Gamera: Guardian of the Universe (1995) Review

Gamera: Guardian of the Universe (1995) Review

In the same year that saw the conclusion of the second era of Godzilla films with Godzilla vs. Destoroyah, Gamera made his big return to theaters in a reboot to the series that ignores all previous films from the Showa era and takes the concept of a giant atomic mutant turtle seriously. That might sound like a recipe for disaster, but Gamera: Guardian of the Universe proved to be a successful start to what would become a trilogy of films for the Heisei era.

A giant atoll that seems to be moving by itself shows up, and around the same time some strange ancient birds are discovered on a remote island. There are three birds, and Gamera fans will recognize them right away as one of his most famous enemies: Gyaos. There are multiple Gyaos this time, and he has been redesigned, but still looks recognizably the same, although this version of the flying monster is less like a giant vampire bat and more like a pterodactyl, despite being repeatedly called a bird. The Defense Force tries to capture the three Gyaos in a baseball stadium, but the plan backfires, and only one gets trapped, while another gets shot down and the third escapes.

The first thirty minutes are slow, but once Gamera shows up it picks up. It turns out (unsurprisingly) the atoll is Gamera encased in rock! He breaks out and swats a Gyaos right out of the sky, then proceeds to kill the other two, which are all much smaller than Showa-era Gyaos. Gamera causes a path of destruction as he heads for the stadium, and when he gets there the last living Gyaos has escaped, so he fires up his jets and flies off. It’s kind of funny he didn’t try flying there in the first place. This version of Gamera doesn’t act the same as he did in the original. He doesn’t need to hit the gas station on his way into the city to fill up on petroleum and oil and flames to fuel his flight and fire breath. This Gamera is a more mystical, ancient creature, and one of the characters, a young girl, forms a spiritual bond with the giant turtle. Even though he’s different in nature and origin, this Gamera is still true to the character. He’s a good guy protecting Japan from the Gyaos, and still defends children in particular, showcased in a great scene where he shoots a fireball at one of the Gyaos and blows it up.   

By the end there is only one Gyaos left, and he grows into a size that matches Gamera’s. The buildup to the final battle is a bit tedious, and this is where my biggest criticism of this movie comes in: I just don’t find it very consistently entertaining. Don’t get me wrong: I love all the great Gamera moments, I love the special effects, and I enjoy the more serious take, but I find the human characters uninteresting, unengaging, and not memorable, and the reimagining of the Gyaos mythos doesn’t really appeal to me. I feel a bit conflicted with this movie, because it checks all the boxes for an old-school Gamera fan, even though it’s also telling a more serious story—Gamera has to recover before his final battle with the enemy monster, Gyaos can emit his sonic beam (which actually looks pretty cool this time), and there are many scenes with the monsters, just like the best entries in the Showa era had to offer—and yet, it still always leaves me wishing there was more to it to keep me entertained from beginning to end.

Some of the CGI and compositing effects look a little wacky, but overall the miniatures and monster designs are excellent. Gyaos looks truly scary, and Gamera has all the same characteristics but just looks better and less goofy than ever before. However, I feel like the Gyaos head looks like a very obvious puppet most of the time with silly googly eyes. It isn’t enough to ruin the movie or anything, but this is all to say the effects are not consistently of top notch quality. These are minor complaints though; my main issue is the somewhat unremarkable plot and the lack of innovation. I had already seen dozens of giant monster movies by the time I saw this movie, and I feel the same now as I did when I first saw it: that it doesn’t do a whole lot particularly unique despite doing many of the things I had seen before on a bigger and well-refined scale. 

Gamera: Guardian of the Universe is a good Gamera movie, undeniably. It rebooted the series in a way that satisfied fans and made those who had previously viewed it as a childish Godzilla knock-off see it in a new light. However, I am in the minority of fans when I say it’s not one of my favourites. I respect what it did to make Gamera a more credible movie monster, but as someone who finds particular joy in the cheesiness of the Showa era Gamera exploits, I find it a bit predictable and a little less entertaining than some of the older entries.