Kyôryû kaichô no densetsu

Vacationers at Saiko Lake at the foot of Mt. Fuji are terrorised by aquatic and flying primeval monsters. The inaptly titled film (technically there are no "dinosaurs" and certainty there are no "monster birds") has little going for it beyond camp entertainment. The titular creatures don't appear until around the halfway point, subjecting waiting viewers to some limp attempts at building tension undermined by juvenile comic relief, lengthy musical interludes (featuring Japanese rockabilly), and a 'false alarm' scene copied almost verbatim from 'Jaws'. Things pick up a bit when the snaggle-toothed monsters appear and film turns surprisingly grisly. Also surprising is the brief glimpse of nudity before one showering victim is devoured (apparently both the more egregious gore and the nude scene is frequently edited out). The creatures might have been eye-catching in the early 1960s but for a late 1970s horror flic, the models and miniatures are unimpressive. The score is a strange mix of funk that would be at home in a Blaxploitation cop movie, generic disco-jive, the aforementioned 'Japa-billy', and an amusingly inappropriate romantic ballad accompanying the scene where the heroine is dangling over a lava-filled crevasse. The version I watched on-line was adequately dubbed in English but also included grammar-challenged voice-recognition subtitles ("pliesosaur" is rendered "policía soar" at one point). Of interest to hard-core kaiju fans and perhaps to camp followers (the latter may prefer the MST3K version although they likely won't get to see the bum of the chum). Another hard-earned checkmark on my tokusatsu life-list.

Taking the formula established by the success of Jaws and combining it with the domestic kaiju film, Legend of Dinosaurs and Monster Birds had a decent amount of potential but ultimately shot itself right in the explosive tank before it could fully realise that. The DNA of the film feels ripped right from Nessie, the tragically cancelled collaboration between Toho and Hammer, with climate anomalies and seismic activity reviving prehistoric reptiles to terrorise the residents around a legendarily monster-haunted lake. One of those creatures is a Plesiosaurus with the film even referring to poor Nessie at a few points during its runtime, Toei was evidently listening at the walls of Toho studios one summer day. Director Junji Kurata seems to have failed to fundamentally grasp the premise of a huge monster operating by stealth and picking off its victims individually in secret, regardless, his direction is nonetheless passable. The film doesn't allow you to bond with the characters, there's little reason to care for them beyond their base archetypes, however, the actors all turn in decent performances at least. The ill-fitting and often hilariously juxtaposed music by Masao Yagi is usually the film's talking point, combining a catchy mixture of disco, funk, and jazz. Despite a healthy dosing of gory violence and some great effects work, Legend of Dinosaurs and Monster Birds is a really outlandish film, odd and sometimes surreal, it's at least capable of keeping your interest from beginning to end.

I watched this movie as a kid and I recently got a copy of it. Aside from obvious plot holes, this is an enjoyable film. I love the music in this movie and the dinosaurs are cool. It's a great film, just as long as you don't take it too seriously. I recommend it if you like Japanese films or monster films.

I saw this movie and yes, this is the kind of monster movie where the soundtrack is disco. I know, in other countries like Italy and Germany, the goofy disco soundtrack is replaced scary music of their own. While the special effects are typical Japanese kaiju stuff you see, I would have to say that these monsters could be OK if there was a bit more money put into it. It looks like Manda from ATRAGON let himself go and fights Rodan's cousin. The film is a mixture between EARTHQUAKE, JAWS, LAND THAT TIME FORGOT, THE GODFATHER and RODAN. EARTHQUAKE, because there is one. JAWS, because there are various scenes that copy it. LAND THAT TIME FORGOT, well the monsters come from a lost world. THE GODFATHER, because there was a horse with no head. RODAN, well, isn't it obvious? A pterodactyl that came out of an egg in a cave. I mean these dinosaurs look realistic, that they should be in a KING KONG-type movie. I bet this movie was a response to the Dino De Laurentiis version of KING KONG. Originally Toei wanted to make a movie, in co-production with British horror film company Amicus, to cash-in with the 1976 remake of KING KONG with a movie called KONGORILLA. With a script written by Tudor Gates, this was going to be good, but it never got made. Then, in 1979, Toei, in co-production with American film production, Punch Productions, called MORTAL. This was about a giant ape that comes out of a Mount Fuji to attack Tokyo in search of food. That never got made, unfortunately. Plesiosaur and the Rhamaphryncus, akin to the T-Rex and Triceratops in THE LAST DINOSAUR, look realistic and would good for the 1976 remake of KING KONG if Dino would put in some dinosaurs. I think this movie was made as a response to the 1976 KING KONG because this movie, THE LEGEND OF THE DINOSAURS (a.k.a. THE LEGEND OF THE DINOSAURS AND MONSTER BIRDS), along with THE LAST DINOSAUR, PEOPLE THAT TIME FORGOT, PLANET OF DINOSAURS, and WARLORDS OF ATLANTIS are saying that everything is better with dinosaurs. This is something that dinosaurs can do. Dinosaurs have potential. Would I recommend it? Yes. If you like dinosaurs, watch it. If you like Japanese monster movies, watch it. If you like disco, watch it. So give it a watch. Not rated, but due to the gore in it, it should be rated PG or PG-13. Bottom line: Good for bad movie night.

I saw this back in the late 80s on the USA Network (when it was still in its weird, still-trying-to-find-an-identity-among-all-the-other-basic-cable-channels days) on an edition of the sorely missed "Commander USA's Groovy Movies." My dad taped this movie from that show (like he did with many Godzilla and Gamera movies on that ancient, crappy VCR we had in the 80s). I think he regretted it for some time afterwards, b/c my mom was not happy.

Basically, this is probably one of the most violent kaijus ever made, and even though I'm not easily shocked, I watched that ancient tape again the other day, and was surprised how violent this movie is, and how graphic the violence is. It's also fairly unoriginal, as it's merely one of many Godzilla knockoffs, made cheaply to make a quick buck.

Still, if you want to watch a cheap kaiju knockoff with shock violence, it's worth hunting down a copy. I don't know if I'd let kids watch this, even though I saw it when I was 6 or 7 years old, I don't know if I'd let a kid that young watch it.