Reptile 2001 (1999) User Reviews

How Can a Producer Invest Money in This Lame Mediocrity?

[claudio_carvalho · 2/10 · 1 May 2017]

"2001 Yonggary" is one of those films so bad that becomes funny to watch. The plot is a lame combination of "Gozilla" with many sci-fi from the 50 's in an Ed Wood style. The story and the screenplay are ridiculous with the most of the situations dumb and messy. The dialogues are stupid and the characters are incredibly dumb. The acting is awful and the special effects are laughable. The question is how can a producer invest money in this lame mediocrity? My vote is two.

Title (Brazil): "Réptil" ("Reptile")

Silly but entertaining

[misalva · 4/10 · 25 March 2001]

In the long history of Godzilla films, Yonggary adds a small twist of alien invasion and tells the story of a monster, determined to destroy Earth. It's a low budget film with low budget digital effects and quite simple plot, reminding us B Movies in which actors play flat, monsters are unable to fright even the children, nobody cares about what it's going to happen next and everything is silly but entertaining.

The Earth is under attack.

[michaelRokeefe · 2/10 · 16 March 2002]

Very interesting product from South Korea, a.k.a. REPTILIAN is equally good as it is bad. Far out story line with unimaginative dialogue. Very good F/X holds your interest. Hostile invading aliens reanimate a dormant giant lizard-like creature named Yonggary to eradicate humanity and take control of Earth. Super cool alien spacecraft and a prehistoric monster should be more than enough to keep Sci-Fi fans happy.

Overview of notable cast members: Harrison Young, Donna Philipson, Karl Calhoun, Dan Cashman and Richard B. Livingston. The monster is handsomely detailed and fun to watch.

Good for a laugh.

[dsmith847 · 29 September 2001]

Between the almost transparent special effects and bad acting this movie reminded me of the old fashioned japanese monster movies. All it needed was bad dubbing. Apparently the creature is an ancient dinosaur from another planet fulfilling some sort of doomsday prophecy. It almost seems like it was poorly made on purpose to give it cult value. It is worth seeing with a group of friends, so you can all lob sarcastic comments at it.

Awful...

[Rattrap007 · 1/10 · 4 January 2002]

Let me put it this way. I love bad movies. I pretty much grew up with MST3K since I was about 10. I often rent cheesy horror and action films for a good laugh. This movie made the original Godzilla movies look like Oscar worthy films. They even try to make their monster seem more powerful and more impressive with the line "This guy makes Godzilla look like a pussy." Well at least any Godzilla films (Japan or USA versions) has better plots and acting. The special effects were awful. A special effect is supposed to blend in to make creature or other objects look like they are real. The special effects in this film stick out big time. I would not wish this film on anyone.

1/2 stars out of 4

It sucked.

[Jack the Ripper1888 · 1/10 · 1 May 2002]

First off, I have no idea where to begin. There were just so many things wrong with this movie. *POSSIBLE SPOILERS*

1. This movie was a very cheap rip-off of the old GODZILLA movies. Only the FX in this movie were far worse.

2.The graphics on the monster were horrible. A second grader could probably come up with something better.

3. You could never hear what the alien dudes were saying to each other because they were always mumbling.

4. The plot was really dumb and a lot of the dialog was stupid. EX. Guy talking to monster while holding really big gun says: "Hey, Mr. Monster, I want you to meet my friend Tommy".

5. What did the second monster have to do with anything? If the aliens were so powerful, why couldn't they just take control of the monster's mind again?

I could go on forever, but since this has to be under 1000 words, I'm not going to. So, again, I cannot stress how bad this movie was. Stay away! This movie is a deathtrap......... -5 stars out of 5.

Godzilla + Power Rangers + Extra dosage of idiocy Reptilian

[ejlasota · 1/10 · 21 May 2002]

It's like the worst parts of every Godzilla movie decided to combine with Power Rangers and form the biggest load of idiocy ever to hit my TV screen. The moment I saw people in jetpacks shooting at a fireball-spewing plastic dinosaur with machine guns, I recruited about 5 friends via telephone and instant messenger to gape in awe over how awful this was. It was a laugh riot, not over the movie being funny (because it wasn't) but more over the fact that such a piece of crap was even being aired. Painfully bad in every way, not even worth paying for a rental.

