This was the fourth installment of the massively popular Gamera films out of Japan. It was also the first one that's unabashedly made for kids. And before you ask: no, MST3K never riffed on it.The unashamedly silly plot goes as follows: alien beings in a spaceship that looks like bumblebees plan to kill everyone on Earth so they can populate the planet themselves. Cue Gamera, the giant prehistoric flying turtle with fangs, fiery breath, and jet propulsion in his feet. Before the aliens can get near the Earth, Gamera kicks ass on them. The would-be invaders retreat but dispatch a second bumblebee ship. This time, the aliens trap Gamera on the bottom of the ocean with some kind of electronic net thingy. But Gamera frees himself, prompting the aliens to affix a mind- control device to the turtle. He eventually loses the device and trashes the spaceship, only to do battle with Viras, the aliens' lord and master. If the storyline sounds familiar, it was recycled the following year for GAMERA VS. GUIRON, a/k/a DESTROY ALL MONSTERS.When director Kinji Yuasa realized he only had about an hour of footage, he padded the film out with scenes from the previous three movies. Never mind that the first two were in black and white. The same thing happens when the aliens order Gamera to destroy Tokyo. Since the turtle had done so in the first film (when he was still a bad monster), director Yuasa merely inserted the footage here. So approximately one-third of this 90-minute film is in black and white.There's also a sub-plot involving two mischievous Boy Scouts (or whatever the Japanese call them) who steal a mini-sub and end up racing with Gamera on the ocean's floor. They also get caught in the electronic net thingy when the aliens catch their turtle foe. Later on, they abduct the boys and take them aboard the Starship Bumblebee as leverage against the child-loving Gamera—not to mention the Japanese miiltary. That's right, folks. These two boys are apparently worth the annihilation of the rest of humanity!It's ludicrous, but who cares? Certainly not the kids in the audience, who just wanted to see Gamera locked in mortal combat with his latest goofy-looking monster foe. In that regard, the film delivers. And unlike the next chapter, neither kid is obsessed with traffic accidents.

The Gamera series takes a pretty substantial nosedive in quality with this regrettably cheap and plodding fourth entry. The plot is sound -- the big fire-breathing flying prehistoric turtle falls under the nefarious spell of evil space invaders and it's up to two mischievous boy scouts to free Gamera so he can successfully thwart the extraterrestrial menace -- but alas undermined by a conspicuously low budget (there's copious stock footage from previous Gamera films), a meandering narrative, too much goofy humor (the silly antics of the two boys wears really thin after a while), tacky and none too convincing (not so) special effects, slack direction by Noriaka Yuasa, and an often sluggish pace. That said, the theme song is quite catchy and rousing, the scenes of Gamera stomping on cities and destroying dams hit the thrilling mondo destructo spot something sweet, and Gamera's lively and exciting protracted climactic battle with an enormous one-eyed squid creature is loads of wacky fun to watch. Watchable, but overall nothing special.

"Gamera, the giant flying turtle returns to save humanity when an alien spacecraft approaches Earth intent on world domination. Gamera destroys the alien ship, but a second craft captures two boy scouts to shield them from Gamera. The aliens then place a control device on Gamera to make him attack Tokyo. The boys foul their plans when they manage to reverse the controls and Gamera confronts the squid-like beings in a climactic battle," according to the DVD sleeve's synopsis. Re-titled "Destroy All Planets" for American consumption, this is a bad mix of ideas from other films, action sequences from previous "Gamera" movies, and the usual formulaic children.** Gamera tai uchu kaijû Bairasu (3/20/68) Noriaki Yuasa ~ Toru Takatsuka, Carl Craig, Kojiro Hongo, Junko Yashiro

We open on a shot of one of the most wonderful alien spaceships in film history - six large black-and-yellow globes linked together in a tight circle, resembling a huddle of giant cartoon bees. Of course, the aliens have arrived to take over the Earth (to gain control of our nitrogen supplies, no less). So, Gamera, Friend to Children Everywhere, is obligated to destroy their ship, but not before they get off a message to their homeworld. "Send Ship Number 2. . ." I've always liked this Gamera film best. Its Kennys (tm - in honor of Gamera's pal from the original film, all Gamera-film children are known as "Kenny") - a pair of pranksters who get held hostage to compel the big turtle's obedience - are more appealing than most. The flight sequences are still awesome. The Evil Monster (who never really gets a name, but its race is named something like "Varian") is an incredibly cool blade-headed squid-thing (Gamera always had the slickest, if somewhat unbelievable, costumes - see Gaos). There's plenty of Gamera's signature technicolor gore, including a huge sucking chest wound and a review of the (blue-, white-, purple-, and orange-)bloodiest scenes from previous films (which, admittedly, does go on a bit too long). Really, something for everyone.