Gamera The Brave (2006)

Gamera the Brave ( 小さき勇者たち～ガメラ～ | Chiisaki Yūsha-tachi ~Gamera~, lit. Little Braves of Gamera), is a kaiju film released in 2006, produced by Kadokawa Pictures. This is the twelfth entry in the Gamera film series, the second reboot of the series and the first produced by Kadokawa Pictures after they purchased a percentage of the remaining assets of Daiei Motion Picture Company, the original company responsible for the Gamera films.

Plot
After Gamera self-destructs to destroy three Gyaos in 1973; the tale picks up thirty-three years later in 1993, when the son of one of the survivors of that incident finds an unusual egg, from which a baby turtle hatches. The boy, Toru, raises the turtle, quickly realizing it as being remarkable in that it hovers and breathes fire. The turtle quickly outgrows the house, is relocated by Toru and his friends to maintain secrecy and then disappears.

Concurrently, many shipping disasters occur in the area, the cause of which is the kaiju Zedus (ジーダス), which soon thereafter rampages through the city. It corners Toru and his friends, but the boy's former pet, now significantly larger, intercedes. The young Gamera is wounded in the fight and captured by government officials, who hook the creature up to a machine which infuses it with liquid derived from mysterious red stones found in the vicinity of the egg and which scientists theorize give the Gameras their power.

Zedus attacks again, and the new Gamera, now larger, goes out to battle him. 

​The human characters determine that the still-immature Gamera must consume the red stone which Toru had found with the egg in order to fully gain its powers. The egg is located and, with some difficulty, delivered to Toru, who throws it into Gamera's mouth during the battle. Gamera's power of jet-propelled flight manifests itself and it defeats Zedus by breathing a fireball at it. The kaiju escapes further government investigation with Toru's assistance and flies off as the boy wishes him farewell.

Cast

• Ryo Tomioka as Toru Aizawa
• Kanji Tsuda as Kousuke Aizawa
• Kaho as Mai Nishio
• Susumu Terajima as Osamu Nishio
• Shingo Ishikawa as Ishimaru
• Shogo Narita as Katsuya
• Toshinori Sasaki as Toto/Gamera
• Mizuho Yoshida as Zedus

U.S. Release
Gamera: The Brave was released on DVD in the United States by Tokyo Shock in 2008. Tokyo Shock later released the film on Blu-ray in 2013, though it quickly went out-of-print.

Reception
Despite being considered a failure at the box office, Gamera: The Brave was met with mostly positive reception. The film's effects and story were frequently praised, especially the relationship between Toru and Toto. Katsuhito Ishii, director of the upcoming Gamera film, cited this film as one of his favorites and a tremendous influence on his upcoming project. The film currently holds a 6.9/10 on IMDb and a 65% on Rotten Tomatoes.
The film has also received its fair share of criticism. Some fans criticized Toto's cute appearance in contrast to the ferocious appearance of Gamera from Gamera 3: Revenge of Iris. Many fans were upset at the film's attempt to move away from the seriousness of Shusuke Kaneko's trilogy back to the kid-friendliness of the Showa era. Gamera's iconic roar being replaced by stock King Kong roars was also a source of disappointment for many.

Trivia

• Gamera: The Brave is, according to a Heisei Gamera book titled Heisei Gamera Perfection, part of the Heisei series.
  
• During a scene involving Toto as a baby turtle exploring Toru's home, he wanders into the kitchen where Toru's father is feverishly cooking. As the father turns, he knocks a knife off of the counter and it lands with the bottom edge sticking into the ground and the point rising up above Toto's head, looking quite similar to a former foe of Gamera's, Guiron. He shoots a fireball at it with an angry expression on his face and wanders away, leaving Toru's father (who never saw the little turtle) to pick up his singed knife with a confused look on his face.
  
• The Twin Towers where Toto fights Zedus are located at Nagoya Station.
  
• Some of the roars used by Toto are from the same audio tracks originally used by King Kong in the 1976 remake, performed by Peter Cullen.
  
• The reason why Gamera chose to self-destruct at the beginning of the film is never specified, although in the novelization "ともだち 小さき勇者たち ~ガメラ~," it mentions that Gamera was unable to shoot fireballs prior to the explosion because Gyaos' sonic beams had sliced off his lower jaw.
• According to participants attended to an official talk show in 2016, Isao Kaneko, the director of special effects for the movie told that Toto and the Avant Gamera are actually the same individual. Gamera chose to explode to release internal energy and to rebirth as Toto.