Mosura

Mothra in beast mode! People need to lighten up this movie was amazing kaiju action. If you didn't like this why are you even watching giant monster movies?

When a logging company uncovers an ancient artifact in the mountains of Hokkaido, the Company's boss Mr. Goto finds a mysterious talisman. He prises it free from its resting place, thinking it would be a nice present for his daughter. Unfortunately he's unsealed the resting place of Desghidorah, a three headed, fire breathing beastie that's soon freed to run wild and destroy the local scenery, sucking Earth's precious energy.

Only a giant plush moth can save the day! A tired old Mothra - tending a lovely big egg - is reluctantly summoned (in a slightly more J-pop than usual fashion) by her tiny priestesses Moll and Lora. These cuties are from a race called the Elias, and they spend much of the movie astride a mini-Mothra called Fairy, battling their nemesis Belvera, who gets to fly a mini dragon thing and cackle a lot.

First in a trilogy of Mothra films for the nineties, while Godzilla was taking a well earned break. Clearly aimed at kids more than the average kaiju fan, this is still great fun, and while no cities get totalled in this offering, the countryside looks nice and there are some cool fight scenes between Death Ghidorah and Mothra.

There's a 'save the planet' theme going on that gets rammed down your throat a bit before the movie ends, but the more obvious beef many western fans are going to have with this flick is the lack of a Japanese language option on seemingly the only version available. Why do they do this? Yes, the film's been tarted up nicely, and the dubbing is lip-synched and not overly annoying, but some people will always prefer the original language and there seems to be little reason why it shouldn't be included.

Although not generally one of the most popular kaiju (Japanese for monster) movies, Mothra: 1996 is in my opinion one of the most beautiful.

Mothra: 1996 is the first in a new trilogy from Toho studios. It features one of their most popular monsters Mothra. Mothra battles a new creation in the form of Death Ghidora. Although, the fairies in this film are not the same in past films they do an adequate job.

What caught my attention of this film was the first 30 minutes. The beautiful visuals of the northern forest and of it being destroyed by man leading to the discovery of the tomb of Death Ghidora. Death Ghidora is one of Toho's most popular recent creations and is a fearsome looking beast. This film contains no less than 4 separate battles between Mothra and Death Ghidora.

The special effects are up to par and the creation of Belvera, the evil fairy is interesting. Although geared toward younger viewers, die-hard kaiju fans should have no problem enjoying this film.

This film has many colorful and beautiful sceneries, especially the forest scenes. Mothra begins a new solo adventure, battling Desghidorah to save Earth's green landscape. She hatches an egg and out comes her son MothraLeo. To pick up where his mother left off, MothraLeo battles Desghidorah to the finish.

There are amusing battle scenes and great special effects by Koichi Kawakita. And, there is a fine score by Toshiyuki Watanabe.

This movie is a big change from the concepts of the original Mothra of the 1960s. The two tiny priestesses are not twins like the original one who were portrayed by The Peanuts, and each one in this movie is actually given a name: Mona and Lora (the "Elias"). They have an evil sister named Belvera who favors Desghidorah's mission to turn Earth into a barren landscape. The central character in this movie is a kid who helps Mona and Lora battle their evil sister. The scene where the Elias and Belvera riding on their "Mothra" pets and shooting rays at each other at the kid's home is too childish and took away to much time in the movie. The scene is more associated with kids' shows or cartoons. And, MothraLeo's powers are very excessive. Its releasing of rays and beams make MothraLeo act more like a robotic creature. Though all the creatures in this movie are worked out well, there are limited emphasis to the human characters and overall, the movie is more kid-oriented. The Mothras in this movie are not treated like the Sacred Goddess in the Mothra films from the 1960s, but more like superheros ready to defend Earth. And, there are no natives worshiping Mothra in this film as in the 1960s Mothra films, making Mothra seem less sacred, as it was suppose to be according to the original concept. But, the ever-so-popular "Mothra's Song" (sung in Malaysian as always) returns and is performed by the Elias. Some new songs are introduced also. A serviceable movie, otherwise, to spend 106 minutes on a boring day.

Grade C

With Godzilla dead and gone (yah, right), Toho concentrated on their other major star, Mothra.

In this first of a trilogy (more, more!) Mothra (the 1992 Mothra) battles a creature called Death Ghidorah (a cousin of King Ghidorah?). Thrown into the mix is the new Mothra, called MothraLeo. With time running out for Earth, can MothraLeo survive to carry on the long line of Mothras that have defended the planet?

Of course he can! If he couldn't, why did "Mosura 2" follow it?

The effects are outstanding in this movie. How can one moth have so many beam weapons?

I have to say that Megumi Kobayashi and Sayoko Yamaguchi, who play the priestesses of Mothra, now called the Elias, are excellent in this movie, as well as Aki Hano, who plays Belvera, one of the new elements to the Mothra saga. Of the two Elais, Moll is more determined than Lora, especially on calling the "old" Mothra into battle.

On the whole, a very good movie! Roll on Mosura 2!