Gargantua

It sounds like the long-lost sequel to WAR OF THE GARGANTUAS (1967) and comes in an ALIEN-style video box, but this is actually a lame kiddie-style tele-movie that debuted on Fox.

Adam Baldwin is a widowed scientist on the Australian island of Malau with his depressed young son, where illegal DDT dumping results in a variety of mutant creatures. A cute baby salamander monster with big goo-goo eyes makes friends with the son after he feeds him cheese balls. A not-so-nice medium sized one with sharp teeth and horns follows, and a really mean giant mama monster comes searching for her babies and terrorizes the city. Naturally, the military shows up, act as dense as they usually do in these movies and blast the big one. THEN the father shows up!

I suppose that kids may like it, but the lousy dialogue and nauseating family dramatics will be a bit much for adults to stomach. FX give new meaning to the term "uneven"--the two smaller monsters (either animatronics or CG) aren't bad, but the larger ones are almost on the same level of those old Saturday Matinée GODZILLA flicks.

And the moral of the story hasn't changed--be nice to giant lizard monsters or they will stomp on you!

Gargantua really isn't a bad film at all, once you understand that it is really designed for kids. It doesn't follow the standard rampaging monster picture formula; and it is definitely not an old fashioned "D" monster movie. It is an adventurous morality tale with modern ecological elements for kids, and the young at heart, to enjoy.

The monsters are not vicious; they are merely trying to protect themselves as a family. There is a clear parallel between them and the young boy who has lost is mother and clings so desperately to his father, the scientist in the times of danger. A good monster picture always has a scientist to explain the obvious to us. This one has a science hero who is a conservationist, determined to save the monsters if possible. The film has many elements with which children will quickly identify. It is really produced on that plane. I love a good monster flick of any kind and I can appreciate Gargantua on the level.

The production values of Gargantua are quite good. The camera work and the sea-going adventure scenes are quiet well done. The acting is superior and the plot is cohesive. Let the film thrill the kids and realize that it's not really made for jaded, overly-critical adults. It sure beats the pants off of the spate of formula snake movies and genetic mutation muddles I've seen of late. Let the kids have their fun with Gargantua, and go pick on "Boa", or Pythons 2, quagmires truly worthy of disdain.

I gave this piece of garbage 1 because that is the lowest there was. It deserved less.

The "creature" effects were terrible. The "baby" moved like a cheap shop dummy badly in need of lubrication. About the only good thing I can say for the effect of the adult creatures is that at least you couldn't see through them. I would suggest that next time the "script writers" come up with a cause for the mutation, they show some logic in the way they show it on screen. Hint: I would very much suspect that DDT does not glow luminescent green a few thousand feet under the water!

There was at faint glow of hope. At one point in the movie the Internet gets mentioned. When they showed someone using a computer to look at something, they didn't have one of those ridiculously pathetic GUIs where every key press was accompanied with loud clicking.

To paraphrase Monty Pythons The Holy Grail, when you see this one coming "RUN AWAY!"

If you're looking for a movie that will move you, make you laugh, cry, thrill you, scare you, and shake you to the core of your being - THIS ISN'T IT!

Wow. Such a clunker. I knew it was going to be horrible - that was why I watched it. With that in mind, I loved it! The only truly good thing about it was Adam Baldwin. The other actors all generally sucked, and the Outstanding Sucking Award goes to the son, whoever played him, I can't be bothered to go back and check the name. His acting was horrible, and his voice annoying. Some credit, however, must be given to the writers, who gave him the awful lines and the terrible parallel to the baby creature who had also lost its mother. WHAT A SHOCK! I WAS SO STRUCK TO LEARN ABOUT THE AMAZING CONNECTION HE HAD WITH THE CREATURE!

The creatures were so truly awful as to remind me of the original Star Trek series, and the plot was obviously contrived after the writers had watched Jurassic Park, then Godzilla, and then gotten heavily drunk

It was a wonderful movie to watch and insert lines into (think Mystery Science Theatre), and Adam Baldwin was at least competent, even if his lines sucked too, and he's always nice to look at. If you're looking for a great clunker, this is it! I was well pleased with what it is.

I know lotsa people out there really didn't like this film, but I did. Sure, the monsters were dodgy, but the actors were fantastic. There were references to modern technology, and the characters were actual people. The death of Jack Ellway's wife was a nice touch, it made the bond between father and son more believable. The story line is well-worn and unbelievable, but the baby and the mother are alright looking monsters, I guess. Adam Baldwin's character, Jack Ellway, is a contrast to the majority of his other roles as thugs, uniformed nonities and bad guys. It's also different from his characters in ID4, Major Mitchell and in The Patriot, Capt. Wilkins. In this movie he's just a regular guy, newly widowered, doing the best he can for his son while doing his job. Emile Hirsch has a few scenes in which he isn't allowed to shine as much as he might, (like where he cuts his finger, that was noticably fake) but he is the central character and a good actor as well. Doug Penty (Paul Bateman) has been in a few TV series, such as Paradise Beach, and, while he says a few things that are overly serious for his character, he plays the laidback surfie reporter very well. (Doesn't hurt that he's also gorgeous!!) Other cast members - Julie Carmen (Alyson Hart), Alexander Petersons (Derek), Peter Adams (Dr. Hale), Monroe Reimers (President Moki) and Bobby Hosea (Colonel Wayne) - help make this movie enjoyable as well.