Rating: 
Summary: Don't buy crappy public domain DVDs!
Review: This is a great kaiju flick, but this DVD (and any othe public domain release of this movie) should be avoided. I highly recommend the Tokyo Shock DVD release of this movie "Gappa The Triphibian Monsters". It features a very nice widescreen transfer, and has a japanese audio track w/ subtitles in addition to a dubbed audio track.
Rating:
Summary: Don't buy crappy public domain DVDs!
Review: This is a great kaiju flick, but this DVD (and any othe public domain release of this movie) should be avoided. I highly recommend the Tokyo Shock DVD release of this movie "Gappa The Triphibian Monsters". It features a very nice widescreen transfer, and has a japanese audio track w/ subtitles in addition to a dubbed audio track.
Rating:
Summary: Don't buy crappy public domain DVDs!
Review: This is a great kaiju flick, but this DVD (and any othe public domain release of this movie) should be avoided. I highly recommend the Tokyo Shock DVD release of this movie "Gappa The Triphibian Monsters". It features a very nice widescreen transfer, and has a japanese audio track w/ subtitles in addition to a dubbed audio track.
Rating: 
Summary: Monster film with a touch of humanity.
Review: This movie holds a special distinction in my heart, one that I wish to impart with everyone here. This is the only movie that simply, truthfully, and honestly, put me to sleep in 30 minutes. The acting was golden, and you couldn't tell at all that it was just hastily dubbed into English with extremely Cheesy Dick Van Dyke-esque voices that made their poor Japanese actor counterparts look like buffoons. However, the joys and Eternal Elation does not end there. The special effects were every bit as amazing and realistic as those from "Kiss Meets the Phantom of the Park." For any of you who have not seen either movie, then you are sorely missing out in the world of fly-by-night unrealistic "effects" that could better be produced in QBASIC on a 386 running DOS. The plot was pretty much ripped off from every other monster movie in existence, so if you really want to watch a cheesy and enjoyable monster movie, watch one of the ten million "Godzilla" reincarnations or "The Stuff", and leave this one to the fact that there are quite simply things out there that man was not meant to experience or know.
Rating:
Summary: Beautiful and Fantabulous beyond human reason!
Review: This movie holds a special distinction in my heart, one that I wish to impart with everyone here. This is the only movie that simply, truthfully, and honestly, put me to sleep in 30 minutes. The acting was golden, and you couldn't tell at all that it was just hastily dubbed into English with extremely Cheesy Dick Van Dyke-esque voices that made their poor Japanese actor counterparts look like buffoons. However, the joys and Eternal Elation does not end there. The special effects were every bit as amazing and realistic as those from "Kiss Meets the Phantom of the Park." For any of you who have not seen either movie, then you are sorely missing out in the world of fly-by-night unrealistic "effects" that could better be produced in QBASIC on a 386 running DOS. The plot was pretty much ripped off from every other monster movie in existence, so if you really want to watch a cheesy and enjoyable monster movie, watch one of the ten million "Godzilla" reincarnations or "The Stuff", and leave this one to the fact that there are quite simply things out there that man was not meant to experience or know.
Rating: 
Summary: Watch out
Review: This movie is also called "Monster from a Prehistoric Planet". How do I know? I bought both! This movie is about how monsters love their children as much as any person. Its very stupid and worthless. There are bad movies that are lovable and bad movies that should go in the trash. This is the later.
Rating:
Summary: Watch out
Review: This movie is also called "Monster from a Prehistoric Planet". How do I know? I bought both! This movie is about how monsters love their children as much as any person. Its very stupid and worthless. There are bad movies that are lovable and bad movies that should go in the trash. This is the later.
