A decade after the franchise was originally rebooted, the Gamera series was brought back to life with a return to the original kiddie production style of the original Showa-era films. Abandoning all pretenses of the darker, more adult kaiju films from the Heisei trilogy, director Ryuta Tasaki aimed for a complete throwback effort in the final entry for the Gamera saga released by Arrow Video.
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Following the death of his mother, young Toru Aizawa (Ryo Tomioka) and his father Kanji (Kanji Tsuda) live alone until Toru finds a strange turtle and bonds with it, taking it home in secret. Raising it with his friend Mai (Kaho), they come to realize that the turtle is growing larger and is soon too big to hide, forcing them to take him out of the home where he disappears one day. When the cause of a recent spate of shipping disasters in the area is found to be responsible by Zedus, they begin to flee until a massive turtle that bears a striking resemblance to their former pet arrives. Finally realizing that the pet turtle is the giant monster Gamera trying to protect humanity, they try to help the outmatched creature fend off the powerful and dangerous creature destroying the city.
Approached in the right mindset, “Gamera the Brave” is quite a lot of fun. That this is very much a reimagined origin story for the massive turtle, offering a backstory that changes his origins around into a more Earth-bound creature that comes into young Toru’s possession and grows into a full-size creature is a nice addition here. Giving not only a believable explanation for everything that happens, from Toto’s growth into Gamera and how to keep powering up the creature in its fight against Zedus, the connection Toru and his friends have with Toto and the building suspense behind Zedus’ appearance all work nicely. It’s all kept straightforward and simplistic, which enables the heroic tendencies that appear in the final battle trying to help Gamera persevere, all the more uplifting with proper context and rationale behind it due to these early scenes.
As well, the effects in “Gamera the Brave” are suitably impressive on the whole. The turtle form of Toto is serviceable as a cutesy giant turtle, with the large eyes and rounded beak that get carried over into the full-size Gamera costume. A believable size and being mobile enough to pass for a natural turtle, this stage is quite impressive as is the full-size version. Given the saggy, wrinkled texture of actual turtles in addition to the aforementioned eyes and beak, this form is appropriate for a more kid-centric variation of the storyline, much like the giant monster Zedus. A menacing dinosaurian creature with dragon-like features and a powerful stature, the suit is nearly too good for this kind of film which can also be said of the miniature buildings.
That said, “Gamera the Brave” does have some issues. The kiddie tone established here might not be for everyone’s liking, especially in regards to the adult form of Gamera that is clearly cuter than anything. The return to the series’ roots, putting a child-like Toru at the center of the story who figures out everything in the plot and directly gets involved in the action feels like direct ports from the franchises’ original incarnations. This is all lighthearted and never in the slightest serious, despite the attempts to do so with the inclusion of heroism and bravery introduced in the story. Moreover, the decision to audibly change Gamera’s iconic roar with the straightforward growl from the 1976 “King Kong” is a direct insult and completely feels out-of-place for a cute creature such as this. Beyond these factors, though, there’s not much else to dislike.
While it might be overly kid-friendly and a complete departure in tone from the Heisei trilogy before it, “Gamera the Brave” has quite a lot to like, which makes for perhaps the best entry in that approach for the entire franchise. Open-minded kaiju fans who can enjoy those aspects or fans of the old-school tone in the series will be the most impressed with this one even though its genuinely worth a look for genre fans as a whole.
