Back to roots imagined the 1960s, the Gamera franchise returns in brand new form. The focus is again on a small child with a close connection to the monster, and any prior history to the series has been rewritten. While a radical departure from the massive turtle's darker edge from the late '90s, this is a fine, enjoyable, and wonderful effort from director Ryuta Tazaki.

The film begins in the 1970s as an adult Gamera battles the classic franchise villain Gaos, a flock of wild vicious birds. It's an exciting opening and a fantastic way to begin the story, setting the stage for a plethora of special effects. Things quickly move forward as the script shifts its focuses to young actor Ryo Tomioka playing Toru Aizawa.

Toru becomes the focal point as he adopts a baby turtle. Unbeknownst to him, that turtle is a new Gamera, born again to begin a fight against an as of yet unseen foe. These early scenes are charming, colorful, and handled with great care. These are critical as they're necessary to the story development, and they manage to completely avoid becoming hokey or uninteresting.

Gamera's powers are in full force, even as an infant. Young Toru continually finds a way to prevent his new pet from being seen, made difficult by a rapid growth spurt, the creature's ability to fly, and a few spurts of fire from its mouth. The lighthearted moments are constructed in a way that even adults will find themselves smiling thanks to some additional computer generated effects to enhance the creature's facial reactions.

The bond between Gamera and children became the focal point of the original series. It became a problem as the ridiculous plot lines grew more absurd and without giving a reason for Gamera's fondness for younger set. Gamera The Brave takes care of this quickly, leading to the film's first monster battle less than a half hour into the film.

Zedus is the imaginative foe, covered by spines and scales that flap with each move. It gives the creature an extra sense of movement to make up for a rather stiff and elongated face. This is also a mobile beast, climbing and jumping as the fights continue to cause property damage.

The scale is definitely smaller than most Japanese monster films. The creatures are dwarfed by the majority of the buildings, which allows for extensive detailing on the miniature sets. It makes the movements of Zedus believable, and likewise, the entire film better.

Gamera is redesigned by Tomoo Haraguchi who built the suits for all three incarnations of the creature in the previous trilogy. The stunted face, bulging eyes, and smoothed over tusks refrain from making the monster seem threatening. The suit works regardless, with an excellent range of motion and the right amount of cuteness to the make the final scenes come together beautifully.