flash-hammer's Full Review: Godzilla and Mothra: The Battle for Earth
Plot Details: This opinion reveals major details about the movie's plot.
After the immese success of Godzilla Vs. King Ghidorah at the Japanese Box Office, Toho Studios saw that the way to draw punters back into cinema seats was to pit Godzilla against another classic foe. During Godzilla Vs. Biollante's production, Toho proposed to bring Mothra back in a movie named Mothra Vs. Bagan, a film which got canned after Biollante's dismal box office showing. At the same time, a script for a movie named Godzilla Vs. Gigamoth was doing the rounds, and it was a combination of these ideas that all melted into the movie that turned out to be Godzilla Vs. Mothra.
Godzilla Vs. Mothra, along with it's predecessor, is a bit of an oddity in terms of Western distribution. The film wasn't seen on American shores until 1998, when it was released on video by Tristar as Godzilla And Mothra: The Battle for Earth. However, it was released in the UK not too long after it's actual Japanese release, to home video via Manga Live. Oddly, despite the fact it was released in the midst of my initial Godzilla craze, I didn't actually see it until 1998 either, I was never much of a Mothra fan in my youth, so it didn't interest me as much as wacky films like Godzilla Vs. Gigan or Godzilla Vs. Megalon.
When the US release did finally see light, it used an identical print to the Manga Live one, and I'm reviewing the film based on the recent Columbia Tristar DVD, which uses, yet again, the same dubbed print of the film. The dubbing is handled by the same folks who did the prior movie, and it was of a decent standard, and the work here is about as good as dubbing gets as well.
Unlike the last two movies, Kazuki Omori, once presented as the great hope of the series, did not take to the directorial chair, but his screenplay is still what the movie is based upon. Making his series debut would be Takao Okawara, whose major credit prior to this film was as the second unit director of Akira Kurosawa's Kagemusha. He has subsequently made a few more Godzilla movies, including this movie's immediate follow up, Godzilla Vs. Mechagodzilla, and the Heisei series finale Godzilla Vs. Destoroyah.
While it may be Okawara in the director's chair, the film does contain many of the tell-tale signs that Omori was involved in production. The most blatant of these occurs as the film opens, when we meet our main character, Takuya Fujita(Tetsuya Bessho - Ultraman), who is an Indiana Jones type treasure thief, who we meet as he escapes a booby-trapped Thai temple with a golden idol. He is caught and imprisonned by Thai authorities.
Anyway, the main plot of the film revolved around a meteor which crashes in the pacific ocean, not only waking up Godzilla in the trench which he was dumped by the Mecha-King Ghidorah at the climax of the last film, but also causing a landslide on an Indonesian Island named Infant Island, revealling a giant blue and yellow egg.
The Japanese Government's ecological branch, headed up by Chief Minamino(Akira Takarada - Gojira) and his sidekick, Tsuchiasi(Akiji Kobayashi - Godzilla Vs. King Ghidorah) is naturally interested in this, and when it learns that the Marutomo Corporation, who were logging on the Island, want to investigate what changes have been made, they send an operative named Masako(Satomi Kobayashi - The Deserted City) with the Marutomo agent Andoh(Takehiro Murata - Godzilla 2000) to offer Fujita freedom, if he agrees to lead the expedition.
To further complicate matters, Fujita and Masako are former husband and wife, and have a young daughter. This creates natural tension between the pair, not that the expedition to the primitive and uninhabited island needs it. Eventually the group stumble upon the egg, as well as two foot-high priestesses named the Cosmos(Keiko Imamura and Sayaka Osawa), who tell them the story of the Earth's guardian, Mothra.
Apparently, thousands of years ago, Mothra was Earth's defender, when a highly advanced civilisation ruled the planet. They created a climate control device, which insensed the Earth, which in turn created Battra, the 'black Mothra' which not only destroyed the climate control device, but started to destroy much more. Eventually Mothra arrived to defeat Battra and seal it in an iceberg, but the ancient world was submerged in water, and since then Mothra's egg has remained burried on Infant Island, with the twins watching over it, in case the Earth ever needs aid.
