I never got to see the 1961 monster outing "Reptilicus" when I was a child, and so have nothing in the way of nostalgic attachment as regards the film. Thus, when I watched the movie for the first time a few nights back, it was with the cold, hard objectivity of an aging baby-boomer adult. The result was an entertaining evening, but one that would have been infinitely more enjoyable had I been watching within the pleasant aura of a fondly remembered youth. "Reptilicus" is today perhaps best known as the only giant monster movie to have ever come out of Denmark, of all places. As it turns out, the picture is decidedly inferior to the giant monster movies that had been all the rage ever since the U.S. released the granddaddy of all such films, "The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms" (one of this viewer's all-time faves) in 1953, and Japan released the seminal "Gojira" the following year. Whereas "Beast" had featured stunning stop-motion animation from the great Ray Harryhausen, and "Gojira" had spotlighted director Ishiro Honda and Toho Studios' artful way with what would soon be an entire subgenre, the "kaiju eiga" film, "Reptilicus" gives us a monster that is brought to life with very inferior FX (basically, the monster here is a clunkily moving puppet). Still, the picture DOES yet have something to offer to fans of this genre.In the film, a Danish copper miner working in Lapland, Svend (hunky blonde dude Bent Mejding), manages to drill up the bloody remains of a dinosaur tail that had been buried deep below the frozen tundra. The prehistoric fragment is brought to the Danish Aquarium in Copenhagen, where Professor Martens (Asbjorn Andersen) and his assistant, Dr. Dalby (Poul Wildaker), begin to study it. After an accident of casual stoopidity, the tail gets unfrozen and begins to regenerate and grow. Ultimately, an entire new creature manages to be reborn, which easily escapes from the aquarium and begins to do what giant monsters do best: terrorize the populace and lay waste to the surrounding area! The monstrous threat is combated by not only the professors, but by granite-jawed, growly-voiced American general Mark Grayson (Carl Ottosen) and the entire might of the Danish Army and Navy. But can all their guns, flamethrowers and bombs avail against the menace...especially when that menace can regenerate itself from any pieces that are blown off of it? How do you say "What a conundrum" in Danish?"A laughable sub-Japanese monster" is what my beloved "Psychotronic Encyclopedia of Film" calls Reptilicus, and it is indeed very difficult for any viewer to argue with that assessment. Unlike the Beast and Gojira, this monster reveals very little in the way of personality and is decidedly unmenacing, despite the green "acid slime" that it is apt to belch out when annoyed. When the Beast looked directly into the camera, it was chilling; when Gojira appeared in close-up, it was intimidating and awesome. Reptilicus, unfortunately, engenders no such emotions; only giggles. The film itself is only 90 minutes long and yet comes padded with goofy comedy segments (provided mainly by dopey aquarium guard Petersen, played by Dirch Passer; get a load of him as he sticks his hand into the electric eel tank!), a travelogue around Copenhagen (which does admittedly look like a gorgeous city to visit) that might just as well have been put together by the Danish Tourist Board, AND a musical number by real-life chantootsie Birthe Wilke, singing "Tivoli Nights" in a swanky nightclub. The monster here is not shown until a good 40 minutes into the picture, which delay would have infuriated me no end as a child (in "Beast," we get to see the monster after only 10 minutes of screen time). The acting in the film is pretty lousy, and is hardly abetted by producer/director Sidney Pink's uninspired staging. Besides the lackluster creature FX, there is also some bona fide animation to be had here (the green slime; the sight of one victim being scooped into Reptilicus' gaping maw)...of a very low-grade order, unfortunately. Perhaps worst of all, we never get a good, solid, establishing shot of the monster in question; I still don't know if Reptilicus has legs or not, or if it merely slithers along the ground.Fortunately, there IS some good news to be had here. The film provides the viewer with some nice eye candy in the form of no fewer than three lovely ladies: Martens' two daughters, Lise (Ann Smyrner) and Karen (Mimi Heinrich), not to mention UNESCO representative Connie (Marla Behrens). The segment in which the fleeing populace of Copenhagen runs over the slowly opening Langebro Bridge, and several fall into the water below, looks absolutely fantastic and realistic; a fairly awesome display! Actually, the entire picture looks terrific, and only the scenes with Reptilicus itself look phony and disappointing. I also liked the film's final, ominous shot, predictable as it may have been. Bottom line: This is a fairly likable film, unquestionably subpar when compared to many others of the era, but still perfect fare to watch with your 8-year-old nephew. And if Reptilicus itself doesn't go into the pantheon of greatest screen monsters of all time, it remains at least the greatest DANISH monster of its era...until, of course, Torben Bille appeared as the monstrous little-person Olaf in the 1973 Danish sleaze classic "The Sinful Dwarf." But that's another story entirely....

I was hoping this was a "so-bad-it's-good" cheesy sci-fi flick, and in some cases it definitely was, but there were just a tad too many boring/inane scenes that were a little tough to sit through. The best part might be reading the funny remarks made by some people here on IMDb. There are some great reviews here.What was good was the reptile-monster and the green slime that emitted from his mouth. The latter scenes rank up there with the worst special-effects I've ever seen but the sounds the creature made were genuinely scary and I thought he looked cool.The story is all about him, when his tail is discovered deep beneath the surface at a drilling site in Denmark. (This is a Danish film, dubbed in English). The tail is brought to a lab and frozen but when one of the scientists accidentally leaves the door ajar, it thaws and begins to regenerate. Before you know it, it's a full-fledged monster who escapes and causes havoc in the countryside and in Copenhagen. The military guys can't hurt it no matter how much artillery they use, so they have to figure something else out, which happens in the last 10 minutes of the film.There is plenty of action in here. Some of it was so bad, I laughed out loud (like some idiot opening a bridge and cyclists plunging into the water, or the kid suddenly eaten by the monster (the cheesiest two-second scene in the history of the movies!). The parts of the film that don't involve the creature, however, are very boring and useless. They are just filler to give the audience a break here or there. The stereotyped "Gen. Mark Grayson," is annoying and the victim of some of the worst acting (Carl Ottosen) you'll ever see. There was probably more humor than meets the eye, because I understand Danish humor is a little different and that was lost in the translation (dubbing).Whatever, if you enjoy these old Godzilla-type films, you should be entertained by this turkey.

And it ain't Hamlet...Take a silly looking monster, toss in some green slime which looks like lime jello, then add in a scenic tour of old Copenhagen and you have the ingredients gor a genuinely absurd Sci Science fiction dud.The basic premise has the discovery of a dinosaur tail which begins to regrow after being defrosted. This leads to one scientist becoming a tooth pick and anpther having a heart attack after a screaming attack towards the military shooting at the giant beastWhen a missle blows the lizards foot off, the stage is set for a sequel which fortunately never came. To add to all this is a n Octoberfest celebration which includes a musical number! Wretched special effects add another element of disappointment while a lack of humor prevents it from camp and becoming a cult classic.

Alright. New Rule. Japan won't try to do any Hans Christian Anderson Stories and Denmark won't try to do any more giant monster movies.This seems like an absolutely fair trade off to me, after watching this film that give the Godzilla movies a whole new dignity.The plot is they find a chunk of frozen lizard tail that they let thaw out and it grows a whole new lizard (as opposed to the other way around.) The Lizard then proceeds to rampage over Denmarks' landmarks, while an American General fumes.The special effects are beyond laughable, and if the MST3K guys missed this one, shame on them.We did get a lot of shots of 1960's Copenhagen, which were fun to watch.