Gamera the Brave (2006) Review

Gamera the Brave (2006) Review

Gamera the Brave was the only Gamera film released in my lifetime that I had not seen until 2023. Unlike the Heisei Trilogy, this reboot of the series went back to focusing on youthful protagonists in order to appeal to younger audiences once again. Even though I think my review would be more positive had I seen it closer to when it first came out, Gamera the Brave is better than what it might make you expect upon first impression.

Ignoring continuity with all movies before it, this one starts with a bang in 1973, with Gamera fighting three medium-sized Gyaos all at once. The Gyaos look pretty much the same as they did in the Heisei films, which is to say they look badass, but Gamera? Well, the re-design leaves a little to be desired, but this old version of Gamera doesn’t last long. He self-destructs to destroy the Gyaos, and then there are no more giant monsters until 2006. This opening is just a tease, because there’s nothing as exciting as this battle until over an hour into the movie. A boy who witnessed Gamera’s sacrifice in the 70’s is now a father, and his wife has passed away. His son, Toru, discovers an egg that hatches into a tiny baby turtle, which he calls Toto (because that’s what his mom used to call him). There’s sort of a metaphor for Gamera representing a lost guardian for Toru, and it tries to give a little more (and new) meaning to the giant atomic mutant turtle. I’ll give them credit for trying, but the metaphorical approach doesn’t really work for me.

So Gamera—or, sorry, I mean Toto—becomes Toru’s new pet and best friend. This is very in-line with Showa-era Gamera, and out of all the young boys to lead these films, I think the character of Toru is one of the best. He isn’t annoying or too boring, but that isn’t to say he’s a particularly excellent main character. He’s…fine. Gamera, too, is also merely fine in this movie. He’s played by a real turtle for the first few scenes—except, it isn’t a turtle, it’s a tortoise that’s passed off as a turtle. How embarrassing. He floats around a few times, which hints at his flying ability, and continues to grow. At one point he’s the perfect size for the kids to move him around on a skateboard. I bet you never imagined seeing Gamera ride a skateboard in this movie, did you? Well, unfortunately that’s about the most interesting thing that happens in the first forty minutes or so—that, and when a survivor of a ship wreckage is eaten by an unseen monster at sea and a giant bubble of blood rises to the surface. It’s the one sort-of-gory moment in what is otherwise one of the tamer Gamera movies.

Gamera the Brave is light on monster action in the first half, but even when it starts happening in the second half, it isn’t particularly remarkable. Gamera isn’t very powerful, nor is he a very good fighter. In the final battle with the enemy monster, Zedus, he’s stuck in the side of a building for like ten minutes and only gets free after Toru throws the glowing red rock he originally found Gamera’s egg on in his mouth, which powers him up enough to annihilate Zedus. All the children band together to block the government and military in the street from getting to Gamera so he can escape and be free. It feels like an appropriate ending, but having Gamera be subjected to government intervention is a giant monster movie cliché the series had yet to stoop to prior to this film, and that’s one of my biggest issues with Gamera the Brave: it doesn’t feel particularly brave, in terms of rebooting a traditionally outlandish film franchise. It plays it safer than the Heisei Trilogy, but hey, it’s a kid’s movie at its core, and if you look at it as the most-kid-friendly-version of any of these movies with the most refined special effects, it’s pretty well done.

The monster Zedus comes out of nowhere mid-way through the movie. He has no setup and no direct connection to Gamera, he’s just a giant reptilian creature that intends to eat people and wreck some buildings. Even though he’s supposed to be a new monster, he comes off like a re-design of Baragon, only without the rainbow ray (but he does have rainbow-coloured frills on his neck). Gamera vs. Zedus is about as close as we might ever get to seeing Gamera vs. Godzilla—I mean, Zedus is bipedal, he has spikes on his back, and he has sharp teeth, so he definitely has some resemblance to Big G. He isn’t a very original or interesting monster, but the suitmation is extremely well done, and there is far less low-quality CGI compared to the Heisei films. The special effects for Toto-Gamera are top notch, too, but the design is another matter. I think they tried to redesign Toto-Gamera’s full-grown appearance to make him look cuter than he used to, but he looks kind of like a weird old man. It’s not his best look, and he doesn’t make the classic Gamera roar either, which is disappointing.

In the end, Gamera the Brave is a decent attempt to make a more credible Gamera movie while also making it a little truer to the older films in certain ways compared to the previous reboot. It’s much lighter in spirit and visuals, and is a harmless giant monster movie with enough going for it to be worth checking out, but I definitely think younger viewers will appreciate it more than anyone.