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I think what makes this movie special is not the "giant insect" aspect but the mysticism involved. Godzilla is a legend in the original at least but Mothra is actually a deity--and a hands-on deity at that. Inlikethe other creatures in this bestiary, Monthra is beloved of those who live with it and is protected by it, often by direct intercession.

Unlike the other monsters, Mothra can die, and has done so. But it continues to protect its people by reproducing the old fashioned way--it lays eggs. IT is also intelligent and intuitive, and its nature is NOT aggressive or violent. It's almost Buddhist in nature.

The only other time they tried to work this kind of mysticism into these movies was with King Cesar--a giant cocker spaniel with contacts. The beast was just too goofy to be taken seriously.

Mothra is a great addition to the canon.

Mothra is a movie based on a fantasy novel "Glowing fairies and Mothra" co-authored by Shinichiro Nakamura, Takehiko Fukunaga, and Yoshie Hotta. Name of the main protagonist Zenichiro Fukuda are combined names of these three co-authors (Chinese character Yoshi is also pronounced Zen in Japanese). The co-authors reportedly never received much loyalties from this movie.

If the original Godzilla was the '50s classic kaijyu movie, this is that of the '60s, spawning many movies that follows featuring Mothra.

This movie was created on the following year Japan signed the "Treaty of mutual cooperation and security between Japan and U.S." of 1960 and reflects the politically charged atmosphere against US at the time in Japan. For instance, country Rorisika is a combined name of Russia, and America (in the original novel, the name was even more obvious Russirica, but was changed for the world wide release of the movie), and New Kirk city is an obvious synonym for New York city. US and Russia by the way were the only countries in the world performing hydrogen bomb experiments at the time, and No. 2 Genyomaru's, encounter with the test was also a hidden criticism against these experiments.

In the original novel, the location where Mothra spews the cocoon is the parliament building, but this was viewed as a political statement against the said treaty, and was changed to Tokyo tower. The movie features a real life twins The Peanuts (Emi and Yumi Eto) who were popular singers in Japan at the time. The Mothra song they sang were written by Tomoyuki Tanaka, Ishiro Honda, and Shinichi Sekizawa first in Japanese, and Indonesian student residing in Japan at the time translated it into his language. The original manuscript of this handwritten song is now displayed in Yuji Koseki (who was the composer for this song) museum in Fukushima city Japan.

The plot and special effects are tour de force. One of Mothra's lava costumes had 8 men in it with Godzilla suit actor Haruo Nakajima taking the lead. Mothra is the first kaijyu that's not just out for destruction, but is a protector of the environment. When the Mothra lava spews silk, it really looks real. The silk was made from rubber contact cement thinned down with solvent and shot out of Mothra's mouth using air brush. Actor Hiroshi Koizumi reprises his role as Shinichi Chujyo in 2003 movie Godzilla vs Mecha Godzilla Tokyo SOS after 42 years this movie was made.

Still after half a century, this is one of the best kaijyu movie ever created.

Shipwreck survivors are found on Beiru, an island previously used for atomic tests. Amazingly free of radiation effects, they believe they were protected by a special juice given to them by the natives.

Nothing much to say about this one. I only knew Mothra as an adversary to Godzilla and was interested in seeing the film where he debuts and predates his epic fight with the lizard of destruction. It is a good story and gets to the heart of the Mothra myth with the singing fairies that summon him.

While maybe not as iconic as Godzilla, Mothra is a kaiju worthy of his own film series (which he has), and those interested in Toho's work really ought to check it out.

MOSURA (1961, released in the USA as MOTHRA) is like no other monster movie. It's colorful. Most of it's settings are bathed in storybook like colors, has a pleasent, happy ending where the monster lives!

