The War of the Gargantuas

For monster lovers, this has to rank up there as one of Toho Studio's greatest and most satisfying giant monster movies. For those looking for it, there's plenty of nonstop monster mayhem and devastation on tap. However, it's hard for me to decide which of the two versions I prefer; the Japanese original (which calls our creatures "Frankenstein's" and is a direct sequel to Toho's own FRANKENSTEIN VS BARUGON, aka FRANKENSTEIN CONQUERS THE WORLD) or the U.S. edition (which christens the beasts "Garganutas" and works better as a separate stand alone story). This may be a rare occasion where the American rendition proves to be more entertaining, for a few reasons...

One grisly sequence shows the evil monster chewing a woman victim up like a piece of meat and spitting something out; in the Japanese version it's a bouquet of flowers, while in America it works more effectively as the girl's clothes.

Another quality I prefer in the U.S. edition is some of the music. Just works better for me during the action sequences of the monsters being fought off by the army as well as when they're beating each other up.

In the American film, Russ Tamblyn is especially funny to hear while looping his own embarrassed voice into English. And no matter which version you settle on, you'll still get the treat of hearing a female nightclub singer belting out that horrendous and long-vilified classic tune with hilarious lyrics that include "the words get stuck in my throat"! Worth watching for this alone! *** out of ****

We'll give credit to TOHO productions, it is different from the Godzilla films, which I adore. It seems they just used different monsters while using the same scaled army vehicles and scenery. Having viewed Frankenstein Conquers the World, this "Sequel" doesn't quite add up to it's previous storyline which was a little vague, blame it on poor editing? Had they expanded on why and where these 2 monsters originated from, it would make more sense, while still leaving out human dialogue. I saw this film as a child, it scared me into believing there really were creatures walking around stomping on people! When you hear the lady singing on the cruise ship, and that poorly written song sticks in your head, believe me, you'll wish she had been eaten first. The movie is a classic, worth a look see.

In case you've been asleep for a while, this is the sequel to Frankenstein Conquers the World, in which the Frankenstein monster has grown into two giant creatures. You see, it was established in the first film that the monster, if in parts, would continue to regrow itself, and so that's what happened. A part grew into a creature in the ocean, and another as a land creature, one good and one not. The creatures have a fondness for each other, basically being brothers of a sort, but the evil one eventually disappoints the good one, and then hell breaks loose with one of the best giant monster battles ever from Toho, second only to Kong and Godzilla. These monsters are the type that would make any creature fan proud and a vast improvement over the original Toho Frankenstein. They must have been listening to the fans about the first one's appearance because they did it right this time.

I saw this movie when it was in theaters in Queens, New York around 1968 and the promotional ad stated that the first 100 movie goers will receive a free pet monster. Well, my monster loving friends & myself were all over that. Turned out that the pet monster was a silly little rubbery goofy animal. Everyone loved them nonetheless! We all enjoyed the movie & it was billed as a second feature along with D.A.M. Destroy All Monsters! What a blast! War of the Gargantuas was definitely the better of the two flicks and every time I went to the beach after that kept hearing that eerie music and waited for the green gargantuan to rear his big ugly head out of the ocean. The ultimate battle between good (brown gargantuan) and evil (green gargantuan) as can best be done in Japanese monster fashion. Russ Tamblyn was popular at the time after appearing in West Side Story and Tom Thumb. I would say this was his best movie. I recommend it to any monster movie buff. MikeW

You have to simply take this type of movies for what they are. It's quite hard to say anything serious about them because they are all looking very outdated, features some bad acting and of course also don't have the most clever or original scripts.

What makes this movie very fun and watchable is the fact that it's almost non-stop movie monster action. Halve of the time during this movie you're watching a bunch of guys in suits walking around at a set with miniatures but it's all simply fun and good to watch. Lots of things get destroyed and the army is basically using everything it got to stop the two Gargantuas from reaching Tokyo. At the same time the two Gargantuas 'brothers' are also battling each other, so we have some action coming from basically every angle here.

It means that the 'human' story of the movie gets sort of pushed to the background but this is not necessarily a bad thing. It only means that the movie decided to go for entertainment rather than depth. Also not a bad movie, considering that the acting in this movie isn't exactly the best. Russ Tamblyn's overacting is quite laughable.

The movie is not necessarily a sequel to "Furankenshutain tai chitei kaijû Baragon", since this one doesn't even feature any of the original characters from that movie. It means that you don't necessarily need to see the first movie before watching and enjoying this one. The movie is from the same director and pretty much features the same crew as well, who did lots of movies like this together. Honda is also the director of the first original "Gojira" movie.

This movie is simply good and entertaining for what it is.

6/10

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