Back to The Magic Serpent (1966). The monsters only appear at the beginning and (mostly) the climax, but add the perfect grace note to an extremely fun movie.
If the names of the three main characters; villain Orochimaru, hero Jiraiya and love interest Tsunade, sound familiar, it’s because they are based on the same folklore characters that inspired three of the most important characters in the anime Naruto. As in Naruto, Jairaya summons a giant toad and Orochimaru a snake. Tsunade, though, summons a spider instead of the traditional slugs. They probably couldn’t figure out how to make the slug work in the big fight in the end.
