I watched this with some friends as a late movie on TV. I had never actually seen a Japanese monster movie before, and it did not disappoint.

In this one, a giant turtle is awakened from the Arctic wastes when the U.S. shoot down a plane carrying a nuclear weapon. This explodes near an Eskimo village where there are a Japanese scientist, his female assistant (who doesn't actually do anything), and a reporter.

The turtle makes its way to Japan, where it is befriended by a little boy who likes turtles. He was told to throw his own pet turtle away by his father, and the boy thinks that Gamera is his own turtle grown bigger.

Gamera is just like an ordinary turtle, only he is bigger, has teeth, walks on his hind legs, breathes fire through a nozzle in his mouth, and eats power stations. He also has a surprise talent revealed later in the movie.

The best part is when they are discussing with the military how to destroy Gamera. The scientist suggests that freezing it might work. Surprise surprise, the Japanese military happen to have been developing a "freezer bomb" -- lucky for them!

They freeze Gamera with the bomb, but it's only temporary. Gamera lands on his back, and then, after a little while, steam jets shoot out from his shell, and he starts spinning around and around, until he takes off and flies around the world like a flying saucer.

There are many more amazing scenes. As my introduction to Japanese monster movies, this was a good one.

Scene to watch for: Gamera acting like a flying saucer.

Best line: "We have been secretly developing a freezer bomb."

Things that make you go "Huh?": Why a turtle?

Response From RinkWorks:

The best part about Japanese monster movies is that they all have the same basic "moral": nuclear weapons are bad. Well, duh.