Dogora

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Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
Audience Rating: Unrated
Binding: DVD
Brand: Media Blasters
EAN: 9781586556587
Format: Color
ISBN: 1586556584
Label: Tokyo Shock
Manufacturer: Tokyo Shock
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: Tokyo Shock
Region Code: 1
Release Date: 2005-07-12
Running Time: 81
Studio: Tokyo Shock

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Customer reviews of Dogora

Customer Rating:

Summary: Dogora is an underrated movie, not just your average monster movie
Comment: When I say it is underrated, I mean its really underrated. This movie has a great atmospheric feeling to it, a brooding pace. It is a combination of Gangsters and Monsters. Robert Dunham is Mark Jackson working with the police to stop some diamond thieves. Meanwhile - Dogora (aka Dagora the Space Monster) comes to Earth and eats coal. The monster is a giant jellyfish which you can see it about 50 minutes in. That scene where you see the monster is awesome.
Media Blasters DVD is letterboxed Toho Scope style and you can watch it in English and Japanese. Great DVD.
If you like Japanese Kaiju films give this one a try. It used to be very obscure until its DVD release.

Customer Rating:

Summary: Short on thrills, but visually imaginative
Comment: Dogora is one of the most unusual monsters I've yet seen in a Toho 'kaiju' film. It's not given to wanton urban destruction like the rampaging beast that was Ghidorah. It's a hungry jellyfish-like creature, whose origins are never quite explained, who just wants the carbon it needs by plundering coal deposits and diamonds where it can find them. There's an intriguing array of strange phenomena building up to the monster's first major sighting and sufficient suspense until we get a handle on what kind of monster it is and what it looks like. When it finally makes a full-fledged assault on the coal deposits of Kyushu, the resultant collateral destruction is quite picturesque indeed. (The bridge-pulling scene is just breathtaking.) And the special effects scenes of Dogora hovering over Kyushu are among the most beautifully composed shots I've seen in any of the films for which Eiji Tsuburaya directed the effects.

However, such a monster doesn't quite provide the unabashed thrills we expect from a Japanese monster movie. Without a "good guy" monster like Godzilla or Gamera to oppose Dogora, there are only standard-issue military battles, with Japanese SDF troops firing artillery endlessly and uselessly at the sky. And when a diligent professor finally devises a scientific method to combat Dogora, it's pretty far-fetched and not terribly cinematic, leading to a distinctly anti-climactic finale. To make matters worse, too much of the action is taken up with a subplot involving a clichéd band of gangster movie diamond thieves who try to take advantage of Dogora's diamond-grabbing activity. During the final stage of the effort to neutralize Dogora, the movie shifts to a much less interesting shootout on a beach between the diamond thieves and the police. It's as if, during the climactic monster battle in a Godzilla film, the action suddenly shifted to a lover's quarrel on the outskirts of Tokyo. It might be interesting in another movie, perhaps, but not this one.

One bonus of DOGORA for longtime kaiju fans is the chance to see American actor Robert Dunham in a major role, as Japanese-speaking insurance investigator Mark Jackson. Dunham appeared in a handful of Japanese monster and sci-fi films whenever a westerner was called for (e.g., MOTHRA, GODZILLA VS. MEGALON, as well as the all-western cast in THE GREEN SLIME), but we almost never heard his real voice. Thanks to the inclusion of the original Japanese soundtrack on this DVD, we get to hear him speak Japanese in his own voice, since the dialogue was recorded sync-sound. There's even a funny line by a Japanese detective questioning him who declares, "I don't know where you learned Japanese, but you had a vulgar teacher."

Also on hand is the beautiful Akiko Wakabayashi, known to western audiences for playing Aki, first of the two Japanese Bond girls in the fifth James Bond film, YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE (1967). Here she plays a sexy, duplicitous member of the robbery gang. The obligatory good girl counterpart is Masayo, the pretty assistant to the elderly scientist who takes the job of analyzing Dogora, and she's played by Yoko Fujiyama, who, alas, is given too little to do.

I liked the mix of extensive location shots with occasional studio sets and effects sequences that sometimes combine the two. It's visually well-crafted throughout and the print used for this DVD is very high quality. Overall, I just wish there'd been more of an emphasis on the monster and less on the diamond thieves.

Customer Rating:

Summary: Dogora-More Crime Drama, Less Monster Destruction
Comment: Dogora is a decent movie. Personally, I have nothing against the movie. It is just more of a crime movie than a monster movie, which in this case, it is a good thing.

The acting and the special effects are, as usual, very well done. The character of Mark Jackson is very entertaining. But it just doesn't equal the Godzilla series or other Toho creations like Space Amoeba, Varan, Frankenstein vs. Baragon, The Mysterians, and others.

But don't let that spoil it for you. Buy this movie and enjoy it. It may not be the best monster movie, but it is a lot better than Dean Devlin and Roland Emmerich's Godzilla.

So buy the movie and enjoy. It is worth the price. Check it out! :)

Customer Rating:

Summary: Jellyfish horror............
Comment: This may not be Toho's best movie. But it has its moment. You get the same actors from the Godzilla films, and the effect are great for its time. The best thing about this dvd it comes with the original a.i.p. dubb. As a g-fan I had to pick this up.

Customer Rating:

Summary: my favorite non-Gojira (Godzilla) daikaiju (giant monster) movie
Comment: Most Japanese monsters movies copy Gojira (Godzilla), Dogora is an exception. That Dogora is nothing like Gojira is one of the things I like most about it. It's great to have this classic Toho daikaiju eiga (giant monster film) on DVD. Thanks Mediablaster.

Editorial Reviews:
Studio: Media Blasters Inc. Release Date: 07/12/2005

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