Andoh is on the phone to his boss, Takeshi(Makoto Otake - The Heartbreak Yakuza), who tells him he must get the egg back to Tokyo, where he plans to exploit it. Andoh convinces everyone that the egg can be well preserved on mainland Japan, and the Cosmos agree to go with them, because what is good for Mothra is good for the Earth.
However, the meteor also freed Battra from his icy prison, and he is currently en route to Japan, via the pacific ocean. Apparently sensing there is something going down, Godzilla rises, right next to the boat which is towing Mothra's egg, and acts menacing, before the egg hatches a Mothra larvae,which has a short duel with Godzilla before managing to escape just as Battra arrives. Battra and Godzilla have a battle underwater, where the pair of them get caught in an underwater volcanic eruption, also caused by the meteor.
Mothra heads back to Infant Island, and the gang land on solid ground somewhere in Asia, where they try to plan what to do next. Masako and Fujita decide to bury the hatchet, but this is quickly thrown out the window when Andoh steals the Cosmos and takes them to Japan, where he and his boss plan to exploit them.
However, Mothra is quickly on her way to rescue the two girls, showing little regard for Japan in the process. The military tries it's best to stop her, but for being a big worm, she takes down half of the city before learning the Cosmos are safe.
However, once this happens, she decides it's time to cocoon herself, because Battra, thought dead, is on his way to Yokohama. When Battra does re-emerge, he is a spiky and dark giant moth, and Mothra soon transforms into her true self to combat him. Just as the Japanese are pondering what to do next, Mount Fuji erupts, and out comes Godzilla, who has somehow swam through molten lava, and is also en route to Yokohama, where all three monsters are set for a battle that only one of them will come out of...
While it may have some faults, and there is even less purpose for Megumi Odaka's psychic Miki Sagusa character in this film than in any other, I still feel that Godzilla Vs. Mothra, contrary to what some critics will tell you, is actually one of the best Heisei Godzilla movies.
Godzilla Vs. Mothra comes in for a lot of stick from some series fans, for numerous reasons. A lot of fans seem to have a distinct problem with the fact that the movie does not take on the tech-heavy approach that all the other Heisei movies do. There is no big introduction to a fancy military super-weapon here, and the fact that the heavy-Sci-Fi has been replaced with Fantasy really seems to put some viewers off. Personally I'm the polar opposite, and after the cack-handed time-travel story that appeared in the prior movie, I felt this film was a breath of fresh air, and in later life I'm come to appreciate the more fantastic elements of the Mothra story better.
Another complaint many viewers have is that the film is too much of a 'chick flick'. It's a proven fact that at the time, Japan's biggest cinema-going demographic was females, and it was a proven fact that Mothra was the preferred monster of female Kaiju Eiga enthusiasts, so the choice of her as opponent was the first indication of this. The estranged lovers getting back together for the sake of their child, paralleled by the two mortal enemies burying the hatchet to defeat a common foe plot with the monsters were also elements many felt were designed to appeal to a female audience.
Personally, I love the plot. Sure the fact that a kid plays a fairly prominent role in the human drama sent off alarm bells in my head, and Godzilla was really only a catalyst for the activities of Mothra and Battra, but hell, the movie was fun, had some cool characters, and was at least mostly coherent in terms of plot, something the previous film in the series could only dream of. Sure it can be accused of it's rather heavy-handed Captain Planet morals, but hey, what good movies don't try and ram some form of moral down our throats?
Omori's Western influences are kept slightly more in check with this film, apart from the Indiana Jones opening, and a scene where a rope-bridge collapses, the only other potential influence would be the Mazer-Gun fighter jets attacking Godzilla, which look vaguely X-Wing fighter esque.
