There are those universal themes and stories we keep going back to: boy meets girl, man against machine, young boy in the big city makes good -- and, of course, man awakens big frickin' monster from ages of peaceful slumber and said monster goes apeshit and stomps, chomps and smashes everything in sight.

Varan The Unbelievable draws from that last well of inspiration. Another creation from the folks that more or less designed that well (director Ishiro Honda, special effects expert Eiji Tsubaraya, composer Akira Ifukube) when they made the original Gojira back in 1954, Varan is the latest in a line of man in rubber suit monster classics being dusted off and released onto dvd by the good folks at Media Blasters.

The story begins as a small team of scientists, exploring an area known as "the tibet of Japan", decide to throw caution to the wind and ignore the protests of the natives as they explore this exotic region. You'd think, after Godzilla, Rodan and Mothra have already razed Japan, that they'd take these warnings more seriously, but soon enough the Darwin awards have another set of winners and the scientists "disappear" (though we have a pretty good idea what kind of fate they've met).

The sister of one of the missing scientists arranges for another expedition, which is also warned off by the natives, although this time they've brought along some heavy artillery and a batallion of soldiers, so they blow off the omens and trudge onward, into the deep jungle, where the titular giant monster proceeds to attack them.

Looking something like a mutated anklyosaurus, Varan may not be able to breathe fire, but he can still trample things underfoot with the best of 'em, and before long we discover that the fellow can rear himself up on his hind legs, sprout a pair of flying-squirrel like wings, and fly off in the direction of Tokyo.

Finally hipped to the impending danger ahead of them, the scientists determine that Varan is heading for Tokyo (you have to wonder what the homeowners' insurance premiums are like) and that they must stop him before, well, you know the rest.

Light on plot but heavy on fun, Varan the Unbelievable delivers what you want in a Japanese monster movie, namely models being smashed apart, hordes of extras running in panic, shots of the creature rising out of a pool of bubbling ocean water (emphasis on the pool), and scenes of scientists trying to figure out some way to dispose of the creature. If you're a fan of these movies (as your humble viewer most certainly is), Varan delivers what you want. If you're not so hot on this stuff, the film will have a "been there, done that" kind of quality.

Actually, if you're a kaiju fan, there are a lot of elements that are noticeably recycled from other movies. Snippets of Akira Ifukube's scores for Gojira, Rodan, and The Mysterians turn up on the soundtrack. Some of the clips of villagers being evacuated are lifted from The Mysterians (though the color footage is printed in black and white for this film). All in all, the movie has a Frankenstein's monster feeling of being assembled from a lot of spare parts.

Perhaps this is due to the nature of the project -- originally commissioned as a made for tv movie for the American market, it was put together on the cheap in its early stages until Toho Studio's management changed their mind and decided to make it a theatrical release.

As a result, some shots are noticeably altered to fit the 2.35:1 widescreen aspect ratio from the original 1.33:1 television screen. But this, to my eyes, only added to the film's charms. Although the bulk of the film's charm has to do with its scaly star, given his only center stage appearance in this movie (he does turn up in a couple of the "monster island" sequences in Destroy All Monsters eight years later, though his "stomp on" cameo consists of a just a few shots).

It's too bad, because Varan is a pretty cool looking monster. He's a lot more fun that the larval incarnation of Mothra that got a lot more work in later Toho pictures. With his weird shell, sharp, spiny protrusions and those crazy squirrel wings, he definitely had the looks to become a star in the Japanese monster stable.

And I'm not alone in my thinking of this. In one of the extras included on the dvd, former Toho model maker Keizo Murase conducts a "monster making" class and his main pupil admits to being "Obsessed with Varan" since he was a kid. He excitedly looks forward to building a Varan of his own. In the class, they reveal the process that goes into creating the monster skin for these suits, a very involved process of sculpting, casting in plaster, creating a mold that is filled with latex, heated up to dry, then filled with more latex and fiberglass, and heated up again. Murase-san says that in the old days, the lamps were so hot they worked practically naked in the studio. He also reveals how such everyday objects as peanuts and garden hoses influenced the design of Varan. This extra alone would make the disc worth buying, but, like a ginsu knife set, we have to keep saying -- "wait -- there's more! Now how much would you pay?"

Keizo Murase also contributes the commentary to the film, which is informative and filled with great stories (one that I enjoyed is his memory of being inside a dragon costume that was supposed to be stabbed by the legendary Toshiro Mifune and being afraid that Mifune-san's passion would result in him stabbing the wrong place and running poor Murase through with the sword). His long career is examined, making the commentary a nice little run-through of postwar Japanese film history.

There's also a curious extra, the "restored television broadcast version" of the film. Apparently the film ran on Japanese tv as two half-hour programs, and this new version is both a little tighter (a lot of expository scenes are summarized in a matter of seconds) and a little annoying to watch (there are many instances when they do not have the picture elements for the film and they throw up a title card -- in Japanese -- that reads "sound only"). But in this version Varan is onscreen within two minutes and kicking ass, whereas in the long version they build up to his appearance over the course of about twenty minutes. So if you want more monster smashin' and less humans yappin', you may prefer this version -- if you can put up with the constant intrusion of the "sound only" title cards.

Trailers for this film, as well as The Mysterians and Matango: Attack of the Mushroom people, are the remaining extras on the disc, which is a must-have if you're a kaiju fan for that "monster making" class alone. And maybe you, too, will become "obsessed with Varan".