Watch The Mysterians For Free

A lot more amusing than I thought it would be.

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

Earth has been invaded by duplicitous aliens and all nations must band together to protect our world (and our women)! "The Mysterians" is an excellent example of the creative and entertaining tokusatsu produced by Toho studios in the 1960's. Directed by kaiju perennial Ishiro Honda, with special effects by Eiji Tsuburaya and music by Akira Ifukube, the film has a similar look and sound to early Godzilla movies (especially those featuring conniving aliens). The special effects are a mixed bag: the miniatures are excellent (as usual), as are the 'battle scenes' and some of the more exotic sets (the inside of the Mysterians' underground base for example), but most of the optical effects are less effective (you can see through the tanks in some of the battle scenes). As "Godzilla" (1954) had demonstrated the popularity of giant monsters, a huge bird-like mecha (the "Moguera") puts in a brief appearance early in the invasion (belying the Mysterians' later protestations of being a 'peace-loving' people). The suit-mated robot is pretty well done, as is the battle between it and the JDF. I watched a reasonably well dubbed English version of the film, but the acting seemed typical of the genre - fine, but not in particularly demanding roles. All in all, the movie is an entertaining, colourful, and imaginative science-fiction adventure with a charm than is missing (IMO) from the current generation of CGI-based films. Followed by "Battle in Outer Space" (1959), another entertaining Toho space-yarn with similar aesthetics.

This has some of the highest production values, some of the best FX sequences, the best musical scoring and some of the best acting to be seen in any Kaiju film. Personally, I rate this as 3rd or 4th all-time best in the Kaiju genre, behind such uber-classics as Godzilla, Invasion of the Astro-Monster, and War of the Gargantuas.Ishiro Honda was the greatest auteur of Kaiju. He was not only the D.W. Griffith of that genre, he was also the Orson Welles. His Kaiju films can be put into 3 rough categories: earnest (i.e. Godzilla, War of the Gargantuas); surreal (Mushroom People); and camp (Invasion of the Astro Monster). This film is mostly in the earnest category, but the sequence with the long tailed mechanical monster hints at Honda's immanent surreal and camp tendencies. Anyhow, this is definitely a very well-made Kaiju, but it is a little slow in some places and the whole strategy of the Mysterians for conquering Earth has some serious flaws. Nonetheless, the idea of alien invaders occupying Japanese territory and and seeking total domination, not to mention the aliens' designs on the local women, is interesting. And surely this storyline must reflect Honda's attitudes toward the American occupation forces which still were maintaining high visibility in Japan in this period. It is my understanding that this film was originally released in Cinemascope or the equivalent, and it really would have been a gas to see it on the big screen that way. The battles between the Earth forces in their strange slow-moving aerial battleships and the Mysterians' ray weapons, in glorious color and with the orchestra playing in full stereo, must have been a kick.Of less interest is the fact that the aliens in this film seem to be the direct inspiration for a dreadful yet popular 1990's children's TV show, the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. All told, this movie is still a lot more interesting and fun than most of the scifi summer blockbusters nowadays, especially the crap with Will Smith or Tom Cruise.

I saw this movie in the theater when I just a kid. I remember because I sat through it twice,you could in those days. The "Mysterians", as it was called here in the United States is classic Japanese science fiction. If you're a lover of classic science fiction you're going to love this movie. If you consider when this movie was made you'll find the special effects interesting. The story is a gas, "we only want a little of your land and all of your women". The print is surprisingly good but the original English voice track has been replaced by a new voice track which gives the film an odd feel. One of the joys of watching these old Japanese science fiction movies are the voice tracks, some of which I believe included the great Paul Freese. Never the less it was great to see this old film again. If you saw this movie when you were a kid you'll enjoy seeing it again. If for no other reason than that of nostalgia.

Although best known for their Godzilla series, Japan's Toho Studios made many other sci fi and fantasy films. This was the first of many that would be about aliens from another world invading Earth {that idea would be later incorporated into quite a few Godzilla films}. It's dated in some respects but still pretty good fun and must have seemed quite impressive at the time of it's western release. Before that the only major film that dealt with alien invasion on a "full scale,open war" kind of level was The War Of The Worlds, and The Mysterians attempts even more, if not quite succeeding, in the way of spectacle.The first half hour is terrific, the characters are briefly introduced, strange things happen and a large bird-like robot goes on the rampage in Godzilla fashion. After this,things go downhill a little bit, too much time is taken up with meetings and the lengthy battle scenes between the aliens and the humans are a bit static and go on a little too long. Nevertherless there is a charming toy-like nature to these scenes, as various futuristic weapons are employed against the invaders.Special effects are occasionally poor {watch out for the awful superimposed explosions} but generally better than most Hollywood sci fi films of the time. Filmed in very garish colour {which particularly highlights the alien's costumes} and with a tremendous main march theme by Akira Ifikube, the Mysterians has it's dull bits, but is still worth watching for some childish fun. Toho would perfect the alien invasion idea two years later with the incredible Battle In Outer Space.