Speaking of that scene, Godzilla Vs. Mothra is choc-full of great monster action. While Godzilla doesn't get to outright let-rip on any cities, he does have a rather nifty battle with Mothra at sea, which homages the classic scene from the two monsters first meeting where Mothra bites and clamps onto Godzilla's tail and refuses to let go, as well as a nicely shot underwater fight with the Battra larvae, and the awesome climatic battle between the 3 monsters, which includes a cool scene where Battra grabs a ferris wheel and smashes Godzilla with it.
As I mentioned, the dubbing is about as good as it gets, and while I'm not a fan of taking too much from dubbed performances, the cast here all looked like pass marks wouldn't be undeserved, but I feel special note should go to two men in particular.
Not only was it cool in the cameo way to have Akira Takarada back, but he, along with Akiji Kobayashi, whom he shares most scenes, absolutely make the movie. Takarada exudes confidence and authority, and Kobayashi is hilarious as the over-stressed Government official. Also watch for the unintentionally comical scene where they stand on a revolving platform, in a hilarious pose, to be taken about 10 yards to see a TV screen.
Special effects in the film aren't Koichi Kawakita's best, but they aren't terrible. The Godzilla suit did apparently undergo some minor changes from the last film, but they aren't clear without maybe looking closesly at them side by side. The suit still looks good, with his double-rows of teetch and more ferocious face being complimented by sturdier back-spines.
It should also be noted that Godzilla's roar gets a bit deeper in sound in this film, and his breath-ray gets a new sound effect that makes it sound more like a laser-beam.
Mothra, in her first appearance since the 1960s, is a bit of a disappointment in some respects. The larval form still looks like a large turd, only now it's been made more pink and has blue eyes. One very negative thing about this new larvae, is that instead of bobbing up and down to create the impression of crawling, at times it's pretty obvious it's rolling along on wheels.
When in adult form, Mothra looks good in some still shots, but in movement, it's quite grim. Not only do the legs look more like they belong on a bird than an insect, they are rigid, and blatantly immobile. The wings are made of a nice material that moves quite nicely, but Mothra's body is too fury, and looks more like a cuddly toy than guardian of the Earth.
Battra has a lot of potential, but ultimately not all of it is realised. The larval form is a spiky caterpillar thing with a big horn, that once again looks good in stills, but in movement, sometimes looks far too plastic.
When he takes adult form, Battra looks awesome. His design is somewhere between Megalon and Mothra, jet black with awesome fiery details on his wings. His only let down? his legs. They are once again far too blatantly immobile. There's also a scene where the strings holding him up are far too visible.
All of the miniatures, be they the buildings or the tanks and jet-fighters are all well made, which makes the shortcomings of the other effects more visible.
The soundtrack is one aspect in which the film is all good. Akira Ifukube does re-use some of his old themes, most notably from Destroy All Monsters, but his new music is up to his old standards, helping to create a sweeping and epic feel.
At the end of the day, while it may not be the best film in the series, I've always felt that Godzilla Vs. Mothra was a really fun and original diversion from the sometimes too tech-heavy Heisei movies. It's pure fantasy, and personally, I think this is an element that the Godzilla series has been under-using in recent years in favour of going all high-tech and Sci-Fi on us. While I love the movies featuring giant robots and stuff, sometimes it's cool for Godzilla to face up to enemies not created by men, and by natural causes.
It may not be perfect, and it's special effects may be a bit weak in places, but I still feel, if only for sheer entertainment factor, Godzilla Vs. Mothra more than earns it's 4/5. It would prove to be a huge success at the Japanese Box Office, with only Jurassic Park outselling it in terms of tickets. Guess that whole 'chick-flick' thing worked.
Year: 1992
Titles: Gojira tai Mosura
Godzilla Vs. Mothra
Godzilla and Mothra: The Battle for Earth
Godzilla Vs. Queen Mothra
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