Kaijû daifunsen: Daigorou tai Goriasu

Another weird monster movie for the list... literally! I'm going to be writing about the most obscure ones I can find tomorrow. This qualified perfectly, as it's really going for the same market the more kid-friendly Godzilla films of the Showa Era went for, but getting significantly sillier and more child-friendly (though not quite so far in a humourous direction that it feels like a parody of Godzilla - there's a degree of sincerity that shines through, albeit dimly).

So there's a giant ugly walrus monster, but he also seems cool, and he's Daigoro. He's the good guy. There's a cheery theme song early on that details his backstory, even if the lyrics are sad and entirely at odds with the instrumental (they mention his mother being dead, and him living on an island all by himself and stuff).

There are budgetary restrictions on what Daigoro can be fed, just like there were clear budgetary restrictions on the film's crew (I'm hoping this was intentional meta-commentary. If so, that rocks). The lack of food's one problem. But things get worse when the fairly generic enemy "Goliath" shows up, and then we get a couple of fun scenes of monster fights. They are so schlocky, but also so much fun, and I think the suit actors and the filmmakers behind the camera knew exactly what they were doing.

Still, I don't know if it's a whole lot better than a 6/10. It's a lot of stuff I've seen before, and besides an interesting tone, there's very little else here that makes it stand out or feel in any way ambitious. So it works for light entertainment for giant monster movie fans who have progressed through all the Godzillas, the Gameras, the Mothra movies, even the more recent Reigo trilogy, the Daimajin series, the Ultraman shows (if you're truly dedicated), and even obscure (now sort of cult) kaiju movies like Pulgasari.

I only have a finite amount of memory in my brain, and look how much of it goes to remembering monster names and monster series! #priorities.