[Dr Kain]

In 1964, Toho released what is still considered to be the greatest Godzilla movie of the entire Showa era of the series. Some even proclaim it as the greatest Godzilla movie of all time. As such, it was only a matter of time before Mothra would show up once the series had been rebooted in the 80’s, especially with 1991’s “Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah” bringing back Godzilla’s deadliest foe. It did not take Toho very much to make this decision as Mothra was called back in to be Ghidorah’s successor when it came to battling Godzilla. Will Toho’s magic with Mothra strike again?

Unfortunately not. There is so much potential this movie had going for it, and instead, it just feels like it was made as a quick cash grab more than anything else. The plot revolves around a dead beat criminal father who is arrested for tomb raiding and forced to work with his ex-wife and is given the choice to help her explore Infant Island or spend the next fifty years in prison. They explore Infant Island where they meet the fairy twins, known as the Cosmos here, and Mothra’s egg. On the way to taking the egg to Japan, Godzilla attacks, as does a new monster by the name of Battra. Mothra hatches and escapes while Godzilla and Battra disappear with an eruption beneath the sea. The Cosmos are kidnapped by a big evil corporation, only to be rescued by Takaya so he can sell them to the Americans. In the meantime, Mothra comes looking for them, laying waste to Japan in the process, and when she is informed that the Cosmos are safe, she cocoons up in order to evolve into her moth form. Godzilla and Battra return, Mothra grows into her adult form, and a three way battle ensues.

This plot is mediocre at best, but the worst atrocity is how lazy it is. It feels like Toho just decided to rip off “Mothra,” “Mothra vs. Godzilla,” and even “King Kong vs. Godzilla” with this plot. There is an evil corporation that serves no purpose, but we are shown they are destroying a forest despite protest and they want to own the Cosmos for money. We have Mothra’s egg being carried by the boat in a similar style to how King Kong was being brought to Japan. And that is just a small part of the similarities between all three movies. It also does not help that the characters of the movie are either all scumbags or idiots. Takaya is a criminal, a liar, a cheat, he steals the Cosmos so he can sell them to someone else for his own gain, and then we are supposed to believe he is instantly changed the moment he hears his daughter mention his thievery. Then we have Ando, who kidnaps the Cosmos initially to help his boss make a lot of money who then just changes his mind the moment Godzilla attacks. WHAT?! Finally, there is Masako, Takaya’s ex-wife, who is an utter moron. There are a few other characters, but they are pretty much wallpaper for this movie, especially Miki, as they do nothing but stand around, talk, and then watch TV.

It also does not help things that from a story point of view, this movie is the odd one out of the Heisei series. “Godzilla 84,” “Godzilla vs. Biollante,” and “Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah” are able to work very well with each other, and due to how the events play out, they can kind of be considered a trilogy as they all focus on Godzilla’s return and we learn of how Godzilla came back to attack Japan in 1984. The movies that come after this can be deemed the “Godzilla Force Trilogy,” as they all deal with the Godzilla Force and their technological achievements to battle Godzilla. This one, however, just feels out of place as it is a standalone story suck in the middle of two overarching storylines, and nothing really comes out of this movie. Sure, we get to know what Mothra is doing in a future movie, but it has no impact on the plot of that movie whatsoever, nor do the events of this movie have any impact on the future stories either.

Plot aside, the monsters involved in this movie are Godzilla, Mothra, and Battra. Unfortunately, not even the monster costumes are immune to this movie’s flaws. Godzilla is fine for the most part, but his neck and face just seem off for some reason. I’m not really sure what it is, but they just feel lifeless as if the designers forgot to put the animatronics inside Godzilla’s face as his eyes just seem to have this dead stare, and not in a positive manner. Mothra looks similar to her Showa design outside of colors, but she has one major flaw, her wingspan is just too small. One of the things that made the original Mothra looks so incredible was the size of her body. Maybe this version has a bigger body compared to the original, but the wings just look way too small here. Battra is brand new, so there is no previous version to base his design off of, but his wings also look like they would be better bigger. His overall design is fantastic though as he looks just like what he is supposed to be, an evil version of Mothra. Unfortunately, I cannot say anything positive regarding the movements of Mothra and Battra, especially their larvae forms. When Mothra is destroying the city as a caterpillar, she looks like she is just on a railroad track or something, as she does not appear to be walking or crawling at all. It is like she is just being pulled and it really makes it boring to watch. If there is one thing I should not be when a monster is attacking a city, it is being bored. Battra’s larva form seems to have the same issue, but they did a lot better job of hiding it. Unfortunately, the issues do not stop there. Even their adult forms are handled slothfully. While it is nice to see the monsters’ wings flap, it does not look like they are no flapping because they need to in order to fly, but rather, they are flapping because Toho needed them to flap. It just looks so fake. Finally, the final battle of the movie looks pretty, but the two moths do nothing but shoot at Godzilla, and when they try to ram him, they are tossed as if they really are just rubber. While I understand it is hard to make a fight between a moth and a dinosaur exciting, at least the original movie from the 60’s had Mothra clawing at Godzilla on top of his head with her little feet. Nothing of the sort is featured here. On the positive side, the scene when Godzilla is arising from the volcano is downright incredible.

Overall, there is a lot wrong with “Godzilla vs. Mothra,” and I feel ashamed because some of it I never noticed until now. It is not even close to being the worst Godzilla movie ever, but as far as the Heisei series goes, this might actually be the weakest. Its plot has no bearing on its predecessors or successors, it feels like the writers just stitched scenes from previous movies together, and the monster attacks are not even all that entertaining at times. Battra is ultimately the saving grace of this movie, and he alone is the reason I give this movie a 4/10.