Rating:
Summary: Gappa the Triphibian Monsters Review
Review: This somewhat weak movie opens as a hoarde of reporters and scientists arrive in the south seas pleasure spot known as Obelisk Island. Their mission is to find exotic animals for their boss, a magazine magnate who is building a theme park. After a colorful arrival sequnce they are informed at regular intervals by some random native that "Gappa is angry!" Gappa is the native god, of course, word around their campfire is he's one unhappy camper. The outsiders do pretty much what you'd expect them too, and that's everything the natives say they shouldn't do, because Gappa is plenty pissed. The Japanese party despoil Gappa's lair, find a baby Gappa, and pinch it from the island. And as is standard procedure in these kinds of situations, it's the natives, who had the right idea in the first place, who end up paying for the mistakes of the outsiders. Unfortunately, the execution of the Gappa suits, and the rest of the special effects, are lacking. The breath weapon is poorly executed, and the suits look fake. The city models are undetailed. And when the Gappa stomp around the model cities, they are shot at normal speed, from regular camera angles, in full light. In the end, the Gappa end up looking like exactly what they are: people in suits. Back in the realm of the plot, there are the usual futile attempts at dispatching the monsters. The military option is tried, and fails. Later the monsters take up residence in a Japanese lake, and the military tries to drive them out of the lake by playing a really annoying sound into the water. What sound they use is never clear, but I found it to be well below par for the genre. Oh, and there is human drama involved here too, but it's pedantic at best. I frankly found myself not bothered to go back and figure it all out. Suffice it to say it has to do with a little native boy from Obelisk Island, the various reporters who went to the island, and a little Japanese girl who didn't. My favorite part of the human drama portion of Gappa is the final scene of the movie, where the female reporter, looking at all the destruction caused by human ambition, comes to the conclusion that ordinary women shouldn't work, but "stay home, marry an office worker, and wash diapers." I saw Gappa when I was very young, and I rembered it fondly. And from that perspective, it has a pleasant ring to it. But if you don't have fond childhood memories, or have a driving need to see every Japanese monster movie ever made, I feel the genre has much to offer, and I'm a sucker for this kind of movie, but generally I feel it falls short of the mark; there are better flicks out there...
Rating: 
Summary: Or is it the son of Godzilla and Rodan?
Review: When the two Gappa creatures are attacking the industrial part of Tokyo towards the latter end of Gappa-The Triphibian monster, one of them rears back its head and roars. That brief excerpt ended up being used in the Red Dwarf 4th season episode Meltdown, on a planet that featured some fake-looking dinosaurs. OK, so much for where I first saw these beasties. But what is a Gappa? Well, if Godzilla and Rodan mated and had a baby, it'd probably look like Gappa. It's inherited Rodan's head and wings, and Godzilla's gray-green scaled body, blue flame, and a resonant roar more like the sound of a flushing toilet played backwards, it doesn't give a rapid constipated bark like Rodan, but durned if I know whose eyes it got. The story too is derivative, coming from Mothra. Basically, Mr. Funatsu, publisher of Playmate Magazine, finances and sends a team that includes reporter Kurosaki, female photographer Koyanagi, and scientist Tonaka to Obelisk Island in the Pacific to collect bird and animal specimens, as well as native women. His plan is to open a holiday theme park so that Japanese do not have to go all the way to the Pacific to get that exotic Polynesian atmosphere. The expedition is greeted by the dark-skinned islanders, led by a white-haired patriarch (same as in Mothra). However, despite warnings from the young boy Saki not to enter a cave, Kurosaki and Koyanagi do so and find an egg which hatches into a prehistoric-looking reptile. The expedition take it back with them to Japan, against the wishes of the natives. "Gappa angry," they keep repeating. And that's true, as the parents of the abducted baby head over to Japan to recover their child (q.v. Mothra coming to Japan to rescue the twin fairies). But Funatsu's profit-motivated greed gets the better of him, like Nelson in Mothra, and he refuses to give the baby up, even despite the pleading of his young daughter. The scenes of destruction are nothing much to shout home about, as they are the usual retreads of people in rubber suits stomping on model Tokyos, trampling on buildings, melting model tanks, blasting airplanes out of the sky, and convoys of military vehicles. Apart from this being widescreen and in original Japanese, something not available in any of the Toho monster pics over here, there are some interesting issues explored. One is the examination of empathic understanding. In one scene, Saki and Funatsu's young daughter go up to the captured baby, who quiets down and looks at them sadly, showing a link between animal and human kindness. Another is the role of women in 1960's Japan. In the dark cave, Koyanagi becomes a bit hesitant. Kurosaki then taunts her, "[fine], go back marry an office worker, have babies and change diapers" a la the traditional role of women in the modern world. One phrase that isn't translated in the subtitles is "tamanegi o kitte," meaning cutting onions. In other words, stay in the kitchen. So what does that title mean, "triphibian"? Well, given its Greek etymology, amphibian means able to live a double life, in water and in land, as frogs and salamanders. Triphibian thus means water, land, and air. Despite some serious issues explored, material cribbed from Godzilla, Rodan, and Mothra by Kaiju Productions, (kaiju meaning Japanese for monster) and unconvincing monsters overshadow what could've been a good story.
