Gamera the Brave (2006)
"Chiisaki yûsha-tachi: Gamera" (original title)

In 1973, Gamera sacrifices his life to rid the world of the Gyaos once and for all. Three years later, a small boy who witnessed the event named Toru finds a mysterious egg. From it, ... See full summary »

Director:

Ryuta Tazaki

Writer:

Yukari Tatsui

Stars:

Ryô Tomioka, Kaho, Shingo Ishikawa

Cast

Credited cast:
Ryô Tomioka	...	Toru Aizawa
Kaho	...	Mai Nishio
Shingo Ishikawa	...	Ishimaru Ishida
Shogo Narita	...	Katsuya Ishida
Kanji Tsuda	...	Kousuke Aizawa
Susumu Terajima	...	Osamu Nishio
Tomorowo Taguchi	...	Councilor Yoshimitsu Hitotsugi
Kenjirô Ishimaru	...	Professor Soichiro Amamiya
Megumi Kobayashi	...	Miyuki Aizawa
Kenji Motomiya	...	Army
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Tetsu Watanabe

Storyline

In 1973, Gamera sacrifices his life to rid the world of the Gyaos once and for all. Three years later, a small boy who witnessed the event named Toru finds a mysterious egg. From it, hatches a small Turtle. Toru and his friends raise the turtle, who turns out to be a small Gamera. After a new man eating creature named Zedus, it's up to the small Gamera to save the world as the previous Gamera had done before.

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Plot Keywords:

gamera | giant monster | character name in title

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | Fantasy | Sci-Fi

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Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Release Date:

29 April 2006 (Japan)

Also Known As:

Gamera the Brave

Company Credits

Production Co:

Kadokawa Daiei Pictures Inc., Shochiku Company

Technical Specs

Runtime:

96 min

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Trivia

When little Toto/Gamera is crawling thru the kitchen, a knife falls off a table and sticks in the floor in such a way as to resemble Guiron, the monster Gamera fought in Gamera vs. Guiron.

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Connections

Follows Daikaijû Gamera (1965)

User Reviews

Best "Kid-Friendly" Gamera yet

The original Gamera series quickly aimed for the 5 to 8 year old set after two attempts at the standard "adult" monster film typified by the Godzilla series (although these kept lowering the age bracket with each film). Gamera films usually revolved around turtle loving children put in peril by aliens until their rescue by Gamera. The children sometimes would help Gamera either by cheering him on or in a more disgusting case, going into his body and fighting a parasite infection. Strangely, the original Gamera films features more gore and gross damage to the monsters then the Godzilla films ever attempted. The revived series directed by Shusuke Kaneko featured a more mature approach although Gamera had a psychic connection with a teenage girl. Kaneko also introduced a more integrated approach to the kaiju genre and raised the bar for all kaiju films. The re-revived series has aimed to return to Gamera's roots in the 1960's, once again presenting Gamera as "friend of all children".

Director Ryuta Tazaki comes from Japanese sci-fi action television with quite a resume with the Japanese Power Ranger Shows and never ending Kamen Rider series. This film shows little of his TV roots as this film is very well directed, well photographed with some modest experimentation with visuals and sound design. The film has a sort of naturalism that you don't usually get in a kaiju film. The hero just lost his mom to a car crash and his friend is afraid she won't live thru a heart operation in the hospital. THe parents are working class shop owners. A few moments of over-sentimentality and cuteness are here but the rest of the film makes up for it. The special effects live up to the level of the Kaneko Gamera films with a couple of shots that are excellent. Tazaki doesn't have Kaneko's dramatic flair for the action scenes but they are well done. As a note, this film does have some rather gross green gore when Gamera is hurt during the fights, this may upset children here in the west.

Once again Gamera sets a high standard. Recommended.