Godzilla vs. Mothra

GODZILLA AND MOTHRA: THE BATTLE FOR EARTH is a follow-up to GODZILLA VS. KING GHIDORAH and a remake of sorts of the '60s kaiju GODZILLA VS MOTHRA. This is hugely entertaining kid's movie, filled to the brim with colourful special effects, spectacular scenes of destruction, and an engaging human storyline to boot.

The film's influences are many and varied, as you'll soon guess with the opening sequence featuring an Indiana Jones-style character raiding the ancient ruins at Angkor Wat. Before long we're knee-deep in a storyline involving a crashed meteorite, a reawakened Godzilla, the eruption of Mount Fuji, the emergence of a world-destroying creature called Battra, and of course Mothra himself.

Special emphasis is given to the character of Mothra, who is as hilarious as ever. As much as I love the giant furry moth, there's something undeniably hilarious about the creature in caterpillar form too, especially when hanging on to Godzilla's tail. I like the way the writers hark back to the '60s movies with the presence of the tiny twins and Infant Island; all good stuff. Plus, there's more giant monster action here than in the last film, although there's still time for plenty of human characters to get involved in a wider-reaching plot than usual. The message here is of the usual "save the environment" variety but it doesn't get in the way of what is a hugely enjoyable piece of entertainment.

The fourth movie in the Heisei series, this Godzilla movie is a fairly solid entry in the long-running Godzilla series. This was the most successful Godzilla movie of the Heisei series although critically, it's seen as one of the lesser films in the second Godzilla series.

The plot deals with a meteor crashing on earth, awakening Godzilla, Battra, and uncovering Mothra's egg. Battra attacks mankind for poisoning the environment, Godzilla attacks EVERYTHING, and Mothra tries to protect mankind from both menaces. There's a sub-plot thrown in dealing with a treasure-hunter and his ex-wife, as well as some not-so-subtle themes about the environment and Megumi Odaka as the psychic Mike Saegusa (sadly, her role is thin in this one).

The special FX are great for the most part. The kaiju battles are fierce, although a bit too flashy (due to the nature of the monsters). There are some memorable scenes: Godzilla rising out of the volcano, Godzilla destroying Yokohama, Mothra coming out of its cocoon, and some others. The main liabilities in the special FX is Godzilla's return to his old roar (as opposed to the one he used in the previous 3) and Mothra's attack on Tokyo doesn't look too convincing.

Overall, a good monster movie. The pace moves reasonably well. The monsters are fun and exciting as always. The preachy manner of our need to protect the environment isn't handled well, but it's not like it matters too much. After all, I watch these movies to see monsters fighting.

A meteorite falls from the sky into the "Ogasawara Trench" in the Pacific Ocean. It awakens Godzilla, and Battra ( a sea going monster with a huge horn in its' forehead, and spikes for skin). The meteorite inspires an atoll to pop up and expand into an island. Cut to an Indiana Jones wanna-be, who is busily robbing an ancient tomb somewhere in Indonesia. After he gets the relic he wants, and escapes from the trap his thievery sets off, he's caught by government men and jailed. After being freed from jail by a company that wants his relic, He and his ex-wife, who works for the company, go to the new island, "Infant Island". There they find a giant, multi-hued egg, and discover mini twins, (they're called The Cosmos in this movie) who live in a flower, and will translate the various noises the Monsters make. A ship is hired to take the Egg back to Tokyo. It Hatches on the way back And that's just the first fifteen minutes.

Let's see - The Cosmos sing four songs to Mothra, in untranslated Japanese; Battra's red eyes shoot red lasers, which kill everything they touch; Godzilla shoots blue lasers from his mouth that make things explode, and which whitens his teeth ( he ought to patent that); and Mothra shoots white..stuff that forms a cocoon for him when he's ready to evolve, or which immobilizes his enemies. When Battra and Mothra have morphed into their flying forms, they are actually beautiful ( as long as the camera doesn't get too close). Nagoya (sp?), Tokyo , and Yokohama get stomped in this one.

With this movie of the Heisei (1980s-1990s) series, I think Toho studios was on a role. With cool special effects and beautiful music, this became one of the top 10 grossing Godzilla movies. Who wouldn't like to see a rematch between Godzilla and Mothra. This movie is an update of the 1964 version of "Mothra vs. Godzilla."

Mothra's egg is exposed after a storm (or meteorite) hits it. A trio of explorers try to bring the egg to Japan under the influence of a greedy entrepreneur (sound familiar?). Godzilla appears out of the ocean to attack the explorers' ship, which is hauling the egg. The egg hatches into Mothra and the two do battle. The Peanuts, who played Mothra's twin priestesses in the 1964 movie, were succeeded by the Cosmos. They talk in unison, as usual. Dressed in pink with braided hairs and wearing Mothra signs, they bring back the traditional "Mothra's Song." If you're interested on buying a Godzilla soundtrack, see if you can track down the record version of this song, performed by the Cosmos with music by Akira Ifukube. It rocks! The song is sing in Malaysian, as always. However, in the record version, the Cosmos sing a verse of the song in Japanese. With echoing concepts from the original film this movie introduced a new monster, Battra (Mothra's evil twin), who is out to destroy earth but ended up helping Mothra battle Godzilla. How depressing to see the main guy Takuya (Indiana Jones?) in the film rooting for Mothra and Battra while battling Godzilla at an amusement park with his annoying ex-wife Masako and his irritating daughter Midori. She talks to the Cosmos and Mothra like she was talking to any human being. Where's her astonishment? Somebody should buy her a Godzilla toy and send her home!

Plenty of monster action, but I would have like to see Godzilla stomp on the city more and Mothra and Battra take a few more beatings from Godzilla, to the shock of the humans watching. And, I would have liked to see the Cosmos and their purpose emphasized more positively. They care for the Earth and wanted to appeal to its leaders to save the environment, but then again call for Mothra to save them from the entrepreneur while destroying Tokyo in the process??

Many of the characters in this movie is a little off-the-wall, with the exception of Miki Saegusa. She delivered another solid performance, helping to enhance the suspense of this story. She uses her psychic powers again, this time to track down the Cosmos.

Some sounds effects were a little off, like Godzilla's radiation beam sounding like it needs tuning and the larvae stage of Mothra sounds like it is on roller skates. But hey, this Godzilla flick is an satisfactory source of entertainment on a boring, weary weekend.

Grade C+

The 90's series makes way for Mothra. This time she's from the cosmos, as are her mini-twin lady friends. We're also introduced to Battra. One of the best things about this film is way each monster teeters between hero and villain. Each has a mission of their own, but they aren't exactly evil. It makes for much more interesting fights, and even a little depth to monster smash ups. The film begins as a strange Indiana Jones adventure film. Crumbling temples, rickety bridges etc. It adds for a little bit of unexpected fun before entering the world we are familiar with. Almost like if a Bond film started with a monster attack. Sure it's cheap and unoriginal, but for a film that has some boxes to tick, it's nice to have some variety. There is a heavy feminine touch to this movie. Toho trying to bring in the ladies to push up the box office receipts. The monsters have a lot more love and care, and we see a broken family at the heart of all this. This film really made me sit up during the destruction scenes. In broad daylight, it still looked real. The filmmakers now confident to compose images of monsters in the background and people in the foreground. It allows for some tremendous shots of absolute chaos, and stops the streets from seeming too empty.