Kattiera Nana I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

Brendon Jones It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

Rio Hayward All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

Cheryl A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

JLRVancouver Ninja, dragons, samurai, wizards, giant spiders, kaiju, evil sorcerers, lots of fights and a substantial (but largely bloodless) body count- what more could you want!? "The Magic Serpent*" is a fast moving, imaginative, and fun example of Japanese fantasy films. In a classic 'hero myth' story: a young prince, robbed of his birthright by an evil usurper and his sorcerer accomplice, trains in the arts of war and magic with an old wizard before returning for revenge and justice. Along his journey, he deals with constant attempts on his life, befriends the children of an unjustly executed farmer, and meets a young women with a mysterious past who is also on a quest. The special effects are quite good, 'suitmation' and puppetry are combined to bring the titular dragon to life, there are odd but imaginative animated inclusions (such as the fireball (?) the hero rides at one point), and some of the stunts during the numerous battles use 'wire work' to allow the hero and villain to make prodigious jumps. The scene where the hero is trapped by a wall of spinning doors is especially clever and well executed. The acting is fine for a samurai-sword and sorcery epic, with the hero heroic and the villain villainous, and the film touches on the merits of unquestioning obedience and filial loyalty a number of times. Despite not being a Toho production, the distinctive roars of various Toho kaiju (including Godzilla) were added to the American version. A must see for fans of pre-CGI fantasy films. *I watched an English-dubbed version of "Kairyu daikessen"

BijouBob8mm Recently picked up the Retromedia DVD double feature of RETURN OF THE GIANT MONSTERS/THE MAGIC SERPENT, the third classic Japanese sci-fi volume from this company. As with the previous two DVDs, the transfers looked pretty decent, and for what you get the price is nice. However, like the two previous Retromedia Gamera releases, this one has the same playback problems that plagued the earlier DVDs--one of the features wants to freeze up while it plays. In this instance, THE MAGIC SERPENT freezes up about 10-15 minutes into the film. I have seen various reviews complain about this kind of problem on all 3 of Retromedia's Gamera titles (yet none of their other releases seem to suffer from this). After the problem was brought to their attention with their first Japanese sci-fi release, DESTROY ALL PLANETS/ATTACK OF THE MONSTERS, it would seem something could be done to correct/prevent any further such occurrence.

Brian Washington This film used to come on one of the local stations here in Los Angeles at least once a year and it was a thoroughly enjoyable fantasy film. This film pretty much combines the elements of kaiju eiga along with another popular Japanese genre, the samurai film. As other viewers mentioned you pretty much can see that this film had an influence on the "Star Wars" saga especially when you look at the film early on as young Jiraiya (or Izakuchi-Maru) learns from his teacher, who obviously was an inspiration for Obi Won. The special effects are okay for a film not made by Toho and despite the swordplay, there is not that much blood. This film is defintely worth watching.Also, a word of warning. This film has been released on DVD as part of a "double feature" with Gamera tai Gyaosu (aka. Return of the Giant Monsters). The quality of the film on DVD is not that great, but if you can get past that, I still recommend the film.

Horror Fan A young prince is taught magic by his wizard father. The prince battles an evil sorcer. In the end, the prince becomes a giant frog (froggo), and the evil wizard becomes a big dragon (draggo), and they engage in a huge battle. Special effects were top notch and plot was remarkably similar to star wars.