BootDigest Such a frustrating disappointment

Matialth Good concept, poorly executed.

Ezmae Chang This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

Ella-May O'Brien Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

FilmExpertWannabe If you're a fan of the Heisei Gamera films, you may find yourself displeased with this film, but give it a chance. Gamera the Brave marks a return to the Gamera franchise's roots as a friend of children and the movie is primarily aimed at this demographic. However, I will say that it's like other good children's movies in that it's well done enough that people of all ages should find a certain entertainment value.Starting with the core essence of the movie, the plot may be unoriginal but it works. It never set out to be some legendary masterpiece of cinema anyway. Our characters work well with each other and have good chemistry; the friends act and feel like friends, the parents act like parents, all good. The visuals used are excellent. Gamera looks good enough for what it is. I'm torn here since I'm not really a fan of this design but it is appropriate for depicting Toto as a young Gamera and not the adult we saw in the Heisei series, for example. It is what it is. I have to insert a cliché here and admit I was disappointed to see Gamera's classic roar discarded in favor of something generic, but I suppose it could've been worse. Zedus looks genuinely superb here in almost any angle or action sequence. Overall, the suits here are darn good and lend some credibility to the continuation of suits in a world that transition to CGI some time ago. To continue, the miniatures and model cities looked excellent. Someone clearly took care in making them.Gamera the Brave is thoroughly well executed and may not continue in the fashion of the dark Heisei trilogy, but one must be able to appreciate more than just one style of film. I miss the 1990s Gamera movies as well, but this movie does its job well. Sadly, Gamera the Brave did not perform well at the box office in Japan, earning only $2.6 million. The word on the 'net is that this was to be the first film in a new trilogy but that was canceled after Gamera the Brave's financial failure. Numerous factors have played a role in Gamera's future being in limbo, but let's hope this wasn't the last outing for our favorite flying turtle.

gothic_a666 When one thinks of giant monster movies what comes to mind is not family entertainment. The Gamera franchise was originally geared toward a younger audience but this entry still comes as something of a surprise given later developments. Gamera The Brave is more along the lines of ET than an actual effort in the kaiju universe. Which is not to say that it is a bad movie. On the contrary, it is precisely the initial parts in which the young leads bond with the little turtle that assure that the viewer is committed to the monster battles once they take place.The Gamera in this movie is also a child so there is a handicap involved that adds suspense to the outcome. The lead actor, a little boy recently orphaned of his mother, bonds emotionally with his cute pet and the movie provides opportunities for him to grow without becoming a mini adult as so often happens in such cases. Some of the staples of the genre are almost completely absent such as military maneuvers and government ineptitude. There is no interest in developing such plot lines because at its heart what matters is the interaction between the boy and the new Gamera.The movie may disappoint fans of giant monsters but it offers something that a broader audience can relate to and enjoy. At times perhaps a bit too sappy it is nevertheless enlivened by tight action scenes that are cleverly thought out. There are even lyrical moments such as when the children run against the flow of a fleeing crowd.Here is a gem of touching cinema that is well worth being watched.

OrlandoEastwood I've never been a fan of the older Gamera films, since they were real cheesy compared to the older Godzilla films. The Gamera films of the 90's were great and had a darker tone to it. This is a new Gamera, a mixture of old Gamera with the 90's Films. It starts out with a battle between an old villain of Gamera's, the Gyaos. Now, this Gamera, tough but weak as hell couldn't stand to the challenge and blows himself up. Then thirty years pass to present day in Japan. A man who witnessed Gamera's death is now a grown man with a deceased wife and and son. The son see's a red flashing light on the island where Gamera died, so the kid decides to check out and finds an egg. The egg quickly hatches it and raises and notices he get's unusually bigger and disappears. Then a monster, named Zedus, arrives and causes panic to the town. Then as the boy's father tries to save his son's friend from getting eaten, the once baby turtle is now Gamera and saves the boy's father and friend. Then a battle ensures between the monster and Gamera until the Baby Turtle kicks it's butt and the government step in and take the turtle away. Then Zedus returns to battle Gamera and tries to kill him for good.This film does drag and we don't see Gamera in his larger stage, it's a little sulcata tortoise running around for the first half-hour. Then when we have action it's pretty much short which is not fun for the older fans of the serious. You can pretty much tell it's aimed at children of like 8 and under. I myself enjoyed it and give it a 7/10.

isfahani After seeing the 90's Gamera films recently (ok, I got a lot to catch up on...) and thinking "Wow, these meet - and in some cases beat - some of the Godzilla films of the past 15-20 years, hope there's more on the way" I finally got a chance to see this, now that there's a DVD release with English subs. The story as a continuation from the last films makes some sense, thankfully, if you outright ignore the 'cliffhanger' end of "Revenge of Iris" aka Gamera 3.I was enjoying it as a sort of cheap lighthearted affair with lots of character dead end developments, right up until "the children" were shoehorned en masse into the film as a plot device. (you'll see what I mean if you haven't already - big forehead slap and groan) It's not that I mind yet another Kaiju sell out (the big G certainly had his day) but after watching the Star Wars franchise got his way (and SW was just as big an influence on my childhood as Godzilla et al) it's just a little too disappointing. And am I to understand they're going to make more of these sort? I hope not, but if so IMO there should be a progression of sorts back to the big bad turtle I love so well.