The giant ape battles his robotic counterpart in this science-fiction tale, originally titled Kingu Kongu no gyakushû, in which a mad scientist first plans to use the robot to excavate for the dangerous and powerful Element X but must turn to the real thing when the manmade ape is unable to withstand the radioactive element. Silly fun, with an amusingly ineffective but overconfident evil mastermind (Hideyo Amamoto) and a suitably menacing agent (Mie Hama) of the power backing the scientist.

  Mildly recommended. Otto judiciously thinks this movie is OK, but not great.

Movie 499 for 2021.