Kaiju films are such an awesome yet woefully underutilized genre in Western filmmaking. Despite America technically pioneering the genre with King Kong, Japan has routinely made better use of the Kaiju formula than the West ever has. Although most Americans can recognize Godzilla, Japan boasts a plethora of kaiju that are infinitely cooler than the island nation's famed radioactive lizard. What can be cooler than a radioactive lizard? How about a turtle with rockets for legs that is also a friend to all children?
While Gamera, the previously mentioned rocket turtle, might be a harder sell than Godzilla, the sheer lunacy inherent in his design highlights precisely what makes the kaiju genre exhilarating. It'd be a fool's errand to dial back the ridiculous elements that comprise Gamera's design and execution, lest you lose touch with the property's essence. Hopefully, Netflix's new Gamera movie, titled Gamera Rebirth, will modernize the rocket turtle without compromising his "sillier" elements.
Gamera is one of the most beloved Kaiju around, but his cinematic legacy isn't as particularly deep as titans like Godzilla. But, at long last, he's about to shell-spin his way to a swanky new reboot at Netflix.
Overnight, Netflix and Kadokawa announced Gamera Rebirth, the first Gamera movie since 2006's Gamera the Brave. Little is known about the details of Rebirth so far other than its Netflix distribution and the fact that the director of the Heisei Gamera trilogy, Shusuke Kaneko, won't return. Also unknown: the medium of the film, which could either be a live-action film or potentially an animated movie, given the fact that Kadokawa is streaming the brief new teaser on its anime YouTube channel:
