# Gamera 1995 (giant-turtle-attacks-Japan movie) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 20, 2006, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gamera-1995-giant-turtle-attacks-japan-movie/369457 "2006-08-20T17:46:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Ruffian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/71e660/32.png) [@Ruffian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruffian)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2006, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gamera-1995-giant-turtle-attacks-japan-movie/369457/1 "2006-08-20T17:46:22Z")
Oh. My. God. It’s terrible. It’s horrible. It’s AWFUL. It’s _so bad_ that it comes all the way around to…_AWESOME!_ I caught a few minutes of it on Showtime (or somesuch movie channel) the other night. I’m _still_ laughing. _Gamera_ (complete title is [Gamera: Guardian of the Universe](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0113142/)) is a giant turtle of the Japanese Godzilla-monster-family. Let’s see: he 1) flies (HA!) using 2) two jet engines (HA HA!), he 3) breathes large fireballs (HA HA HA!) and he 4) walks on his hind legs (HA HA HA HA!). Even more beautiful, for reasons to escape us all, this movie was remade in 1995, so the special effects are better, but a farrrrrrrr cry from “good.” He still stomps around a very obvious model of Tokyo, and is still obviously a guy in a rubber suit who spends most of his camera time swimming his arms through the air. They try to explain more of what’s going on, but their half-assed attempts at explaining his existence are even funnier. See this movie. You MUST see this movie. My favorite two lines in the brief time I watched: > [@](#): > > “Yes, it _must_ be Gamera. How _else_ do you explain the existence of a giant turtle that flies like a flying saucer??” Annnnnnnnnd… > [@](#): > > “So these [giant evil monster bird things, which Gamera must fight off] Gous are all female. They can’t reproduce! They’re the last of their kind. That means they are very valuable! Like the whooping crane!” > > :::dead pan serious::: "Yes. But whooping cranes _don’t eat people!"_ I have to see this movie in its entirety. Have. To. Oh, and by the way…the average rating for it at Amazon is 4 1/2 out of 5 stars. Wow. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2006, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gamera-1995-giant-turtle-attacks-japan-movie/369457/2 "2006-08-20T18:57:15Z")
It gets half a star just for not being set in Tokyo, and another half for using the Fukuoka Dome’s retractable roof to make a giant flying turtle trap. ---
**Author:** ![Push\_You\_Down](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/push_you_down/32/9095_2.png) [@Push\_You\_Down](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Push_You_Down)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2006, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gamera-1995-giant-turtle-attacks-japan-movie/369457/3 "2006-08-20T22:20:50Z")
Its almost as good as the children’s movie version of Mothra made about the same time. The 90s were a good decade for Kaiju fans. With the exception being the American Gozilla (in name only). ---
**Author:** ![Rocketeer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocketeer/32/4437_2.png) [@Rocketeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rocketeer)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2006, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gamera-1995-giant-turtle-attacks-japan-movie/369457/4 "2006-08-20T22:57:02Z")
You guys are being unduly harsh. The modern Gamera movies are just about the best giant monster movies ever made. (I will admit that that might be something like saying that the 1996 batch was the finest Marmite ever. 😉 ) But special effects-wise, script-wise, general production goodness-wise, they’re at the top of the heap. A friend of my wife’s recommended that she get one as a birthday present for me, and I liked it so well I bought both sequels (which are just as cool). She must have described my personality really well to him. hmmmm. ---
**Author:** ![CandidGamera](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/candidgamera/32/2878_2.png) [@CandidGamera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CandidGamera)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2006, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gamera-1995-giant-turtle-attacks-japan-movie/369457/5 "2006-08-21T02:37:38Z")
It’s Gyaos/Gaos. Just sayin’. ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2006, 6:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gamera-1995-giant-turtle-attacks-japan-movie/369457/6 "2006-08-21T06:43:23Z")
Gamera is really neat. He’s also friend to all children.