A greedy showman/explorer Clark Nelson (Jerry Ito) finds twin fairies on an island off Japan. He displays them on the Tokyo stage, where they sing what sounds like a lullaby. It is actually a telepathic distress call to their god and protector, Mothra, a giant caterpillar. Mothra comes to Tokyo, searching for the girls and Nelson, destroying most of the city in it's path. The chase goes from Tokyo to Newkirk City (I guess this is suppose to be a little real life hamlet just south of Yonkers!) What I really love about MOTHRA is that it has many things most other monster movies don't. The hero is a comical, older, tubby reporter, a sort of Japanese Lou Costello. The monster is actually pretty. In the Japanese version, there is some wonderful slapstick and odd humor. THese elements make this film so unique. Director Inoshiro Honda was best friends with more famous and more respected Japanese director Akira Kurosawa. Kurosawa loved Honda's monster movies and according to rumor, yearned to make one himself.

After a typhoon, four shipwreck survivors are founded on Infant Island. This site had been used by Rolisica for atomic testing but the men show no ill effects. They recount that previously unknown natives had protected them by feeding them a special juice. A joint expedition is sent and strange things are discovered including two miniature women. The natives are massacred and the two fairies are kidnapped. The giant moth creature Mothra is hatched by the natives.

The colors are bright. The story is strange. Mothra doesn't appear until halfway through the movie. The tiny singers are the strangest cinematic creations and that's in the same movie as Mothra. There is a lot of miniature and green screen work. This is a classic Japanese monster movie.

Though not a great fan of the Godzilla universe movies I cannot deny their quality, their charm and how much they accomplished with creating the universe in general.

Here we see the debut of Mothra getting her own film, a character who would go onto be one of the most commonly seen creatures.

It tells the story of a rich businessman who kidnaps two tiny ladies from their native land to use in show business. In doing so Mothra was summoned to retrieve them using any means necessary even if it means the entire destruction of Tokyo in the process.

Mothra actually looks good for it's day, there is no man in a goofy suit as usual and Mothra in both infant and adult forms look far better than you'd expect.

The cast are less generic than usual, the lead is fairly comedic and the whole thing feels above average within this original kaiju film.

Certainly one of the better films of the series that I've seen thus far, but still highly niche.

The Good:

Some of the sfx are quite good for their day

Character development is better than usual

The Bad:

Still highly cheesy

A few weak points in the plot

Things I Learnt From This Movie:

Stowaways are not only not punished but they are given guns

A gigantic monster worm in a coccoon isn't newsworthy

The transitional phase for giant moths is a peanut

Definitely one of Toho's finest giant monster movies of all. An evil businessman (Jerry Ito) abducts two adorable foot-tall twin fairies from their remote island, in an unscrupulous plan to exploit them for his own monetary gain. The two "peanuts" call to their protector Mothra for aid, and the title monster travels to Japan to save the little ladies, while leaving unintended harm and destruction in its path.

Mothra is a sympathetic character which became popular and went on to co-star in many more Toho adventures. The female creature starts out as a gigantic crawling caterpillar, but late in the movie emerges out of its self-spun cocoon, as a huge and colorful flying moth that causes intense catastrophic winds when flapping its wings. Jerry Ito is a perfect hateful lead villain, but he is counterbalanced partly by the agreeable presence of comedian Frankie Sakai on the side of the good guys. The story is involving, and the pacing very comfortable. I have always been a big fan of the charming little song that the twin fairies sing in honor of their savior, Mothra. The English language version is well dubbed, and there are some differences between the U.S. and original Japanese versions; but either one is good and enjoyable.

*** out of ****

This is the first Mothra movie, a story where a corrupted businessman kidnaps tiny twin priestesses on radiated Infant Island to exploit them for profit gain. This angers the island's guardian goddess named Mothra, who awakens and goes in search for the kidnapped twins, threatening to leave a wake of destruction along the way.

For this movie, there is a great screenplay by Shinichi Sekizawa, imaginable effects by Eiji Tsuburaya, good directing by Ishiro Honda and a beautiful music score (though not by Akira Ifukube, Yuji Koseki composed an equally superb music score). This movie has the usual elements in any "kaiju" movie: military, city destruction, tropical islands, scientists, reporters, natives and villains.

