It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.

A bit overrated, but still an amazing film

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

This is ultimately a movie about the very bad things that can happen when we don't address our unease, when we just try to brush it off, whether that's to fit in or to preserve our self-image.

In that this was the only movie to feature that squirrel-looking critter of gigantic proportions. Varan never showed up in any other of Toho Company's monster fests. Myron Healey plays a United States Navy commander trying to find a way to desalinize the water, and unleashes the titular monster-osity instead. This Crown International classic was edited from a 1958 movie, and for the 1962 re-cut and re-edited version, the Japanese footage is narrated in English, but in those scenes the actors are talking in their original language and are not dubbed in English. An uncredited Inoshiro Honda directed the original footage, and Eiji Tsuburaya is not credited as special effects director. Only Howard Anderson gets the credit. SPOILER ALEERT, FRIENDS AND NEIGHBORS: the way the movie ended suggests that Varan might return to wreak some more havoc in the next film. Needless to say, Varan never did. This was an enjoyable monster movie, perfect for Godzilla fans. I have several DVD packages of Crown International movies, but this one is not included. Find it and watch it, okay?

I hate this terrible version of a pretty good kaiju movie. It is just pathetic and boring. Uninteresting and a waste of time. It's so bad it's hard to find and purchase and it's not even worth that. It's THAT bad.There are several reasons to why this version is bad. First of all, the plot has been changed badly and once again, American actors and cast are cut in. And most of them don't even have any good acting talents at all. Myron Healy was the only good one. The others were lame.And here's a big thing. Why is the title called 'VARAN THE UNBELIEVABLE' when the monster is never called by that name. The only thing he's ever called is 'Obaki.' His true name is never mentioned.The other actors in the film are pretty bland and uninteresting at all. Captain Kishi was pretty annoying throughout the movie and he repeatedly called Varan "the beast". In just about every line. "The beast is at Oneda" "Do you think the flares distracted the beast?" "The chemical stopped the beast."....and so on. Oh, and by the way, that footage of the soldier speaking into the radio was used over and over and over and over again.Not only was Varan ruined in this movie by having his name changed to 'Obaki', but they ruined his voice. In the original version, Varan sounded kind of like a cross between Rodan and Baragon and sometimes also kind of like Godzilla. But in this terrible wasted version, he sounds like a tire rubbing across the ground.My advice is to order the original version on DVD, now that it's available. Note, it's also titled 'VARAN THE UNBELIEVABLE', but you can tell it's the Japanese version because it has a yellowish picture with an image of Varan towering over a group of people. The DVD cover for this terrible version has Varan's head appearing out of a lake.

This came out paired with CIPs also POSSIBLY recut version of the East German etc FIRST SPACESHIP ON VENUS-Der Schwagen Stern- (or SILENT STAR) In a theater full of candy and popcorn munching kids, i was in pure heaven -not one but TWO cool sci-fi pictures! Although VARAN seemed OK to me at the time, even at 10 years old I felt that the Freeze frame-pan-right(?) film technique brought the action to grinding halt, when transitioning back to the American footage. I briefly had the Japanese Laserdisc in 2.35 Scope, and was amazed to find BARAN flying like a squirrel! I guess we would have hooted that off the screen back then, but what did we know? It was a Saturday, and we wanted our candy, soda and(believable) action.

VARAN THE UNBELIEVABLE was pretty scary stuff when I first saw it as a kid in 1962. A few years ago I picked the original Japanese version and the must say it proceeds at a ponderous pace and is much longer than the Crown International Pictures release. There are more battle scenes and Varan even flies in the Japanese version. The American distributor shortened the film considerably and added scenes with Myron Healey and maybe even Tsuruko Kobayashi. The monster is a neat-looking reptilian creature that one critic referred to as appearing like "a squirrel with jet propelled nuts." In any event, not bad stuff but it's not great either. For better Japanese sci-fi GODZILLA, RODAN, ATTACK OF THE MUSHROOM PEOPLE and THE MYSTERIANS are much better. But VARAN deserves a break and was never seen again (except for a brief appearance in one of the GHIDRAH sequels). VARAN was meant for television release originally but never made it. See it anyway for its fun moments, and there are a few. With Katsumi Tezuka in a rubber suit as Varan. Also, catch the original Japanese version if you can!