Compared to this, "GODZILLA" is the best movie ever made.

[The_Depressed_Star_Wars_fan · 1/10 · 13 December 2010]

This is s**t. First let's talk about the acting. By god is it terrible. There is not one actor that sounds even slightly credible.

The plot is at least original, it's not at all good but it is original. It's been asleep for two hundred million years. Now it been awakened by aliens from another galaxy. The aliens are using Yonggary to destroy mankind.......never mind maybe it isn't so original.

Finally, lets address the special effect. For a while I thought that the CGI for "Adventures of a Teenage Dragonslayer" was the worst. But after seeing this, I mean wow. This doesn't even look finished. At least Teenage Dragonslayer tried to make it look good. Here it just feels like they didn't care. It's like the just threw up there hands and said "Really, who gives a s**t."

So in the end I really say that you stay away from this stinker, for as long as you like.

Compared to this, Godzilla 1998 is better

[deshan-78580 · 1/10 · 4 October 2015]

Before I start this review, let me let you guys know that this review may contain a few spoiler alerts, viewer discretion is advised. Reptilian (or Yonggary) is a 2001 remake of the 1960s classic Yonggary. Yonggary was Korea's answer to Godzilla. The story in this movie is about an ancient monster called "Yonggary" gets resurrected by the aliens from outer space, the aliens have control over Yonggary and they made him go out destroying the town. Then towards the end of the film, one of the soldiers destroyed the crystal on Yonggary's forehead, then later, we get another monster & it's also from the aliens. Now let's see if I would recommend this film or not. Pros: -None at all Cons: -Horrible acting -Bad plot -Very mediocre final battle scene -Poor CGI effects (Yonggary looks like something I can expect from a Dreamcast game) -Boring soundtrack -Bad cinematography -Bad cover design Overall, this movie gets a 2 out of 10. This movie is worse than Godzilla 1998, both of these movies should be avoided at all costs, but again, I'll rather watch Godzilla 1998 than this god-awful ugly Korean rip-off. The end

Rated PG-13 for some violence & mild coarse language.

Disgusting excuse for a film.

[NerdBat · 1/10 · 13 May 2018]

Call me bias because I love giant monster films. Not only is this a horrific monster film, it's a horrific film in general. My main issue? The acting. It is absolutely disgusting. I feel like if people off the street who have no acting experience were recruited for this movie, they would have done a million times better than the actors in this film. There is no emotion, there is nothing in the dialogue. Fear should not look as if you are reading a teleprompter. It's despicable. Not only that but the plot jumps all over the place. First Yongary is bad, then hes good fighting some kind of crab thing, then hes bad again? We spend 90% of the movie attacking and trying to kill this thing and now hes all of a sudden the friend to all humanity? Also, if we were under an attack like this, the military would call out more than two helicopters.

Beyond dreadful in every respect

[ilikeimdb · 1/10 · 28 July 2021]

Makes Manos look like Citizen Kane. Horrible overreacting, inscrutable plot. Boring main characters... In fact it's excruciatingly boring with worse acting.

the mother of all B-movies!

[takatomon · 9/10 · 4 May 2003]

this movie has everything:

a giant monster named gary (who wouldn't like that?)

alien invaders

mind control devices

greed motivated villians

tragic heroes

epic battles that even gojira would envy

decent special effects

farfetched action scenes

and my favorite... hundreds of army men fighting the aliens with jetpacks and laser guns. take that gojira!!!!!!!

if you're looking for a movie to take seriously, than this one isn't for you. i don't think that even the movie takes itself seriously.

if you are a fan of mystery science theater 3000 or liked attack of the killer tomatos or dark star, then you just might get reptilian. this movie was a hoot and a half. it's a silly over the top comic book of a movie. i laughed and laughed and laughed.

b-movies just don't get any better than this.

A giant monster movie in the style of the new Godzilla movies from Japan.

