A choo choo train and a big lizard or two or three and an exclamation point in the title. Some 35 year old teenagers and some really good special effects make for a great movie. They could not get Matt Damon or Justin Bieber so they went with what's his name and the guy from the movie about the thing.

The monster is well done with CGI or whatever. Some great old rock and roll fifties hit songs and lots of very nice vintage cars. The steam locomotive looks legit but I do not know.

In one scene there is a map of where the monster might be. It has a golf club called The Legends marked on the map. If you search that it is in Indiana.

The story is very lame but it remains fun until the end when a last laugh awaits the audience.

Looks like the budget was under one million so they did a good job giving us a potential cult flick for pennies. It usually costs much more to make something like this.

It has a jeep but it needs an airplane and maybe a military officer and a cat.

There might be a minor spoiler in my review.

Why remake "The Giant Gila Monster," one of the cheesiest teen drive-in flicks of the late 50's? Well, it has name recognition. Even with the name alteration, it's still marketable. The original story is in the public domain, so there're no royalties to pay. Maybe just for fun? My guess it all of the above. Make a few bucks and have fun. Why not?

The original 1959 film has little going for it other than it's nostalgic cheese factor and for it's collection of great hot rods. So what's the harm in a remake? Absolutely none! And this update, still set in the 50's, is better by far, which is rare and a minor miracle, if you ask me.

As bad as the acting is, which might be deliberate, the characters are more complex and interesting. The story is also a little better, the direction is much better and the cinematography is totally competent. Totally. And, even though the CGI title character is so obviously animated, that's completely predictable, so no real harm done. Besides, with a film like this, ya laugh, let it go or get angry. Viewer's choice. Convincing giant monsters in low budget films are hard to come by, anyway. All that's decent praise for a low budget, straight to TV movie.

The only thing that the original has over this one is that wonderfully ridiculous opening narration, which lacks any facts or logic. It's priceless. The toxic spill accounting for the giant lizard's existence in the remake is too cliché to be any fun. No explanation would have been better, I think.

The hot rods are still very cool and a couple of the chicks are an upgrade from the original. And, the soundtrack of rock n' roll oldies and contemporary rockabilly is very good, maybe even the least flawed aspect of the film.

Even though it is forgettable low budget garbage, it's still pretty fun. I'll probably give it another look, one of these days.

Oh well. Where do I begin, I have no idea where this Sudden obsession with low budget movies has come from but by god have I watched some brilliant stuff. Gila definitely delivered on so many levels, the cheesy CGI, the questionable acting, the fact that the townsfolk can shoot a large amount of ammo without the need to reload. I want more.