We get to see the very first appearance of Mothra's tiny twin priestesses, played here by the "Peanuts," a popular Japanese singing-duo. Their serene and bewitching Mothra's Song is first sung here, and is an enchanting listening experience. A few more songs follow, and they're also sung beautifully. They take center stage in this story, singing as a plea for help from Mothra to rescue them from the greedy show-biz celebrity. Along the way, a reporter, photographer and a scientist team up in attempt to save the fairies to return them to their home before Mothra attacks! The male lead, played by Frankie Sakai, was hilarious and provided most of the comic relief in this action-packed monster flick.

The natives' rituals and chants to awaken Mothra are spellbinding and enchanting, some of the greatest piece of cinema work I've seen.

Overall, this film is a great introduction to Mothra, who would go on to appear in many other monster movies, most notably alongside Godzilla in his many sequels, produced by Toho.

Grade A

When a group of shipwreck survivors are rescued from an irradiated island near Japan without any signs of sickness, an expedition is carried out funded by Roliscan national Clark Nelson (Jerry Ito) who takes along Dr. Harada (Ken Uehara) and Dr. Chujo (Hiroshi Koizumi). With tenacious reporter Fukuda (Frankie Sakai) in tow they soon discover two small faeries (Yumi Ito and Emi Ito "The Peanuts") who are soon captured by the opportunistic Nelson to be exploited for profit. As Fukud, Chujo, and Harada attempt to find ways of freeing the faeries, the island's native inhabitants summon their guardian Mothra to bring the faeries back to the island.

Mothra is a 1961 Kaiju film made by the same crew who created Godzilla with director Ishiro Honda, producer Tomoyuki Tanaka, and effects artist Eiji Tsuburaya. Taking inspiration from the format of King Kong and Godzilla, Ishiro Honda sought to create something inspired by family oriented films particularly those of Disney. The film was a success at the time with cast and crew attributing the success to the popularity of singer group The Peanuts and the film even garnered distribution in the United States courtesy of Columbia. If Godzilla Raids Again and King Kong vs. Godzilla laid the groundwork for the format of Showa Era Kaiju films, Mothra is where we see the overall tone taking shape as Mothra does still deal with the thematic subtext Honda would often work into his films, but also anchors the narrative to a more sympathetic kaiju whom the audience is supposed to identify with and it works pretty well.

As the film takes great influence from King Kong, the story more or less follows the same framework established by the 1933 classic with the only major exception being the natives encountered on the island aren't antagonistic like the ones in King Kong. While the human characterization in Kaiju films of this era has never been a strong suit, Mothra is one where it manages to create some more memorable humans who are actually pretty well used. The movie does a nice job of setting up our heroes of Fukuda, Michi, and Doctors Harada and Chujo who are all well played by their respective actors. While they certainly fall into "types" that you associate with this kind of adventure/monster story, the screenplay adds enough little character moments to help distinguish them and make them endearing. Fukuda is wonderfully played by Frankie Sakai and while at first he seems like he's positioned as something of a bumbling comic relief that's only a half truth as the movie makes more than a few suggestions that it's an act in his capacity as a reporter and there are more than a few times where the character steps up. It's honestly kind of a shame he never became a recurring character in Toho's monster films as he does have a certain charm to him. Jerry Ito is despicably evil as Clark Nelson who exudes Snidely Whiplash or Dick Dastardly levels of compatibility in his performance and he makes a solid human antagonist you can't wait to see get taken down. The effects work by Tsuburaya is quite good with the titular Mothra's two forms well-constructed and realized and The Peanuts' singing as the faeries (though here known as "Small Beauties") is well integrated as some scenes almost make the film feel like they're going just shy of a full musical in scope and scale.

Mothra is easily one of the best Kaiju films of the 60s and it's clear why Mothra became a fan favorite and recurring character in the Godzilla films. Definitely a must watch for Godzilla fans and 60s era Kaiju fans.

Fairly poor cousin of Godzilla, with much less fighting and destruction than usual. However, the film is raised slightly above the level of many of its type by the fact that we can actually sympathize with Mothra -- after all, they've busted into the virgin territory of tiki-land and stolen the midget twins -- and therefore we understand why Mothra is doing what she's doing. This is something many of the makers of giant monster movies in the 50s missed, and was a big element in the success of "King Kong", "Mighty Joe Young" and other earlier monster flicks -- if we don't care about the big monster, the movie doesn't matter much.