[cyberschizoid · 7/10 · 25 April 2006]

No spoilers in this very brief review! All i can say is that it was fun trash and a million times better than that awful American Godzilla remake. I loved it because it was fun in a "so bad it's good" kinda way. The CGI effects aren't actually that bad all things considered although the acting was appalling.Kinda like daytime soap acting, only not as good. Imagine if the cast of "All My Children" were to be suddenly confronted by Godzilla and Mothra? You get my drift? The story is at least trying to be original and there are so many different trash movie clichés going on it's almost hard to keep up! Picture bizarre aliens,huge spaceships and battling giant monsters and you may get the general idea! All in all, a fun way to spend a rainy afternoon. And it will certainly keep the kids amused during the Summer vacation!

Pretty amusing trash.

[HumanoidOfFlesh · 4/10 · 11 January 2004]

"Yonggary" is a pretty amusing film about a big lizard from Korea named Yonggary.It's a fine example of giant monster flick that will keep most monster lovers entertained.The special effects are horrible,but they are still fun to watch.The script by Marty Poole is laughable.The acting by a bunch of unknowns is not too hot,either.The film features giant monsters,car chases,exploding jets and helicopters,spaceships and space aliens,so kids won't be disappointed.I love horror movies,but this one is surely nothing special.Avoid it,but if you have enough time to waste...4 out of 10.

An awful remake that makes the American Godzilla great.

[daikaijuconan · 24 August 2011]

After seeing it on SciFi before the channel turned to total crap. This was in a marathon with other monsters, like Godzilla and Mothra. Unfortunately,this movie is a crap fest. The CGI is awful, the acting is wooden, I would have never guessed that this was the remake of the original Yongary. The one line: compared to this guy, Godzilla is a P** sy. Right, this awful computer generated crap isn't even as good as the worst Godzilla movie. You might as well buy the American Godzilla, even that is better than this sludge. The aliens, the second monster, the added "G" to the monster's name, it just doesn't make sense to me. The American actors don't do the movie justice at all. Just don't buy it, it may seem like a monster movie, but it sure isn't to me.

If Ed Wood would be alive today....

[MightyTiny · 1/10 · 19 May 2006]

...this is the kind of movie he would make.

I've seen some very bad scifi and horror movies, but this one is on a class of it's own. As bad as the acting is, one still can't help but feel a bit sorry for the actors for having to spout out such astonishingly inane dialogue, and to portray characters that couldn't possibly be more stereotypical, in a storyline that would make the average 12 year old cringe.

Ed Wood's movies became classics because they were so earnest, yet so genuinely bad that they became funny. "Younggary" distinctly fails to be scary, simply because it is so utterly silly in all respects, and the storyline has more holes than swiss cheese, but it may have some minute appeal in the similar vain as Ed Wood's material, provided that the audience is in the right frame of mind. And preferably quite drunk.

Eh, it's ok

[silentmallrat · 5/10 · 29 July 2001]

I saw the original Yonggary when i was 8, and i thought it was cool. I recently picked up a copy of Yonggary 2001, having heard about it on the net, and thought it would be cool. Well, it was Ok. The acting is up there with tv show style acting, and the movie is filled with GOD AWFUL one liners. The Effects were on par with that of what you would see on XENA and such. But as a monster movie, it works out to good fun. Recomend it.

Slightly less entertaining than an infomercial

[Tim K · 1/10 · 4 September 2001]

There is nothing positive I can say about this movie. Third graders at a Thanksgiving play could act better than anyone in this film. Not that the actors were given a plot or any dialogue of any kind to act with. The story is so stupid it insults even the dimmest viewer.

The real reason people will watch this movie is to see a monster movie. But the special effects are so bad; the old Godzilla movies with rubber suits are way ahead of Reptilian. The cgi effects are jerky and poorly superimposed. It's like a bad cartoon on top of a bad movie.

Save this movie to watch with people you hate. They will suffer.

Quick, Come Up With a Reason To See This Movie!

[kgsmith1 · 2/10 · 26 April 2003]

Um...well...it has a big Godzilla wannabe thing in it (Couldn't you just watch Godzilla?) Ok, fair question...well, it has rocketpacks (Ahem, THE ROCKETEER had better special effects?) ok, but...it has some laugh value for how bad it is (Couldn't you just watch Shrunken Heads so you can claim to have seen the worst ever?) Well yeah, I guess you could.

