A fine collection of aperitifs….
Gamera the Brave (2006) is another reboot of the Gamera franchise, symbolically represented by … killing off Gamera.
In this return to the perspective of the children and “Gamera, friend to all children,” Gamera wins a battle with several Gyaos by committing a rather violent version of suicide, literally blowing up.
Years later, a boy named Katsuya, attracted by a flash of light on an island in the bay, finds an egg in a crystal holder, and inside the egg is a beautiful little turtle, thus completing the symbolic message of the reboot. He, his sickly neighbor Mai, and his friends conceal the baby turtle, named Toto, from his father, a ramen noodle shop owner named Kousuke who witnessed the gallant suicide of Gamera, because Kousuke has forbidden pets. This becomes a bit of a problem when Toto’s growth rate accelerates beyond belief. And he can hover.
But, damn, he’s cute. She’s cute. Whatever. Loved the CGI.
And meanwhile there are ships disappearing in the ocean. And survivors are being sucked under. Followed by lip-smacking. Well, not really – something worse. A big shark? A monstrous squid? A demented God?
When Mai must head off to the hospital for surgery on her heart, Katsuya gifts her the crystal for luck, and off she goes, just in time to miss the first clash of a half-grown Toto, which looks a lot like a guy in a rubber suit, with the kaiju Zedus. Toto interrupts Zedus as it’s munching on inhabitants of Katsuya’s little city in a most upsetting scene – I mean, if I were a ten year old I’d be upset – but cannot destroy Zedus, and must limp away, badly injured, which leads to his capture by government officials, intent on learning about him. They also bandage him up and infuse him with some mystical liquids.
Kept incapacitated, Toto is nearly destroyed when Zedus discovers him penned in a sports stadium, but Toto recovers his senses and, breaking free, resumes the free-for-all with Zedus. Mia survives her successful surgery, but is bothered by dreams about the crystal. Soon enough, the children of the city form a relay team to get the crystal from Mai to Toto (who is caught in a building in a scene reminiscent of Pacific Rim (2013)), which revives Toto/Gamera enough to finish off Zedus in a mind-blowing finale.
Sorry about the pun.
As ridiculous as it sounds, this is not a half-bad effort. Sure, the science is delusional, but the characters are actually well-drawn and react in plausible ways, the CGI is good, the guys in rubber suits – who may have been CGI for all I know – are quite traditional in the Gamera genre, and Gamera’s return to a slightly comic appearance, if not behavior, may be welcome to the target audience. The plot? The plot is infused with the important life lesson Never give up.
I’ll drink to that.