They'd done Godzilla. They'd brought us color monster madness with Rodan. Now Toho continue to improve their Kaiju films with Mothra. Once again Mothra is the result of nuclear radiation, but those themes are just around to explain her size. The main plot is Mothra's rescue attempt of two miniature women taken from her island. Strange? Certainly, but it's nice to see the monster with a clear agenda and some actual motivation. The models and effects are the best so far. Remote controlled vehicles, green screen, monster puppets, are all thrown in to give us some truly exhilarating city smash ups. Even when "people" are obviously dolls, it's OK. Films don't have to be a replacement for the imagination. I was never dragged out of the film's universe, and the scenes of the dam bursting had me appreciating film making more than any CGI filled computer game-a-like. The use of a fictionalized nation allows you to easily ignore any overbearing political agendas. It isn't as dark as the previous efforts. But when your monster is a big moth, you don't get as much horror. Luckily, it also manages to create a more atmospheric and artistic approach. Mothra's initial hatching is juxtaposed with a beautiful and rather trippy song. A tale of, once again, man's mistakes. Only this time, it's the exploitation of these mistakes that brings destruction.

This is a very unusual movie because the monster isn't an evil killing machine as was the case with Godzilla. The only reason for the destruction is because of Mothra's uncontrollable urge to rescue its priestesses. Mothra is what I call part of the holy trio of the Toho monsters (the other two being, of course, Godzilla and Rodan). This is the first film in which the audience actually roots for the monster and the true monster is the villian, Clark Nelson. This not only is a wonderful science fiction film but a very humorous parody about the consequences of over commercialization.

Dub is good

Compared to the plot for previous giant monster Japanese films, "Mosura" ("Mothra") is pretty weird stuff! A ship goes to Infant Island and discovers two tiny women (about the size of Barbie dolls) and the greedy Nelson captures them because he wants to take them on a world tour and make a fortune with them. Money is all he cares about...and he even has his men machine gun the natives who try to stop him!

Once in Tokyo, Nelson puts on a show every night with the two Fairy girls. They glide down to the stage in a golden carriage and then they sing a haunting tune. This tune, it turns out, is the same ones the Infant islanders sing to bring out their avenging guardian, Mothra, from its egg in order to retrieve the fairy girls.

Since Mothra is just hatched, he looks like a giant grub. Only later does it assume its moth form. In the meantime, it is now swimming rapidly towards Japan and even airplanes are unable to stop it from presumably wrecking revenge on humanity as well as to retrieve the fairies. Can the Japanese, with the help of the Rolisican, stop it once it assumes it cocoon form?

Is this film any good? Well, I would NOT compare it in quality to "Godzilla" (1954) or "Rodan" (1956), as they had more traditional and less silly plots. As far as the special effects go, they're the usual, though the radio controlled vehicles and sets are pretty decent for 1961. When seen today, they do look very dated. As for the dubbing, it's very good...with voices seeming realistic and not overdone.

Overall, it is a very silly but very enjoyable film.

As a fairly old film, this movie is interesting in setting up its own Universe with Godzilla and Rodan. I'm glad to have seen all of their original movies now. The original "Godzilla" film depicted the title character as just this monster that wanted to destroy. Mothra actually has a lot more depth, even though I will admit it's pretty awkward. The plot of this movie is that some tiny singing people (probably fairies) are taken from an island to perform. They use telepathy to get Mothra to free them. Now, I admit that sounds like a really dumb premise. It actually does make it a lot more interesting.

