Review Godzilla vs. Mothra film review by Durp004

Godzilla vs. Mothra Movie

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After the success of Godzilla vs King Ghidorah it was obvious the the next step for the heisei series was to bring in another extremely popular monster from showa and the only monster who could trump Ghidorah was obviously Mothra. This movie seems to take cues from the 1964 Mothra vs Godzilla however it went about things in a new and fresh enough way that it can't be confused with it's predecessor outside of the extremely misinforming cover that the japanese movie had indicating a story that never presented itself in the actual movie.

The movie starts with an asteroid hitting earth and waking Godzilla. We then go to our main character Indiana Jones, oh wait I mean Takuya Fujita, sorry but his opening scene literally straight out of an Indy movie. Anyway he gets a statue causing his temple to collapse on itself as he narrowly escapes but is then apprehended by the police. We are introduced to his ex wife Masako and they head to infant island due to a large object being discovered there after the meteor hit earth with the backing of Kenji Andoh who works for the Marutomo company. I feel that I should address that this movie is very much about its environmental message and while not as heavy handedly done as Godzilla vs Hedorah it does get old hearing every problem in the movie and at any chance that we shouldn't hurt the Earth. Anyway they go to Infant Island and after seeing a scene of a mudslide that had caused a lot of damage to the island and being sure to remind us people are bad we move on and find a cave with paintings of 2 moths and the Mothra symbol. I feel I should address that during this time Masato gives Takuya a letter from his daughter with her telling him to keep catching bad guys. Masato reveals she didn't want to tell their daughter he was a thief. This is a pretty touching scene actually and it shows character later when Takuya sees his daughter for the first time. So they find the Mothra egg and are introduced to the Cosmos, or fairies, or Shobiji depending what era they're in. The cosmos explain some stories about humanity's past with the earth because remember everyone people are bad and that caused the Earth to create the black Mothra or Battra as it is referred to, now due to humans and the meteorite Battra has reawakened and Mothra will too.

We next see the the Marutomo Company is bringing the egg to Japan for the obvious cash in on what an attraction it will be. Sound familiar? Battra reveals itself and we see a larva very fitting to be what an evil Mothra would look like. He has a huge horn and tusks with mostly red and black coloring. Battra destroys some buildings while fighting the military then goes underground. Back to the ship we see that Godzilla is on his way, and shortly after Battra shows up. We never know if they were drawn there due to the Mothra egg or if that was just the most unlucky place to be in all of history. So Mothra hatches and tried to fight Godzilla but in the larva state it can't do much. After getting blasted by Godzilla we see Battra swimming up. Up until this point we never saw Battra in comparison to other kaiju so with the information I was given I thought he'd be similar to Mothra's size but I was very wrong. As a larva Battra exceeds the size of even Godzilla so after Mothra gets literally thrown away Battra and Godzilla commence in an underwater brawl. There aren't many underwater fights in this series so I'm always happy to see them and it doesn't disappoint with it ending with them being swallowed by an eruption.

So now that the Mothra egg is gone what do the Marutomo corperation set their eyes on? Well the Cosmos of course. If you can't have the egg get two fairies for your promotional advertising. If you think capturing the Cosmos sounds familiar you're right, and if you remember what happened in the original Mothra movie when they were captured you just guess what the next 10 minutes are about. That's right Mothra comes to save them then eventually gets attacked by the military in doing so and is forced to evolve. This is kind of a whatever scene but characterwise a lot happens. Katuya has taken the Cosmos from the Marutomo company and plans to sell them. He runs into his wife and their daughter along with Miki who is just kind of shoehorned into the movie due to it being decided Miki would be the staple character of the heisei series. Takuya reveals that he wants to start life over again with his family but after his daughter reveals she knows he's a thief and his wife says there's no chance of that happening if he sells the Cosmos he reconsiders. 

This is probably the time to address Takuya as a character. when we're first shown his he's a thief who seems happy to be getting by robbing treasure and any other ways he can. As the story progresses you see he still very much cares for his wife and when you first see their daughter he hides himself most likely too embarrassed to show himself to her. So far so good. Then he decides to steal the Cosmos. I'm not sure why they decided to do that with his character. Maybe a way of giving him one last chance to choose between getting rich which is something he's obviously been after due to his profession and his family. Unfortunately after this scene of choosing them he does nothing else but watch the monsters fight. No human character actually does anything at this point as soon as Mothra hatches from the cocoon it focuses solely on the monsters.

So Mothra Hatched and it's revealed the Godzilla and Battra are both back Godzilla coming from Mt Fuji and Battra from the ocean. Battra transforms at this point and battles Mothra. Battra ends up coming out on top then Godzilla shows up. It's strange when the Cosmos first appear they say that Mothra beat Battra in the past, but throughout this movie it never seemed like Mothra was the superior one. As larvas Battra definitely came out on top, Battra had the quicker more convenient transformation and when they battled as moths once again Battra seemed the stronger of the two. It's not until the end when their not even fighting eachother that you could argue Mothra might be the stronger of the two. Anyway Godzilla shows up takes down Battra but before he can finish him Mothra saves him. Then Mothra and Battra team up and what is essentually a laser show commences. It's pretty cool, as it could make sense the two Mothas wouldn't attemp a physical fight so becomes beam blasts like there's no tomorrow. Eventually Mothra and Battra manage to overpower Godzilla and carry him to sea. Unfortunately in doing so Godzilla manages to kill Battra. This forces Mothra to go stop the incoming Meteor that is coming towards earth with the movie ending as Mothra flies into space.

This film seems like he was so close to being better than it was. I know that sounds weird but everything was there. The characters were done really well but then in the last 15 minutes they just sit there and watch the fight. why couldn't Takuya have chosen his family over wealth during that situation? As I said the environmental message comes across a little too strong at times. The Mothra and Battra puppets look horrible. They are extremely stiff for the most part with no movement outside their wings and heads. It seems that no ground was covered in this department since showa as that Mothra was pretty much the same but looked more tattered to reflect it's old age which worked better. Fortunately both monsters have really good looking larva forms which almost make up for it. 

I really like the idea of Battra. The monster is such an unsung hero throughout the movie. Of course since Mothra is very much a hero for the people Battra seems bad especially when he's first introduced destroying a city. I like that he simply destroys what upsets the earth and Mothra who defends people often comes into contention with him. that fact that he was awakened not to destroy people but stop the incoming meteor really made you rethink the monster. Was he bad? He was simply trying to save the Earth. I think there's some allegory that Mothra who represents the people and Battra the Earth fight against the nuclear monster Godzilla who's a threat to both. Maybe there' symbolism in them joining forces, maybe that while nature and humanity seem to clash at times when there's respect for both better things can be accomplished.

This isn't a very talked about Godzilla film. It seems to fall somewhere in the middle for most people but it think it's somewhat of a diamond in the rough. If you can look past some things and aren't extremely annoyed by the constant environmental