Gamera vs. Zigra1971

29/100 This movie was made while Daiei was bankrupt, seemingly both financially and creatively. So glad we have this to remind just how terrible this franchise can get. Daiei's poor financial condition is apparent even without any behind-the-scenes info, as the effects in this one are somehow even worse than usual, to the point where every fight lasts two minutes and there isn't even a proper city destruction scene. In addition to this, the plot itself is a generic alien invasion story, which I'm not a fan of whenever it shows up in these kinds of Kaiju movies due to its overusage. Zigra also says he's invading Earth due to their space debris polluting his planet, despite space pollution being largely confined to Earth's atmosphere, while his planet is stated to be 400 light years away. The very foundation of this plot is garbage. Zigra himself is one of the few parts of the movie I liked. He has the ability to speak, which sets him apart from other Gamera villains, and he uses it to give suitably melodramatic speeches about his superiority, which I like. The same, however, cannot be said for Gamera, who is perhaps at his worst here. His eyes are bloodshot throughout for some reason, he's constantly roaring every second he's onscreen and the suit itself is visibly deteriorating. I think the Gamera song is brainwashing me into still liking him. The human characters are similarly underwhelming, with perhaps the worst of these annoying kid characters. At least we get Eiko Yanami in a swimsuit this time around. This film also features Seaworld, which is wild considering its present controversy, but here it's just another footnote amongst this movie's tedium. I'll end this on a positive note, though, and say it still has a funny moment in Gamera using Zigra's fins like a xylophone. This isn't completely terrible as a movie, as the two villains are pretty entertaining. But it is mostly terrible, dragged down by a bad plot, worse effects and somehow even worse characters. They somehow managed to make Gamera bad. Maybe somewhere out in the world there's a secret Zigra fan, but for the most part, this movie's one to stay far away from.