We get a much greater sense of why Mothra is destroying everything. The effects aren't bad either. I will admit that when it became a pupa, it looked like a giant peanut. Well, I like peanuts anyway. Much of this is dialogue and that can be pretty distracting. It was kind of predictable too. I mean, Mothra first appears as a larvae, so it's pretty obvious by its name that it's going to turn into a moth later. Still a nice first entry. ***

1961's "Mothra" was Toho's first kaiju eiga of the decade and first since the drab black and white "VARAN THE UNBELIEVABLE" in 1958, wreaking havoc in much the same way as her predecessors, but different from Godzilla or Rodan in that she is a god to her island dwelling people, remaining dormant so long as there is peace; unfortunately, one unscrupulous businessman journeys to this isolated paradise, the site of nuclear testing, for the purpose of capturing an incredible find, twin fairies standing 12 inches tall, intent on earning a fortune by exploiting their unique singing ability. What he soon learns is that not only are the girls tiny priestesses of their humble god, their song is actually a telepathic prayer that summons Mothra to their rescue. The human drama effortlessly carries the film, scientists joined by a dogged reporter in exploring the forbidden island, our first glimpse of the colossal egg at 21 minutes, hatching into a giant caterpillar at 43 minutes, moving inexorably toward Tokyo and certain destruction left in its wake. The military think they've scored a victory over Mothra but it's just temporary, as the creature spins a cocoon from which it emerges as the prettiest darn moth you're likely to see (the bombardment of heat rays merely speeding up the process), its wingspan producing high velocity damage similar to Rodan. 'Rolisica' is a stand in for the US, the climax in 'New Kirk City' set in motion by a quasi religious ceremony with the Mothra symbol laid out on an airfield, the fairies safely on their way back to the island (Mothra later appears in "Godzilla vs. the Thing," "Ghidrah the Three-Headed Monster," "Godzilla vs. THE Sea Monster," and "Destroy All Monsters"). Real life twins Yumi and Emi Ito were cast as the tiny princesses, an actual singing duo known internationally as The Peanuts, their career lasting into the 1970s. It was simply a matter of time before director Ishiro Honda would alter the established formula by coming up with a monster as the hero, and Mothra is hands down the second most popular kaiju in Toho history, more personality than Rodan or Varan, and it must be stated that the scenes of destruction are as vast and comprehensive as Eiji Tsuburaya could make them (some even shot for nighttime), including one amazing aerial shot of the caterpillar making its way across land.

After a shipping disaster reveals some strange anomalies on a small island in the South Pacific, an expedition from Japan is sent to investigate it. While there they stumble upon two miniature Polynesian women they later dub as "fairies" (played by Yumi Ito and Emi Ito). Not content to simply leave them alone, a selfish businessman named "Clark Nelson" (Jerry Ito) later comes back and kidnaps them for his own financial purposes. Yet even though this is met by outrage from certain members of that expedition, he dismisses their protests and even puts them on display to the general public. What he doesn't count on, however, is the fact that there is an enormous entity known as "Mothra" on that small South Pacific Island and she will stop at nothing to bring the two young ladies back to where they belong. Now, rather than reveal any more, I will just say that this was an entertaining Kaiju film that differed from similar motion pictures of this time (like "Godzilla" or "Rodan") due to the protective nature of the giant monster in question. Likewise, it certainly didn't hurt to have the two adorable Ito sisters either. Admittedly, the special effects were rather primitive with the scenes involving the armored vehicles in Tokyo being the most obvious. Be that as it may, I honestly enjoyed this movie, and I have rated it accordingly. Above average.

It's a curious thing - I KNOW I've seen at least some if not all of Mothra in my life (probably in that one week where I watched a bunch of monster movies in a marathon that was made possible by, ironically, Emmerich's Godzilla), but it didn't stick out the way that Godzilla: King of the Monsters or some of the others did (even the bad ones like Godzilla's Revenge). I think I know why as well: if I were a real little kid seeing this, I might not take to it as strongly as other monster movies that feature more of, well, the monster! Mothra *her*self is not even really seen in her full winged glory until around the last ten minutes of the movie, and before that when she hatches from an egg (long story... actually, not really), she's a larvae crawling across oceans and land to mess up things while searching for the two identical twins who have been taken away from the island from whence it came.