Sorry, no reason to see this.

This file is codeword protected, but just for you I'll let it slip.

[lost-in-limbo · 3/10 · 29 June 2020]

"Daddy loves ET". No joke. Here's the info;

"Compare to this guy. Godzilla is a pussy". *Cue laugh track*

Ah, I think not. Actually a laugh track could've done wonders. "REPTILIAN" (aka "2001 YONGGARY") is virtually a trashy b-monster fare in the tradition of "GODZILLA". Or better put, Sci-fi original rubbish, yet amusingly dumb-fun to poke at. I would highlight dumb too. It's actually a Korean film, but consists of an all Caucasian cast and is a follow up to the 1967 film "YONGGARY MONSTER FROM DEEP".

We start off with a dull first-half, where you endure second-rate dialogues, workplace accidents, apocalyptic ranting and lifeless acting led by a tool performance. It's like they gave all the important roles to those who are usually extras in the background. You know the ones that don't get any lines - that when they open their mouths you understand why. Their stilted delivery of the already awful and random dialogues just adds to the; you-must-be-kidding-factor.

So after biding some time (45 minutes of it), the fossilized bones of our monster Yonggary (which sounds like 'young gary' when pronounced and supposedly it smells old too?!) is finally resurrected by aliens orbiting the earth in their quest to destroy mankind. Now this is where the real fun begins. And the trash talk starts. "Mister Monster I like you to meet my little friend. BBQ this bucko"!!!! We get sequences of young gary smashing up a city, taking on helicopters, followed by jets, then laser equipped rangers in jetpacks and finally another kaiju-like monster in a prehistoric clash for the ages. However it sounds a lot cooler than it actually is, yet, it's eventful and provides the entertainment. Now a word of warning... it's done lazily I might add with blotchy, old-school computer graphics. Sometimes even the background scenery followed the same suit, when not using flimsy sets and model miniatures. It's like something you would get out of a video game. So making "REPTILIAN" a true product (or otherwise fossil) of its time.

Admirable, but very flawed effort.

[info-83771 · 4/10 · 3 July 2017]

SPOILERS:

As a kaiju fan, I remember being excited when they announced a remake of Yonggary: Monster from the Deep. And it was not going to be an American remake, but a Korean update of their own film. I figured that it would not go the same route at the 1998 Godzilla.

I was not totally wrong, but the film was severely lacking. The characters have little impact on the story, and most of them are unmemorable (save a few hammy performances). Yonggary has a good design, but the CGI is pretty bad for a production this expensive. I know that the VFX team had limited experience, but they were clearly hoping for it to compete with Godzilla 1998, which had state-of-the-art VFX at the time.

What this film does have over Godzilla 1998 is plenty of monster action and city destruction. Yonggary felt like a real force, which was one aspect I liked. The alien invasion plot was something that could have been developed much further, but alas was left lacking.

I feel that only hardcore kaiju fans would appreciate this. The casual viewer would probably despise the film.

This movie is a really horrible remake.

[azuraring-84989 · 2/10 · 29 November 2018]

This movie is just bad, I just don't know how the CGI is THIS BAD!!!!! It looks like it was done by the same people who made the CGI of Spawn from 1997.

This has gotta be one of the worst remakes I have ever seen in my entire life, and it's even worse than it's original 1967 counterpart.

Yongary (or Yonggary or Reptilian) looks nothing like his original counterpart and looks like if Zilla (the 98 Godzilla) fell in love with a lizard and a triceratops at the same time.

The people acting in this film is downright awful (except for Harrison Young imo), which they all act like they just want to not be in this film.

Also, apparently this was claimed to be the most expensive film of South Korea at that time but it looks cheap as heck.

I heard there were two versions, one in 1999 and the other being in 2001 (which is what most people have seen), but I think the 1999 is as bad as it's 2001 version because I've seen clips and commercials for the 1999 version and the CGI was still awful.

Finally, I just want to say, this is awful and don't watch it at all, if you want to see a film about Yongary that's better than this, then watch the original 1967 version, though that film is not really good either but it's A LOT better than this abomination.

