Truly Dreadful Film

Good start, but then it gets ruined

Great movie. Not sure what people expected but I found it highly entertaining.

Yes, absolutely, there is fun to be had, as well as many, many things to go boom, all amid an atmospheric urban jungle.

Definitely not your average kaiju film and not just because it's North Korean. This movie has some destruction and loads of fire, but about 75% of that comes from the evil government. Yes, some people would call this a "propaganda piece" because how dare you say the peasants are being treated terribly by their feudal monarchy. The government heads make sure to steal from, starve and torture the citizens and what's sad is this is what is happening regularly in North Korea to this very day. I hate to get political here, but that's really what the film is about. The titular character is more of a side story or simply a way to draw a bigger audience. I mean we don't see any creature for over 20 minutes and we don't see any kind of giant monster until 20 minutes after that. Large and small, Pulgasari is on the side of the peasants who revolt against the governor and then the king after they can stand no more abuse. Pulgasari charging the battlefield was easily the funniest thing I saw in this movie, but unlike something like Mothra or some Godzilla sequels, I don't think this is supposed to be humorous in any way...did I mention the torture? Considering this was done in the mid-80s the monster suit is about 15 years behind the times and at times they use rear screen projection which is what they used for King Kong back in 1933! Despite that, it's still a good story of rebellion against forces of evil, I would just question if we even needed the monster? For me the film could stand on it's own as a historical, war, action piece, but I have to admit as a kaiju fanatic it was the picture of the monster that made me want to see the film in the first place and that was probably what the North Korean government was counting on...

PULGASARI is a hoot for lovers of demented, low budget cinema. It's the one and only North Korean kaiju movie out there, a film that's been inspired by the likes of GODZILLA and YONGGARY, although I think plot-wise it has most in common with the Japanese DAIMAJIN trilogy.The story is a straightforward one in which the poor are presented as a righteous, oppressed people and an evil general and his army are the out-and-out villains. A humble blacksmith is captured and starved to death by the villains, but not before he's created Pulgasari, a tiny humanoid creature who eventually grows into a lovably, Baby Godzilla type beastie.After a time, Pulgasari becomes the city-stomping giant monster that kaiju cinema loves, although given the budget there's little destruction on offer here and the effects are lacking to say the least. But the story with its uniquely North Korean slant is a solid one and the novelty value alone is enough to keep you watching. It's good fun!

Filmed in 1985 by a director (Sang OK Shin) who had been kidnapped by North Korea, this movie is about a monster who is created by a blacksmith just prior to his death to help his village against an evil king. Now from what I understand Kim Jong Il (the eventual leader of North Korea) was an avid movie buff and wanted Sang OK Shin to produce a film along the lines of "Godzilla". This movie is the final product. Unfortunately, this movie doesn't translate as well to world-wide audiences as its famous predecessor did. That's not to say that this movie is necessarily bad but it clearly had some weaknesses. For starters, the special effects were quite poor and the movie had some scenes which could have definitely been trimmed here and there. Along with that the movie I saw was filmed in Korean but had English subtitles. I only mention this because this is a film that is probably best suited for young children and subtitles simply won't suffice for that particular audience. Be that as it may I rate the movie as slightly below average.

Since I began living in South Korea several years ago, I have always been curious about what life and art would be like in the isolated North. The educational channel in South Korea (EBS) has a weekly show that gives us clips of North Korean newscasts, movies, music, dramas and animation.When South Korean president, Kim Dae-jung visited North Korea last year in the first step toward normalizing relations and possible (albeit future) unification, we learned that the North Korean supreme leader is something of a movie fanatic. He has been secretly receiving western movies and monitoring South Korean tv dramas. It is not surprising to learn that he apparently ordered Pulgasari be made. Like every other artform from the North it can only be broadcast or shown if it matches the philosophy of the state. Pulgasari is a metaphor. The evil king represents the feudal government of the Chosun Dynasty which ended at the beginning of the 1900's. The monster, Pulgasari represents capitalism. It arrives apparently to help the people, but soon grows out of control. The heroes in the movie are the peasantry, the common people who must fix everything that people with power have wrought.Nobody can claim that Pulgasari is state-of-the-art. Even by rubber monster standards, this movies special effects are poor. It does help to consider that the budget for this movie was probably around what we spend on lunch in a year. But for me, the true fascination of a movie like this is the chance to see how another culture, living under a completely different philosophy, sees the world.