Varan - Underrated or is it *THAT* bad?

[Mac Daddy MM]

It's been a while since I watched this, and perhaps it's coming off of watching Gappa right before it, but Varan isn't nearly as bad as I thought/remember it being. Yeah, it's no Mothra, Rodan or Godzilla... But I could lump it in with Mysterians and Atragon for sure. The actual scenes of Varan, I think, are highly underrated. The miniature work on Varan's valley is Tsuburaya at his top notch. The scene of him tearing through the mountain and entering the village is some of the best non-Godzilla miniature work in the Showa era, IMO.

I think the fact the production schedule behind the film was hindered so much is one of the reasons the final product isn't as good as it could have been. If it didn't have so many issues, I REALLY think Varan would have been able to stand on the same pedestal as other non-Godzilla Showa films like Rodan and FCTW.

[Terasawa]

There's no story after Varan appears, and the quality of the FX scenes in the second and third acts isn't even as good as those in the first half hour.

It's that bad.

[Legion1979]

It's an unbelievably boring and meandering film. The monster looks nice and Ifukube's score is fine, but everything else is DOA.

[tbeasley]

I like the first half a lot, before Varan blasts off. I've seen someone compare it to an episode of Ultra Q which seems appropriate. Then the movie loses steam, so not far off from a lot of monster movies (the buildup/tension being the best part) but Varan really cranks it up to 11.

[Kaltes-Herzeleid]

The Japanese version is a decent little flick. Not up to par with the great classics of that era, I agree, but it's a good time waster and Varan is a cool monster. He's long overdue for a proper return.

[edgaguirus]

Varan's film isn't all bad, but it's a mediocre film with a slow second act and missed potential. Considering the history of the film, Toho put together an alright movie that can be entertaining in the first and third segments.

[Spuro]

Sure, Varan is bad compared to other contemporary Toho sci fi films.

But then go and compare it to other low-budget monster movies from other countries in the 1950s. Compare Varan to The Deadly Mantis, to The Giant Claw, to Attack of the Crab Monsters or The Beginning of the End, or, god-forbid, to Teenagers from Outer Space.

Suddenly Varan doesn’t look so bad anymore.

[mikelcho]

I've said it before lots of times and I'll say it again just as many times for as long as I have to and as long as I can:

I think that if Anguirus and Varan had been in that 2001 film with Baragon instead of what we eventually got, we would've had Anguirus back a whole lot sooner rather than a whole lot later and Varan would've been shot up into the big leagues in no time.

Plus, it would've been real fun for once to have a film with four totally different dinosaurian kaiju in a fight to the daeth, even if it was three against one.

[Missingno.]

As a few have mentioned already, it's when Varan leaves his home lake and heads towards Tokyo that the film just starts to meander and falter in both story and SFX (more so the former than the latter); which is a shame because the first act sets up so much potential for what could have been a great film. I think I've mentioned before on these forums that I think the setting should have just stayed in the mountains. It would have worked so much better.

[Mac Daddy MM]

Sure, Varan is bad compared to other contemporary Toho sci fi films.

But then go and compare it to other low-budget monster movies from other countries in the 1950s. Compare Varan to The Deadly Mantis, to The Giant Claw, to Attack of the Crab Monsters or The Beginning of the End, or, god-forbid, to Teenagers from Outer Space.

Suddenly Varan doesn’t look so bad anymore.

Yo, you wanna' fight about it bro?

[Terasawa]

Attack of the Crab Monsters isn't a great movie by any stretch of the imagination but it's definitely better than all those other movies in Spuro's post. I'd even put it ahead of Varan.

[LSD Jellyfish]

There's definitely worse movies, but compared to everything Toho produced in the early 50's and 60's Varan is that bad. Varan has a cool design, but he offers nothing special to the equation that Rodan and Godzilla don't do better. The most interesting parts of the movie, Varan's likening to a demon, and the eerie black and white imagery of him walking around in super rural Japan, are all thrown away the instant Varan flies away. The film becomes "Varan attacks a plane", Varan enters the airport and there's some stock footage of Godzilla. Really not a whole lot there. In comparison to Mothra, Rodan and Godzilla 1954, the way Varan is defeated is the most generic and tiresome.

Varan is the most generic and missed potential of the entire early Toho output.

[LegendZilla]

Poor Varan. He deserves a chance to make it big one day.

[Major sssspielberg!]

How I feel about Varan really depends on the viewing. Last time I watched it I actually really dug it, but the time before that I was actually angry I wasted the time.
I think it's a good looking film for the most part. The score slaps. It's certainly not *good* but I don't think it's *that* bad either.

[Spuro]

Let’s be honest, Varan isn’t even the worst of the early Toho sci-fi movies.

The Snoozefest Battle in Outer Space (1959) exists, after all…

[Legion1979]

Ehhhhh, I'll admit that Battle in Outer Space could be more interesting, and has nothing going for it in terms of story or characters. But it's incredibly ambitious visually, the effects are great and the Ifukube score is terrific. To me that STILL put it above a run-of-the-mill, black and white, "monster smashes stuff" film like Varan.

[Terasawa]

Battle in Outer Space is better.

[Major sssspielberg!]

Battle in Outer Space is awesome.
Alright, here's the real question: Varan or 6 Ultra Brothers vs the Monster Army? No wrong answers.

[Legion1979]

Varan proved that there wasn't going to be much of a future for routine "monster on the loose" films at Toho. Not unless they shook things up a bit. Note there wasn't even a giant monster film for a few years after Varan. Mothra, with its fantasy flair, gave the genre a shot in the arm, and King Kong vs Godzilla changed everything.

[Terasawa]

Battle in Outer Space is awesome.

Hell yeah it is.

Alright, here's the real question: Varan or 6 Ultra Brothers vs the Monster Army? No wrong answers.

The only version of the latter I've seen is the abortion that is Space Warriors 2000. I know that movie has its fans but I'm not really interested in it. I might think Varan is *the* worst Toho tokusatsu film of its period, but it's still a Honda/Tsuburaya/Ifukube film.