So bad it's good

[NavyOrion · 9/10 · 6 October 2009]

Wow, this is a real stinker! With a stupid plot (deep-voiced lobsterish aliens with a plot to destroy Earth using a fire-breathing dinosaur), lousy effects (even worse than the typical Sci-Fi Channel original), and acting that often makes the work in any old Godzilla retread look good in comparison, "Reptilian" is so bad that you won't be able to look away.

Regarding that acting, special notice has to go to Richard Livingston as Dr. Campbell. For a while, I thought his tendency to gaze off-camera while reciting his dialog was supposed to indicate that he had been hypnotized by the aliens, but apparently it's just the result of either amazing overacting, or an inability to remember his lines, making cue cards necessary. Fortunately, he gets squashed like a grape before this becomes really annoying. You have to wonder what other careers he tried before deciding that acting was where he really shines.

The rest of the cast is almost as laughable, with the possible exception of Harrison Young (Dr. Hughes), who's probably doing about all that can be done with the lines he was given. To be honest, he's probably the reason I sat through the movie anyway, as I spent the whole time trying to figure out where I'd seen him before (it turns out Young played the old version of Ryan at the end of "Saving Private Ryan) but I would have missed a real treat if I had changed the channel.

The effects are pretty bad, too; I thought maybe the monster was supposed to be glowing from radiation or something, but unless I missed some explanation, it's evidently just really cheap effects work. You have to wonder why the pilots attacking the monster didn't start shooting lower after watching him duck the first five or six missiles. Also why Captain Parker (Briant Wells) thinks his machine gun and jet pack will do anything to Yong Gary that fighter jets have not.

Just when the futile attacks start to get tedious, though, the giant dinosaur gets a lobotomy, breaking the aliens' control over him. Of course, that just means you need a new monster, and the alien attackers quickly send a new one so we can have a battle royale between Gary and the new one. Considering that in the end our new buddy Yong Gary is carted off to storage on a deserted island somewhere, it's amazing that there has never been a sequel made (I mean, c'mon, we're up to "Saw VI" already.) Certainly this is not a serious movie; it's not even a good movie. But at 2:00 in the morning (the only time you're likely to find it being shown) it's pretty entertaining, if not in the way its producers intended. "Reptilian" is one that will be appreciated by any aficionado of bad sci-fi.

Weird but entertaining, but is there an 'OldGary' too?

[tarbtano35 · 6/10 · 1 April 2014]

DO NOT take this film seriously. Compared to this flick, even the poorer Gamera and Godzilla films are Citizen Kane when it comes to taking the film seriously.

Taken as face value as entertainment, kudos to the director for making a great popcorn cruncher.

Yes the dialogue is awkward at times- Yes the CGI doesn't quite look finished- Yes it's kinda odd a South Korean film has near only American actors- Yes the monster looks nothing like the original Youngary- But heck to all that, it's IS entertaining!

This movie falls firmly in the 'So bad it's good' category. The action scenes have a lot of hilarity going on, dialogue can be flat out hilarious, the plot, while executed a bit oddly, IS pretty original; and the monster designs aren't half bad.

I saw this as a kid and loved it for the unintentional humor as much as I did the big monster fight at the end. As for any parents who's monster movie loving kids might want to see this, this is a pretty safe film. Outside of one scene that could be a bit squeamish where (offscreen) a fossil tooth flies through a dig worker, I can't see anything in this film that would be bad for kids under 10.

If you want a film to kill time and to leave your brain at the door to have some fun, this film will for the job.

When it comes to Godzilla's numerous foreign relatives, Yonggary did pretty well for me.

Its attacking the city

[BigGuy · 2/10 · 29 March 2003]

This is truly a terrible movie. The dialog is beyond cheesy, the special effects might have been cutting edge in the eighties. The acting? Bad! I could go on and on... The thing that got me the most was the classic sci-fi movie blunder: "the city". Rather than try to actually pretend to destroy an existing city they just have a bunch of buildings and call it "the city". The dialog reflects this, such as "The monster is attacking the city" or "If it gets to the city we are done for" or "the aliens are directly over the city". As if there was only one city on the planet.