Magic Serpent

What a great movie this is! Every time I watch it (and I have seen it several times since 1975 or so) I always enjoy it. Probably the first true introduction of ninja to America. Well dubbed, lots of cool magic and monsters, swordplay and palace intrigue. I wish some enterprising individual would think to release THIS film on DVD over in America. The influence on STAR WARS can't be denied, either. But find a copy and watch it!

1966's "Magic Serpent" ("Kairyu Daikessen" or Decisive Battle of the Giant Magic Dragon) emerged from Toei Studios rather than Toho, perhaps best known for Sonny Chiba's "Terror Beneath the Sea" or Robert Horton's "The Green Slime," as well as TV feature "Voyage Into Space" (derived from JOHNNY SOKKO AND HIS FLYING ROBOT). Preceding Daiei's Majin trilogy by mere months, this joyous combination of ancient Japanese folklore with giant monsters opens with the betrayal and murder of Lord Ogata by once trusted general Yuki Daijo (Bin Amatsu), aided by ninja sorcerer Oroki Maru (Ryutaro Otomo), who then assumes the form of a sea serpent to pursue Ogata's son and rightful heir to the throne (the serpent is dubbed with Godzilla's roar combined with green Gargantua Gaira). All the men perish as their craft is crushed by the dragon, only for a giant eagle to carry the boy to safety (this winged savior is dubbed with the sound of Mothra). Ten years pass and the lad has grown into the handsome Ikazuki Maru (Hiroki Matsukata), like Oroki taught to master the mystic arts by the same teacher, elderly Dojin Hiki (Nobuo Kaneko), who has decided that the time has come for Ikazuki to learn the truth about his heritage and to avenge the honor of his parents. An ambush by Oroki's ninja servants results in what appears to be a beheading, Ikazuki's laughing head seating itself on a nearby log while his headless body frightens the would be assassin to take his own life (the head reattaches itself backwards, then makes the right adjustment). Pretty young Sunate (Tomoko Ogawa) witnesses the carnage, wrongfully assumes that the survivor was the aggressor, and finally realizes her mistake as he agrees to help find her long missing father, following her mother's recent death. Oroki manages to trick his old master into a fatal snake bite, though the dying man is still able to send the couple on their way to see usurper Yuki Daijo. Sunate learns the identity of her father yet cannot bring herself to obey his orders when it comes to taking a life, setting up a climactic battle between Oroki's water spouting dragon against Ikazuki's fire breathing horned toad (dubbed with the sound of Rodan), with a brief appearance from Sunate's summoning of a giant spider that spins its web all over the serpent. For once, the addition of four monsters weren't necessary to the plot, action packed and fast paced from start to finish, though obviously dubbed at a later date for AIP-TV since "The War of the Gargantuas" had yet to be made by Toho. The titular serpent closely resembles Manda from Toho's "Atragon" and later "Destroy All Monsters," only with larger claws that can be used more effectively in smashing its opponent. One can easily imagine filmmakers like George Lucas or Quentin Tarantino taking note of this unjustly forgotten opus for future reference, certainly good enough for US theatrical release.

I do always enjoy a wild mash-up of unexpected genres, and The Magic Serpent combines action, high fantasy, adventure, revenge, a samurai historical setting, and even giant monsters (complete with sound effects I could have sworn were from Godzilla).

It relies heavily on fantasy tropes that seem to have been around since the dawn of time, so the story is far from surprising, but at least it's decently told. Everything's clear and mostly satisfying, even if it's quite easy to guess each main plot point some time before it happens.

Things move fast, and the fact it jumps between genres so much does keep things fun, and does a great deal to compensate for the predictable story. There are also some really inventive special effects, and I liked how it was unafraid to get quite weird with its style and imagery at certain points.

It's always a bit of a lucky dip, watching these old Japanese genre movies, but this is probably one of the strongest of those I've seen in a while. It certainly has flaws, but it's also got a great deal of entertainment value, and overall, it made for a breezy, comfortable watch.

This film used to come on one of the local stations here in Los Angeles at least once a year and it was a thoroughly enjoyable fantasy film. This film pretty much combines the elements of kaiju eiga along with another popular Japanese genre, the samurai film. As other viewers mentioned you pretty much can see that this film had an influence on the "Star Wars" saga especially when you look at the film early on as young Jiraiya (or Izakuchi-Maru) learns from his teacher, who obviously was an inspiration for Obi Won. The special effects are okay for a film not made by Toho and despite the swordplay, there is not that much blood. This film is defintely worth watching.

Also, a word of warning. This film has been released on DVD as part of a "double feature" with Gamera tai Gyaosu (aka. Return of the Giant Monsters). The quality of the film on DVD is not that great, but if you can get past that, I still recommend the film.

Ninja, dragons, samurai, wizards, giant spiders, kaiju, evil sorcerers, lots of fights and a substantial (but largely bloodless) body count- what more could you want!? "The Magic Serpent"* is a fast moving, imaginative, and fun example of Japanese fantasy films. In a classic 'hero myth' story: a young prince, robbed of his birthright by an evil usurper and his sorcerer accomplice, trains in the arts of war and magic with an old wizard before returning for revenge and justice. Along his journey, he deals with constant attempts on his life, befriends the children of an unjustly executed farmer, and meets a young woman with a mysterious past who is also on a quest. The special effects are quite good, 'suit-mation' and puppetry are combined to bring the titular dragon to life, there are odd but imaginative animated inclusions (such as the fireball (?) the hero rides at one point), and some of the stunts during the numerous battles use 'wire work' to allow the hero and villain to make prodigious jumps. The scene where the hero is trapped by a wall of spinning doors is especially clever and well executed. The acting is fine for a samurai-sword and sorcery epic, with the hero heroic and the villain villainous, and the film touches on the merits of unquestioning obedience and filial loyalty a number of times. Despite not being a Toho production, the distinctive roars of various Toho kaiju (including Godzilla) were added to the American version. A must see for fans of pre-CGI fantasy films. *I watched an English-dubbed version of "Kairyu daikessen"