Rating:
Summary: Or is it the son of Godzilla and Rodan?
Review: When the two Gappa creatures are attacking the industrial part of Tokyo towards the latter end of Gappa-The Triphibian monster, one of them rears back its head and roars. That brief excerpt ended up being used in the Red Dwarf 4th season episode Meltdown, on a planet that featured some fake-looking dinosaurs. OK, so much for where I first saw these beasties. But what is a Gappa? Well, if Godzilla and Rodan mated and had a baby, it'd probably look like Gappa. It's inherited Rodan's head and wings, and Godzilla's gray-green scaled body, blue flame, and a resonant roar more like the sound of a flushing toilet played backwards, it doesn't give a rapid constipated bark like Rodan, but durned if I know whose eyes it got. The story too is derivative, coming from Mothra. Basically, Mr. Funatsu, publisher of Playmate Magazine, finances and sends a team that includes reporter Kurosaki, female photographer Koyanagi, and scientist Tonaka to Obelisk Island in the Pacific to collect bird and animal specimens, as well as native women. His plan is to open a holiday theme park so that Japanese do not have to go all the way to the Pacific to get that exotic Polynesian atmosphere. The expedition is greeted by the dark-skinned islanders, led by a white-haired patriarch (same as in Mothra). However, despite warnings from the young boy Saki not to enter a cave, Kurosaki and Koyanagi do so and find an egg which hatches into a prehistoric-looking reptile. The expedition take it back with them to Japan, against the wishes of the natives. "Gappa angry," they keep repeating. And that's true, as the parents of the abducted baby head over to Japan to recover their child (q.v. Mothra coming to Japan to rescue the twin fairies). But Funatsu's profit-motivated greed gets the better of him, like Nelson in Mothra, and he refuses to give the baby up, even despite the pleading of his young daughter. The scenes of destruction are nothing much to shout home about, as they are the usual retreads of people in rubber suits stomping on model Tokyos, trampling on buildings, melting model tanks, blasting airplanes out of the sky, and convoys of military vehicles. Apart from this being widescreen and in original Japanese, something not available in any of the Toho monster pics over here, there are some interesting issues explored. One is the examination of empathic understanding. In one scene, Saki and Funatsu's young daughter go up to the captured baby, who quiets down and looks at them sadly, showing a link between animal and human kindness. Another is the role of women in 1960's Japan. In the dark cave, Koyanagi becomes a bit hesitant. Kurosaki then taunts her, "[fine], go back marry an office worker, have babies and change diapers" a la the traditional role of women in the modern world. One phrase that isn't translated in the subtitles is "tamanegi o kitte," meaning cutting onions. In other words, stay in the kitchen. So what does that title mean, "triphibian"? Well, given its Greek etymology, amphibian means able to live a double life, in water and in land, as frogs and salamanders. Triphibian thus means water, land, and air. Despite some serious issues explored, material cribbed from Godzilla, Rodan, and Mothra by Kaiju Productions, (kaiju meaning Japanese for monster) and unconvincing monsters overshadow what could've been a good story.
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