Stylish but barely mediocre overall

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

Blistering performances.

Ostensibly a sequel to 1965's "Frankenstein Conquers the World", the connection between "War of the Gargantuas" and that film is pretty tenuous (especially if watching an English-dubbed version* in which the name 'Frankenstein' is never used). Apparently, despite Frankenstein's supposed demise at the end of FCtW, some of his tissue developed into a savage green clone named 'Gaira' AND either the original Frankenstein survived to become the mellow brown giant 'Sanda' OR both 'Gargantuas/Frankensteins' are clones grown from the discarded tissue (this is far from clear). The evil Gaira dispatches a giant octopus, sinks a ship (where he demonstrates an appetite for humans), and then attacks an airport (an amazing miniature set considering its brief screen-time). As usual, the JDF's conventional weapons are useless against the marauding colossus but the new maser cannons carve him up pretty badly. At this point Sanda appears and the two monsters go into hiding. An American professor working in Japan (a non-dancing Russ Tamblyn) points out to the military that, if a fragment of the original Frankenstein's tissue begat the behemoths (one or both), then blowing Gaira to pieces would be ill advised. This complicates anti-Frankenstein strategies, but the gigantic pair begin to fight each other so the JDF is off the hook for saving Japan (yet again). The humanoid 'Gargantuas/Frankensteins' are a bit of a departure for Toho's monster factory but are surprisingly engaging. The miniature cityscapes that they destroy are as good as any in the Showa-era Godzilla films and in general, the optical effects (maser beams, back projections, mattes, etc) are quite effective. The presence of Russ Tamblyn (best known for his energetic choreography in "West Side Story" (1961) or "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers" (1954)) adds little to the film (apparently he was a pain in the ass to work with) and the American professor character was likely included to make the film more marketable in the USA. His assistant (Akemi Togawa (Kumi Mizuno)) supposedly worked with a young Sanda (hence the inconsistency with Sanda being a clone of the original Frankenstein), which is all very confusing, as Kumi Mizuno was in FCtW and did interact with the young Frankenstein, but as a character named Dr. Sueko Togami. While definitely a kaiju film not to be thought about too carefully, "War of the Gargantuas" is fast-paced, well-executed, and quite entertaining in a silly sort of way. * there appear to be a number of versions in circulation, I am commenting on the Classic Media subtitled Japanese version on DVD.

War of the Gargantuas is a movie that stems from another dark-themed monster movie, 1965's Frankenstein vs Baragon. Even from the beginning it has a sort of dark theme, with a sinister looking Gaira attacking Oodaku (giant octopus). As Gaira thoughtlessly devours people, you're tempted to cringe. But the hero gargantua, Sanda, brings another piece into the story. It becomes a battle of brothers, one dark and evil while the other is for all intents and purposes good and pure.This isn't your average monster movie, but in a lot of ways that's a good thing. This is one of those dark, near-horror style films that Toho produced in the 50s and 60s, such as 1954's Godzilla or 1958's H-Man. The more human like nature of the gargantuas draws the viewer in and draws out more emotions.It's worth mentioning that although the film is a direct sequel to Frankenstein vs Baragon, almost all of the relationship between the two films is edited out of the American version, leaving a lone comment on the main protagonist discussing a 'hand' he's been studying. That would be Frankenstein's hand. Another thing mostly edited out of the American version is the more romantic relationship between the doctor and his assistant. You get that kind of vibe even in the edited region one release of the movie nonetheless.If a lot of the campy 1960s or 1970s Godzilla films don't do it for you and you want something darker, more serious, near-horror, War of the Gargantuas is for you. It's a fantastic film with the only real weak point being lack of character development. You don't really care even when they're in danger, but otherwise there are few faults. I wouldn't even mind if Toho decides against ever creating a remake of the film, because its quality even roughly a half-century later is superb, and they probably wouldn't capture the spirit of the original, much like other classics such as King Kong (1933) or Godzilla (1954).Looking outside of this specific film, I'm actually glad they elected not to place the gargantuas in a Godzilla movie (Toho originally had written up some loose plans to make a "Godzilla vs Gargantua(s)" for a 1978 theatrical release). In the 60s and especially by the 70s, Godzilla had become campy and "fun". While there's nothing wrong with that in itself, bringing a gargantua would weaken their story much like the campy Godzilla films greatly weakened Godzilla's (1954) reputation as a dark horror movie. Both monsters have their place, just not together.

You have to simply take this type of movies for what they are. It's quite hard to say anything serious about them because they are all looking very outdated, features some bad acting and of course also don't have the most clever or original scripts.What makes this movie very fun and watchable is the fact that it's almost non-stop movie monster action. Halve of the time during this movie you're watching a bunch of guys in suits walking around at a set with miniatures but it's all simply fun and good to watch. Lots of things get destroyed and the army is basically using everything it got to stop the two Gargantuas from reaching Tokyo. At the same time the two Gargantuas 'brothers' are also battling each other, so we have some action coming from basically every angle here.It means that the 'human' story of the movie gets sort of pushed to the background but this is not necessarily a bad thing. It only means that the movie decided to go for entertainment rather than depth. Also not a bad movie, considering that the acting in this movie isn't exactly the best. Russ Tamblyn's overacting is quite laughable.The movie is not necessarily a sequel to "Furankenshutain tai chitei kaijû Baragon", since this one doesn't even feature any of the original characters from that movie. It means that you don't necessarily need to see the first movie before watching and enjoying this one. The movie is from the same director and pretty much features the same crew as well, who did lots of movies like this together. Honda is also the director of the first original "Gojira" movie. This movie is simply good and entertaining for what it is.6/10http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/

This wonderfully ridiculous Japanese giant monsters wreaking mucho mondo destructo havoc hoot was originally done as a sequel to "Frankenstein Conquers the World" until American distributors momkeyed around with it and omitted any connections this baby has with that previous picture. That minor issue aside, what's left is quite simply one of the wildest, most energetic and brutally violent behemoth beast bashes to ever grunt, growl and glower its way across the big screen.The titular titanic terrors represent the two radically contrasting polar opposite sides of the existential coin; i.e., any living, sentient animal's latent capacity for being either very good or extremely evil. A decidedly malevolent hairy, scaly, uglier-than-dirt green leviathan fights an octopus and ravages the countryside before engaging in a rousingly savage and lengthy toe-to-toe, claw-to-claw, thingo-to-thingo knock-down, drag-out climactic confrontation with its more gentle and benign brown brother. The monster fight seriously smokes something stirring: Our two beastly behemoths vigorously mix it up and lay waste to half the landscape while beating the living tar out of each other like a couple of deranged wrestlers in a totally uninhibited anything-goes cage match. An insufferably smug'n'smirky Russ Tamblyn looks and acts properly embarrassed as the absurdly earnest young scientist who created the leaping, roaring and running simian humanoid Goliaths. Musical guest star Kipp Hamilton warbles the unforgettably atrocious'n'asinine ballad "The Words Get Stuck in My Throat" while doing the twist on stage at a swanky nightclub. A great, delectably dopey humongous creature feature treat.