I say this, and yet seeing it now as an adult I found myself enjoying it as a quasi-guilty pleasure. Or is it even that 'guilty' so to speak? The director is Ishiro Honda, who was behind many Japanese Kaiiju flicks, including the original Godzilla, and he gives us characters that are fun to watch. Are they exactly fresh or original? No, probably not, but that's part of why I had a good time with this movie - he and the writers seem to embrace the dumb clichés of the characters like the (at first) bumbling comic relief in the fat reporter, or the villain who looks like he was born with a scowl and evil eyebrows, or his accomplice who seems to be missing an Edward G. Robinson voice-over dub whenever he smokes a cigar. There's also the sorta bland hero and heroine, and, almost as a good luck charm, the great Takashi Shimura appears as the newspaper editor (and even in a seemingly thankless role where he's largely at a table or on the phone he gives as much dramatic tension and listening skills as an actor like him should do - yes, listening, watch him damn it!)

So in a sense this does and doesn't have the issues that something like the 2014 Godzilla movie had; that had weak human characters and, while impressive, not as much Godzilla as one might've liked. Here, the characters and the actors playing them (one of them in this English dub is "Nelson!"!) commit fully and bring some real emotion and reaction to what is essentially more of a quasi Skull Island movie than something we'd usually see with Godzilla. Think about it - a bunch of scientists go to an island because of reports from some guys who are rescued that there's some radioactive things going on, and when they arrive there's a tribe of natives guarding some heavy secret... and then the two little women arrive (who sometimes, when picked up by actors hands, are literal dolls).

But in a shallow level the lack of more Mothra in the run-time is disappointing. And yet again when thinking about it, it's almost a challenge of a monster movie for the filmmakers after several films (and more to come) that are just guys in rubber suits, it's ambitious that they attempted to have a flying puppet (albeit one that's more cute than an outright threat), and there's even an odd delight that a giant larvae-slug-what-have-you is causing destruction for several scenes. The characters around them are somewhat stock but with enough personality that you can be carried along as it being a movie on its own. And then the... destruction happens and you can see all of the toy soldiers on top of the toy tanks and all of the toy trucks and obvious fake bridges. Which, of course, adds to the delight!

You couldn't make this kind of movie today, it's basically impossible. In a way it's sad - this kind of hokey, dopey filmmaking with obvious miniatures (more-so when seen on a big screen) would be completely CGI-ified and the destruction of the cities and people would have to take on more dread and menace. And would there be a back-story for the two ladies? Or would the villain be as cartoonish as he is here with his snarl and occasionally overwrought comic-villainous-muahaha laughter? Who knows? All I knew was sitting there watching this (in a Rifftrax style presentation by the way, one of those times where it's a riffing on a movie that's not really all that bad) Honda and his team were out to do a riff on the 'Kong' formula of monster being taken out of its environment (plus those enigmatic, delightfully gleeful women) and the havoc is immense. As a movie of its time, taken today, it holds up. Kinda.

Having an honored place in Japanese monster film lore is Mothra a giant caterpillar/butterfly who's a Deity on the island of Beiru. A shipwreck strands several survivors on an island where atomic testing has taken place, but the natives are free of any radiation. Some native brew that the castaways are given keeps the atomic effects away from them too.

Holding a special place in the affections of these natives are a pair of twin girls, barely a foot tall. An unscrupulous survivor kidnaps them, figuring they'll turn a good buck for him to exhibit as freaks.

But not when you've got a giant caterpillar/butterfly on your case. He's the one these girls are continually chanting for and by telepathy Mothra's beating a path to them and it takes him to Japan where Tokyo once again undergoes monster urban renewal.

I like Mothra because the monster really is the hero of the piece. And while the special effects of Mothra destroying Tokyo with the flapping of his giant wings, those paper mache, baling wire models that are a trademark of these film, still it's good fun. And of course Mothra came back several times, often in conjunction with other Japanese monster creations.

Almost fifty years later Mothra's still a lot of fun.

What I like about the Mothramovies is the look, the island culture, the dancing, singing. There's a lovely style to it. Mothra herself is kind of cool, a goddess rather than a monster.

What is less appealing is that this first movie-- as well as the others --is slow. Nothing much happens for the first half. The plot isn't that strong, and it is paced horribly.

And so I find myself waiting for the next musical number, the next interesting minor-key song to Mothra, or the next modern dance number with dozens of dancers.