In this, his fourth outing, Gamara finally hits stride as a children's hero, complete with his cheesily heroic (albeit memorable) theme music. The film follows a pair of irritating boy scouts (Maseo and Jim) who are kidnapped by aliens to act as human shields against Gamera, now established as Earth's guardian turtle. The UN does some careful 'cost: benefit' analysis and decides to surrender the entire planet in exchange for the boys' safety, but fortunately the Maseo's prankish ingenuity gets the better of the somewhat credulous aliens and the resourceful pair manage to turn the tables on our would-be overloads. A budget offering, the middle third of the film consists of lengthy clips taken from the first three films as the aliens examine Gamera's memories for a weakness. The movie is saved from absolute bottom-of-the-barrel status by Maseo's cute girl-guide sister, some inventive spaceship effects, the imaginative hexopod kaiju, and a somewhat Freudian impalement scene. For kaiju aficionados or the most undiscerning viewers only. I watched an English-dubbed, poor quality DVD version, which may have contributed to my low opinion of the opus.
Review of Gamera vs. Viras
