Space Amoeba - JURASSIC PARK WITH A BIG CRAB

So, fun fact! So far I've watched every movie in its native language. I just feel like the best way to properly enjoy the movie how was originally made is in its native language. That is to say, that was until it came to watching Space Amoeba, 'cause Amazon Prime doesn't have the movie in the original Japanese dub. It also adds in a bunch of stock sound effects to "liven it up," or something light that. This isn't really about the film itself, honestly. I just thought it was a fun little anecdote. So, how about the actual movie? Well, it sure is something. Honestly, Space Amoeba falls into the exact same department as King Kong Escapes where it's just utterly okay. It's not insulting or anything and it definitely is not one to remember. It just lives in the very unfortunate reality of pure kaiju mediocrity that it isn't one to be recommended.


After the unmanned mission to Jupiter named Helios 7 is commandeered by an alien entity named Yog, it makes its way to Earth, crashing just off of Sergio Island. From there, people journey to the Island and find themselves terrorized by three monsters, all creations of the monster Yog.

This movie is in the really unfortunate time to be the first Toho kaiju film to not have the masterful effects of Eiji Tsubaraya behind it. Eiji Tsubaraya passed away before the movie started filming, and so when it came to putting his own magic to the camera, he unfortunately wasn't able to. Tsubaraya was a pioneer and a master of monster effects, so, it isn't exactly a surprise then that the effects of Space Amoeba aren't exactly incredible or anything. Some of that definitely is on pressure from Toho who kept pressuring the crew to lower the budget of the film, and a lot of the film suffers as a result. Unfortunately effects get it worst are definitely the monsters. All of the monsters actually have a lot of moving parts about them. The turtle monster Kamoebas for example, having both an extendable neck and tongue. Gezora, the cuttlefish monster, has a lot of tentacles that flail about, kind of like all of Ghidorah's heads, and the crab monster Ganimes must have been really heavy, basically just being Ebirah that actually moves on land. But outside of Kamoebas who actually looks rather solid, they don't look really good. There's a bit of stiffness to both Gezora and Ganimes, at least I think. Ganimes doesn't look very good at all, and it's hard for him to stick out with a monster so similar to him in a setting so similar coming out just a few years prior with Godzilla vs the Sea Monster. Gezora meanwhile got strange cult popularity out of this movie, appearing in video games and comics and a few stock footage appearances that we'll talk about later. I say this is strange popularity, because he really is not that exciting. Honestly, I'm gonna call this one awash mainly because they came from the era where Toho kind of didn't have a lot of great ideas, and that's the same situation here. They're not really that creative or interesting to watch. It's a huge bummer, because they're also lose memorability by just being relegated to another island which at this point Toho kind of overused.

In terms of overusing, Toho actually has more overusing to answer for. This is the final film Toho made under their original system of holding actors to contracts. So if you ever thought to yourself "Man, we see some of the same actors a lot," well, that's because of Toho's system. This will be the final film that Akira Kubo will appear in in this marathon and series, and, well, I feel like I can't fully give a take on his performance due to watching a dub. So as to how he says his lines and what he gives in that department, I can provide no commentary. Honestly I feel like I can't fully talk about his performance at all because of A, the dub, and B, there isn't a lot to really talk about. I put Jurassic Park in the title mainly 'cause I feel like it's not a bad comparison between films, so I guess I gotta extend the metaphor. If this movie is trying to be Jurassic Park, then Kubo's character is, I guess, Dr. Grant? Not 'cause he's a scientist or anything, 'cause he definitely isn't. I just say that 'cause he's the straight man who jokes around a TINY BIT while being surrounded by a lot of characters. In terms of reusing, they chant of the Farou Islanders from King Kong vs Godzilla is even reused in this movie for the natives of Sergio Island. So, it's fun to hear it again, but it just screams lazy.

Honestly, there's not a lot to talk about with this one. It's just a really mediocre movie that is notable only for its monsters who lack memorability and mainly got mentioned because of their brief cameos in the future. This movie is more notable for being a bit of a culture shift for Toho. With Tsubaraya gone and Ishiro Honda largely moving on to directing television, Toho was seemingly running out of steam. So from here, we're gonna see the end of the first series and basically nothing but Godzilla from here on. So if you thought these monsters were fun and all but wanted the G-Man, don't worry. He's here to stay from just about here on. As for Space Amoeba, just don't watch it. It's boring and all around just really "Meh." Don't waste an hour and a half on a movie you won't remember in 10 minutes.

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Oooooooooooo, tomorrow it's on like Donkey Kong. It's time to give a hoot and not pollute. It's time to see the monstrous manifestation of how it is indeed not easy to be green. So come back tomorrow as we start getting trippy with Godzilla vs. Hedorah.