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Tuesday, September 9, 2014

Daikyoju Gappa (1967)

A Japanese science fiction daikaiju film directed by Haruyasu Noguchi.
A group of workers are sent on an expedition to tropical islands by the boss of a magazine. Their mission is to collect exotic birds and animals for a theme park. When they stop at an island, a hidden cave in a mountain opens and they discover the hatching egg of a giant monster inside. Filled with dreams of wealth and glory, they bring the baby monster home with them.
Apparently, this film was supposed to be a satire of the Japanese daikaiju films of the time that lost it's humor in the English translation. It definitely poked fun at the genre with toy tanks and missle launchers. The "monster stomping city" scenes were way over the top and their duration was at the expense of plot. Speaking of plot, that was simple and the pacing was exceedingly slow. I did like the monsters and they were a major part of the film. However, the overly simplified plot, slow pacing and endless city stomping scenes proved to detract too much from the film for it to be a good daikaiju movie. The ending is really sappy to the point that it warmed my cold, mechanical heart. This is a film for hardcore Japanese monster movie fans. I rate it o.k.

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