Home :: DVD :: Comedy :: Farce  

African American Comedy
Animation
Black Comedy
British
Classic Comedies
Comic Criminals
Cult Classics
Documentaries, Real & Fake
Farce

Frighteningly Funny
Gay & Lesbian
General
Kids & Family
Military & War
Musicals
Parody & Spoof
Romantic Comedies
Satire
School Days
Screwball Comedy
Series & Sequels
Slapstick
Sports
Stand-Up
Teen
Television
Urban
Gappa, the Triphibian Monster

Gappa, the Triphibian Monster

List Price: $19.95
Your Price: $17.96
Product Info Reviews

<< 1 2 3 >>

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Perhaps the lamest of all the Japanese rubber monster movies
Review: "Gappa, the Triphibian Monster" is a baby reptilian monster who is discovered and captured on Obelisk Island in the South Pacific by an expedition looking for exotic animals for a rich guy's zoo. The natives, who worship Gappa, warn the visitors not to leave with the hatchling, but the poor fools take it back to a zoo in Japan. Of course the baby's parents show up and start smashing Tokyo looking for their offspring. Then the happy family of Triphibian monsters takes up residence in a Japanese Lake. This was the only "Guys in Monster Suits" film from Nikatsu Studio and it is pretty clear this movie is little more than a ripoff of "Gorgo" and "King Kong vs. Godzilla," neither of which was exactly a classic film in the first place. Baby Gappa is probably supposed to be cute, with his big eyes and that one little feather (?) sticking out on the top of his head, but I do not think so. Admittedly I have not seen all of the Japanese rubber monster movies, but this 1967 offering directed by Haruyasu Noguchi is surely the lamest one I have seen to date. Watch this just one to help convince yourself that the rest of the genre are not that bad after all.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Perhaps the lamest of all the Japanese rubber monster movies
Review: "Gappa, the Triphibian Monster" is a baby reptilian monster who is discovered and captured on Obelisk Island in the South Pacific by an expedition looking for exotic animals for a rich guy's zoo. The natives, who worship Gappa, warn the visitors not to leave with the hatchling, but the poor fools take it back to a zoo in Japan. Of course the baby's parents show up and start smashing Tokyo looking for their offspring. Then the happy family of Triphibian monsters takes up residence in a Japanese Lake. This was the only "Guys in Monster Suits" film from Nikatsu Studio and it is pretty clear this movie is little more than a ripoff of "Gorgo" and "King Kong vs. Godzilla," neither of which was exactly a classic film in the first place. Baby Gappa is probably supposed to be cute, with his big eyes and that one little feather (?) sticking out on the top of his head, but I do not think so. Admittedly I have not seen all of the Japanese rubber monster movies, but this 1967 offering directed by Haruyasu Noguchi is surely the lamest one I have seen to date. Watch this just one to help convince yourself that the rest of the genre are not that bad after all.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Japanese version of a British movie
Review: Gappa was also released under the title Monster From A Prehistoric Planet - which was the title I often saw used for the versions shown on TV.

There are many similarities between Gappa and Gorgo (1961). Both have young monsters being taken from their homes only to have its parent(s) looking for it. The British film, Gorgo, also used a man in suit approach for the monsters.

The special effects of Gappa are equal to the Godzilla movie made around this time - like Destroy All Monsters or Son of Godzilla. Not the best years for special effects from Japan. The film budgets for many Japanese kaiju films seemed to be going down around this time. It was more noticeable in the Gamera series than in the Godzilla series. A good story often made one forget bad special effects. Gappa kinda falls in the middle on that.

In Gappa, it's not the best version of this story, but it's enjoyable. However, I'm tempted to recommend Gorgo over Gappa.

I can't confirm this right now, but I think footage of this movie has appeared in an episode of the British comedy series Red Dwarf. I believe it was the episode called "Meltdown" which is on the tape, Red Dwarf IV - Byte Two: Dimension Jump.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Triphibian yawnfest
Review: If you want something to throw popcorn at and make laconic remarks about, by all means dive in. But unless you're a fan of MST3K, or a laymember of Jabootu's bad movie cult, I really wouldn't bother with this one.

