Gargantua (1998)

Marine biologist Jack Ellway and his son Brandon are drawn to the Polynesian island of Malau to study the effects of recent seismic activity on the area's marine life. Along with the local ... See full summary »

Director:

Bradford May

Writer:

Ronald Parker

Stars:

Adam Baldwin, Julie Carmen, Emile Hirsch

1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Adam Baldwin	...	Jack Ellway
Julie Carmen	...	Dr. Alyson Hart
Emile Hirsch	...	Brandon Ellway
Bobby Hosea	...	Colonel Wayne
Doug Penty	...	Paul Bateman
Peter Adams	...	Dr. Ralph Hale
Alexander Petersons	...	Derek Lawson
Monroe Reimers	...	President Manny Moki
Darren Selby	...	Kikko
Tony Briggs	...	Police Chief
Puven Pather	...	Naru
Mae Montero	...	Tari
Fiona Edwards	...	Girl #1
Aislinn Crowe	...	Girl #2
Don Battee	...	T.J. (as Donald Battee)

Storyline

Marine biologist Jack Ellway and his son Brandon are drawn to the Polynesian island of Malau to study the effects of recent seismic activity on the area's marine life. Along with the local doctor Alyson Hart, they soon become caught up in the investigation of a series of recent drownings with unexpected results. As Jack explores the surrounding ocean for a mysterious marine creature, Brandon discovers and befriends a three-foot-long baby creature that is able to leave the ocean and walk on land. As more dangerous and giant creatures come onto the island, and the military begins to take offensive action, Jack must risk everything to save the creatures, the island and his son.

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Plot Keywords:

kaiju | ocean | biologist | widower | restaurant | 

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Genres:

Horror | Sci-Fi | Action

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Certificate:

Unrated

Did You Know?

Trivia

This film made its television premiere on the same night that rival project Godzilla (1998) held its advance screenings.

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Connections

References Beginning of the End (1957)

User Reviews

You've gotta be kidding me....

This was a movie?

I'm really not sure what's worse....a hyped-up film that turns out to be a major flop or a TV movie that was quickly made to cash in on a hyped-up film that turned out to be a major flop.

GARGANTUA is in the latter category, created as the FOX network's answer to GODZILLA, and there's really nothing good I can say about it. The acting was bad (save Baldwin....no relation to the Baldwin brothers), the special effects were bad (it was a good thing that daddy dragon was only in it for about twenty seconds of screentime....he was a joke), the storyline was miserably cliched and boring (even down to the Australian villian...oooooh....), and even the music by J. Peter Robinson, who's usually pretty good, is disappointing.

The plot...about a small son finding a baby dinosaur and its increasingly bigger family who searching for it....is probably the worst TV movie idea ever established for the nineties. In fact, the premise sets itself up as a [bad] episode of the Twilight Zone, and keeps going for an hour and a half. It even ends up rooting for the monsters and defending their actions, even after they thrash some cities and eat some people (I'm sorry...but if a giant dinosaur was stepping on my house, I'D shoot him with a rocket launcher....Was there a Greenpeace member behind this thing?). By the time the film was over, I was ready to quit the film-reviewing business, and I couldn't figure out how in the world they ever allowed this thing to be made.

All in all, terrible. Go rent King Kong vs. Godzilla if you want some real, smashing-buildings fun.

1/2 out of ****

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

19 May 1998 (USA)

Also Known As:

Gargantua - Das Monster aus der Tiefe

Filming Locations:

Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia

Company Credits

Production Co:

Fox Television Studios

Technical Specs

Runtime:

120 min

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1