Godzilla vs. Mothra (1992)

It occurred to me while watching this that I'm in fact a lot like Godzilla, I lay in hibernation for these flicks and surface about once each year to check one out before hanging it up again. This stuff is so silly I can't imagine why they keep coming up with them. Godzilla here looks pretty much like I recall from other pictures, but Mothra was decked out in colorful new duds sprinkling cosmic fairy dust wherever he flies. Or is Mothra a she? Does anybody know? What cracks me up about these films, (besides almost everything) is how one of the characters might yell out something like "Watch out for Godzilla. Get away!" while the monsters battle each other a couple of miles away. You think Godzilla heard that? Speaking of which, if you were actually watching a battle between Godzilla, Mothra and Battra, would you actually be cheering for your favorite from the sidelines? Very cool though was the make up job on Mothra this time out - quite colorful after hatching out from that immense, plastic looking giant larva. The Cosmos was a nifty creative touch as well, those miniature singers were just what the picture needed to keep those mutant monsters in check. Look, I know these films were basically made for a pre-teen audience and the kids who watched these when they came out must have gotten a big kick out of them, but for anyone else, I guess I'd have to quote one of the Japanese scientists on their continued appeal - "This is beyond our present knowledge or understanding".

As I have said with a previous review of a Godzilla film, you really can't rate this with the same standards of other films, why? Because it's Godzilla, it's not normal. Intention of the film, and did it accomplish it is how I grade these films.Having said that, this film wasn't the worst entry into the Godzilla franchise. It wasn't the best either. While, the special effects were had slightly improved on the last film, they are still far from revolutionary. They're not bad enough to spoil the film though. or the time, the special effects were not half bad.While this film improves in terms of plot holes (time travelers, with inconsistencies in the physics of time travel) it also goes a completely different direction. As I said, the last film was about time travel. This one was about fairies and other super natural phenomena. A fairly different direction. There is also a clear influence from the Indiana Jones films. Except, this isn't really as good as Indiana Jones vs Godzilla would be.The plot itself, while better, was very slow. Godzilla is already a established character, so you think it would be easy to have him show up and smash the place up. No. They had to introduce Mothra AND Battra first. Then have them hatch out of their eggs. Then have them go from larva to actual moths. I don't understand why Battra is called Battra. Looks more like a moth to me.So anyway, Mothra has to protect the earth, Battra has to do the same, but is more aggressive towards humans, because as we all know, we messed things up. Anyway, somewhere in- between, Godzilla, not wanting to disappoint to film goer by having his name on the film and not be in it (which I thought was the case when he took forever to show up) shows up and smashes the place up. With style, too. Godzilla isn't the good guy in this film, Mothra is, and Battra ends up being one. It still doesn't help the fact that I want to see Godzilla kill everything, including the good guys.Honestly though, this is one of the more touching Godzilla films. It's very slow, but worth checking out if you are a Godzilla fan.

There's no doubt that the strings show on the puppets in this movie; yet exactly for that reason, I suspect this was intentional. The Toho SFX crew isn't stupid - and they've successfully erased the string that wags Godzilla's tail for decades. So I can't imagine that they just slipped up here. I think the strings were supposed to show.Why might they do that? Well let's start by getting real here - the Godzilla series is essentially a series of photographed puppet shows with spectacular explosions. But while most audiences think the emphasis here is on the spectacular explosions (that obviously need excellent SFX to be credible), in reality the emphasis is on "puppet show." Puppeteering is almost a lost art. The Godzilla series arrived at exactly the time historically when professional live-performance puppeteering disappeared from our cultures (West and East), and also at the same time that movie special effects were beginning to crank into high gear. Thus the Godzilla films record the last of professional puppeteering, but in such a way as to obscure that very fact through deployment of extravagant effects.However, if you know what you're doing is recording puppet shows, it's inevitable that you'd want to poke fun at that very fact now and again - and the Godzilla series is filled with such moments, with exception of the first original film.Allowing this film to be a puppet show means that different criteria must be applied to it than are applied to, say, Star Wars or Alien. Appreciation of a puppet show does not require "willing suspension of disbelief" - one can always see the strings. Instead, what the audience enjoys is the skill with which the puppeteer brings inanimate wood to life, as well as the humor puppeteers use to construct all their stories.With this in mind, Godzilla and Mothra Battle for Earth is really a pretty good puppet show. It is beautifully designed and well-photographed; the script is rich in humor; the monsters have strong and well-defined personalities; the back-story is fairly interesting but doesn't detract from the central conflicts; and the music is just wonderful.It is probably not all that a die-hard Godzilla fan might want; but it is certainly the definitive appearance of Mothra.it is really intended for the young - and for the young-at-heart; like all really good puppet shows.I enjoyed it thoroughly, and hope the reader does too; it feels good and, if you recognize what's really going on, it's an important record of a lost art; that makes it good all the way around.

This movie starts out pretty good, with realistic looking meteor falling to earth, but that's the end of good special effects for this film. Special effects director Koichi Kawakita must have been absent the day they shot this movie (although he is credited), because his previous film (Godzilla vs King Gidorah) was lot better than this one. The only reason I could think of for this movie's special effect being so bad was that it was rushed for summer season when kids are off school. These movies are primarily targeted I believe for elementary school kids which I think is grave mistake on Toho's part, because many children enjoyed Gamera 3 which was not catering to younger audiences.Asides from the above, this movie has more than few things in common with the original Mothra vs Godzilla (1964).1. There's a corrupt real estate developer as the main protagonist. 2. A typhoon exposes Mothra's egg. 3. Two man and a woman goes on an expedition to Infant (Mothra) island. 4. It's two monsters against one Godzilla. 5. Actor Akira Takarada stars in both movies.This DVD comes together with Godzilla vs King Gidorah which Toho created as their 60th anniversary project, which is one of the best Godzilla movie of the '90s.