Don't get me wrong. I'm a great fan of rubber suit monster flicks. I have all the Godzilla films I can find, as well as Gamera, Rodan, and other "stomp on the sets" works of art. When I found this one, I thought "How bad can it be? I've slogged through Godzilla's Revenge, for God's sake".

Unfortunately, it can be plenty bad and plenty boring.

The story? It's pieced together from every cliche that was already trite by the time this thing came out. (See how many different films you can find in this.) Scientists go to island, discover child-like and hopelessly primitive grease-paint natives worshipping an unknown force called Gappa. With the help of a plucky 10-13 year old boy who disobeys elders, they also discover a baby "dinosaur" (read "monster") in a cave and take it back with them to study. Plucky boy, spouting the same doom and warnings as his elders, stows away and joins them in the hopes of saving them from a fate worse than death. Greedy (stupid, selfish, and needlessly cruel) businessman (with a young daughter he tends to ignore) wants to keep the rapidly-growing baby monster as a tourist attraction, even when mommy and daddy monsters go on a rampage trying to find their spawn. Eventually greedy businessman and arrogant scientists from developed countries discover the child-like and hopelessly primitive grease-paint natives were right in their child-like and hopelessly primitive belief. Businessman has a 180 degree change of heart, lets the baby go, and in doing so becomes a much better father who will never do bad things again. Everyone hapilly disappears into the sunset.

There was NOTHING new in this movie to interest me. All the plot points were incredibly predictable, having been seen over and over in other, better movies. Some good desctructo-monster scenes could have salvaged this trite screenplay, but the effects and suits were decidedly lackluster. (I felt sorry for the guys in those Gappa suits: they plainly could *not* move in them at all. The most they did was spread their wings occasionally.)

On the plus side, this DVD can be used to combat insomnia.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Gappa the Retarded Bird
Review: Its an alright flick the main reason I like it in a way is because the parents of the gappa son come looking for it after i was taken from its own and they cried at the end when they found its son (MAN I FEEL LIKE CRYING TO).Its an alright flick the action was alright but i rather you rent this then buy to see what you think about it.In my opinion its not as good as some of the other kajiu films but certainly one you need to set and watch for your self.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Bad, bad, bad...even for suitmation
Review: Ok, I admit I'm a sucker for really bad cinema, and almost no one makes bad cinema as bad as this. It ranks right up there with the greatest suitmation monster stink bombs in history, including most of the Godzilla series between Godzilla vs King Kong and the Heisei series in the 1990s, and virtually all of the rest of the Toho and Toho-clone stable. There is just something so delightfully awful about the attack of those giant chicken-slash-parrots that makes you want either to fall to the floor laughing or run screaming away from the television (maybe not such as bad thing...) never to watch again. Anyone one familiar with the Red Dwarf TV series might recognize Gappa from one of the episodes as well. I have an idea... Instead of the Golden Turkey, let's introduce the Golden Gappa!

