, GMK. Second positive element, very good theme music, we hear from launch title, which exudes a seriousness and "creates" something interesting. And the truth is that the Gamera: Guardian Of The Universe, evolve with interesting and entertaining way. Good action scenes, with high quality (for 1995) special effects and a script, which is more or less the standard kind of movies (it's never their strong point). The first film in the Gamera trilogy entered dynamically in the arena of claiming the crown of the best kaiju film. Remains just under GMK, but we have two sequels to follow, which indeed they have received better reviews than the first part of the trilogy.

Like Godzilla, Gamera has had quite a history. Considered Godzilla's younger brother and rival, the giant turtle started off as an antagonist to humanity only to save them from other giant monsters. The series progressed from being serious to being annoyingly stupid and kid-friendly, eventually ending in the 70s. Then, in 1995, just as Godzilla meets his end, Daiei Co. (which created Gamera) had their star turtle carry the torch in an exciting reboot. The result was the 1990s trilogy.Plot: Reports were coming in as a trio of large, bird-like reptiles called Gyaos are going around eating people. Gyaos are super weapons created by a civilization long forgotten (presumed to be Atlantis). Luckily, that same civilization created Gamera to destroy Gyaos and protect humanity, but with the military believing Gamera to be the larger threat, its up to a few scientists and a teenage girl (Ayako Fujitani, daughter of Steven Seagal!), who shares a link with the giant turtle, to help the Guardian of the Universe save the day.This movie truly stands on its own with a good story, decent cast, cool special effects, and awesome action scenes. Its nice to see Gamera finally have a serious and dark role. Thankfully, there's no annoying kids ruining the show. Instead, we get teen girl Asagi to share a bond with the monster, which helps appeal to a broader audience. The Gyaos have a menacing atmosphere to them, especially when they go hunting humans, while Gamera embodies a sense of power and nobility. Some Gamera movies have the tendency to torture the poor green guy, but here, thankfully, he delivers plenty of punishment back. Now that's turtle power!Definitely recommended that you watch this movie and enjoy.

This updated version of the 1960's terrifying terrapin is by far better than the showa films that precede it. Gamera first showed its fangs in 1965 in the movie Gamera (1965) as a response to the popular Godzilla series. for the most part these films were bad.The 1990's revival of the sabre-toothed tortoise is a brilliant addition to the Kaiju Eiga.The acting in Gamera: Guardian of the Universe is Excellent. Each Actor and Actress portrays there own character well and seem to enjoy playing the part.The storyline is very good. The inclusion of what humans are doing to the planet being the reason for why the Gyoas waking up was a good plot device. Also the myth of Atlantis/super-civilisation having created the two monsters, Gamera and Gyoas was a good touch.The soundtrack was good but I do have some complaints about its use. During the final battle scene I feel that the music played was not completely appropriate for a battle of titans.Overall a good film with some minor flaws. Gamera: Guardian of the Universe is a great film that can be enjoyed by anyone a kaiju fan or not.And by the way the next two are even better

It's nice to take a break from Godzilla and still have the same formula, except that the hero is a Terrapin.We don't get too far away as the director, Shusuke Kaneko, is a Godzilla (Godzilla,Mothra and King Ghidorah) writer and director, too, as well as director of two more Gamera movies.One of the main characters, Shinobu Nakayama, was also featured in Godzilla vs Mechagodzilla, or Godzilla and the Transformers as I like to call it.The special affects were fantastic, and the military blows it again by fighting the wrong monster as Gamera is a friend.The evil monsters, no not Florida State, but the Gyaos, huge birds, are defeated. of course. and Gamera can safely go back to the sea until Gamera 2.