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Monster film with a touch of humanity.
Review: Regardless of what the other reviewers say, this movie's real title at least in Japan always was "Gappa; The Triphibian Monster", and it was made by the same studio that made the Gamera movies. The studio has since gone out of business, but many movies that they made were later picked up by Toho Studios and added to their DVD film list, even though they never actually made them. This movie actually was better then all the Gamera movies put together because the Gappa creatures are actually looking for their offspring, and so their is a purpose to them destroying cities ( a fact that they would not useually be doing if given a choice). The Gappa suits are actually quite well designed, giving them a slight advanced dinosaur look. The heat ray effects and the city mitatures used for this movie are about the standard that was used in the Godzilla movies. For what they are, it works. Like I said before, there is an element of humanity in this picture, with the Gappa creatures looking for and last being reunited with their baby that is touching and somewhat rare in a Godzilla genre picture like this.
I think that's what makes it special.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Monster film with a touch of humanity.
Review: Regardless of what the other reviewers say, this movie's real title at least in Japan always was "Gappa; The Triphibian Monster", and it was made by the same studio that made the Gamera movies. The studio has since gone out of business, but many movies that they made were later picked up by Toho Studios and added to their DVD film list, even though they never actually made them. This movie actually was better then all the Gamera movies put together because the Gappa creatures are actually looking for their offspring, and so their is a purpose to them destroying cities ( a fact that they would not useually be doing if given a choice). The Gappa suits are actually quite well designed, giving them a slight advanced dinosaur look. The heat ray effects and the city mitatures used for this movie are about the standard that was used in the Godzilla movies. For what they are, it works. Like I said before, there is an element of humanity in this picture, with the Gappa creatures looking for and last being reunited with their baby that is touching and somewhat rare in a Godzilla genre picture like this.
I think that's what makes it special.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: The real monsters here may not be the guys in rubber suits
Review: There's not a whole lot I can say about this Japanese monster movie. The head of Playmate magazine (which is apparently a much different magazine than the one you are thinking of) sends some of his people out to the South Sea Islands in search of exotic creatures for his Playmate Island building project. He seems to think that people will flock to outdoor restaurants situated right in the middle of a tropical island full of strange wild beasts roaming around unfettered. The team naturally heads toward the island with the most active volcano, scoff at native talk about a god-like being called Gappa, find a giant egg, and then kidnap the prehistoric hatchling and rush him back to Japan. The scientists and the publisher fight over how to best mistreat the animal, and then Gappa's far from long-extinct parents show up to stomp around Japan for awhile in search of their little Gappa bundle of joy. These monsters are rather unimpressive and hard to describe. They can't decide if they want to fly, swim, or walk, and they have bird-like beaks and long, whip-enabled tails; I swear one of them has a fake beard, and the other one seems to adorn itself with a giant starfish goatee every so often. Little Gappa isn't much better. Naturally, there are all kinds of explosions and many model cities are destroyed, but the special effects are rather bland; while the monsters do spew out a few obligatory heat rays, they mainly just stomp around looking lost. Strange as it may sound, the ending is actually sort of touching'lame but touching. The whole ordeal is not something a human being would look back on with any sort of pride, that's for sure. Despite its many flaws, I actually enjoyed this movie; it can't hold a candle to Godzilla, Gamera, Mothra, or Rodan movies, but it's really not that bad if you're a fan of Japanese monster movies.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Good Flick, Bad Copy
Review: There???s not a whole lot I can say about this Japanese monster movie. The head of Playmate magazine (which is apparently a much different magazine than the one you are thinking of) sends some of his people out to the South Sea Islands in search of exotic creatures for his Playmate Island building project. He seems to think that people will flock to outdoor restaurants situated right in the middle of a tropical island full of strange wild beasts roaming around unfettered. The team naturally heads toward the island with the most active volcano, scoff at native talk about a god-like being called Gappa, find a giant egg, and then kidnap the prehistoric hatchling and rush him back to Japan. The scientists and the publisher fight over how to best mistreat the animal, and then Gappa???s far from long-extinct parents show up to stomp around Japan for awhile in search of their little Gappa bundle of joy. These monsters are rather unimpressive and hard to describe. They can???t decide if they want to fly, swim, or walk, and they have bird-like beaks and long, whip-enabled tails; I swear one of them has a fake beard, and the other one seems to adorn itself with a giant starfish goatee every so often. Little Gappa isn???t much better. Naturally, there are all kinds of explosions and many model cities are destroyed, but the special effects are rather bland; while the monsters do spew out a few obligatory heat rays, they mainly just stomp around looking lost. Strange as it may sound, the ending is actually sort of touching???lame but touching. The whole ordeal is not something a human being would look back on with any sort of pride, that???s for sure. Despite its many flaws, I actually enjoyed this movie; it can???t hold a candle to Godzilla, Gamera, Mothra, or Rodan movies, but it???s really not that bad if you???re a fan of Japanese monster movies.


<< 1 2 3 >>

© 2004, ReviewFocus or its affiliates