“Mothra” Review

Mothra is another one of Toho’s stand alone kaiju films where the title kaiju will ultimately end up in the Godzilla franchise. What I find to be the most interesting piece of information about Mothra was that it was originally a novel written by Takehiko Fukunaga. Just how close the movie resembles the novel, I have no clue as I have never read it. I would assume, though, like most novels turned into movies, the movie is a loose adaptation.

I will say, right away, that Mothra isn’t my favorite out of the Big Three Toho solo kaiju films (Gojira, Rodan, and Mothra). I would say it’s my least favorite out of those three. Does that mean, though, it’s a bad film? Keep reading.

Synopsis: A ship is caught in the middle of a tsunami and its survivors are washed ashore on an island named Beiru (later to be called Infant Island in the Godzilla films). The survivors are tested for radiation due to the island having been used for atomic bomb testing years earlier. Strangely enough, the survivors test negative for radiation. They say the island’s inhabitants gave them a juice drink that prevented them from contracting any radiation.

Senichiro (Senchan from now on in the rest of the post) is assigned to go on an expedition to the island to cover any findings the scientists may find for his newspaper. He and his photographer, Michi, befriend Dr. Chujo who also goes on the expedition. A scheming businessman, Clark Nelson, also goes on the expedition in the hopes of finding anything to make a quick buck.

While on the island, the crew finds two twin fairies. Nelson wishes to take them back to Tokyo, but due to the natives closing on their position, and pressure from his peers, Nelson, reluctantly, lets the fairies go. Upon returning to Tokyo, the rest of the crew share their findings with the public. Nelson, however, returns to the island to capture the Shobijin while killing many of the island’s natives. He quickly produces a show displaying the Shobijin.

Senchan, Chujo, Michi, and a number of scientists demand that Nelson return the fairies. Of course, he declines. In the meantime, Mothra hatches and heads straight for Tokyo. Numerous attempts to kill the larva Mothra fail. Once word gets out that Mothra is making her way to Tokyo, and that Nelson is responsible due to Mothra wanting to return her priestesses to the island, he and his cronies go into hiding.

Realizing that much of Japan will still be after him, Nelson flees to Newkirk City where he is confronted and killed by police. Meanwhile, Mothra cocoons herself on a partially destroyed Tokyo Tower. Heat rays are used to set her cocoon ablaze. It’s believed she is dead, until she hatches a short moment later. Mothra destroys a small portion of Tokyo before heading to Newkirk City.

While in Newkirk City, Mothra, with her generating high winds from her wings, begins her assault on the city in the hopes of finding the Shobijin. Senchan, Chujo, and Michi are able to get the Shobijin back after Nelson was killed. Chujo, noticing a cross-like symbol on the island, and viewing a cross on a church steeple, gets the Newkirk City authorities to paint the giant symbol on the airport runway. Church bells, somehow resembling the voice of the Shobijin, draw Mothra to the symbol where the fairies are returned to her. Mothra and the fairies return to their island safe and sound.

Story: We get a good story here. Nelson’s hunger for making money with the fairies while our three main characters attempt to get them back is fun to watch. It was nice to have a portion of the movie taking place on Beiru to see some of the interesting foliage that lives on the island.

The writing is pretty solid although there are a couple points of contention (nothing, though, that I would consider major, but worth noting): The survivors of the shipwreck at the beginning of the movie are a nice way to introduce the audience and characters to the island to begin the heart of the story. However, once the expedition is set, these survivors are never heard from again. It would have been nice to find a way to get some, if not all of them, involved with the rest of the story. Another area involves Nelson going back to the island to retrieve the Shobijin. He, along with the rest of the crew, come back to to Tokyo after the initial expedition. But the next scene has him back on the island. How did this take place? Granted, I think the audience knew Nelson wanted to get the fairies, but it would have been beneficial to see some segwaying to that next scene instead of an abrupt jump. My final contention is with the church bells. Michi says, as Chujo gets the idea to paint the symbol on the airport runway, that the church bells remind her of fairies’ voices. How? Bells make bell sounds while the fairies sing in their own tone. Out of the three scenes I mentioned, this one irritated me the most, because it makes the least amount of sense.

All in all, though, we get an entertaining and fairly tightly written story.

Special Effects: Eiji Tsuburaya does a wonderful job with the effects in this movie! The miniature work is, literally, some of the best I’ve ever seen in any Japanese kaiju/science-fiction film. The buildings look solid and their destruction looks very realistic. It looks as if the models were given levels so they would look believable during their destruction scenes.

There are a few scenes with some extraordinary matte paintings. Oh man! I love those paintings! They are highly detailed and magnificent in their scope! Which leads me to the “green” screen effects. Some of those paintings are blended in with the live action and they work very seamlessly. Soldiers are portrayed on some of the model vehicles and the fairies are in some “green” screen shots as well. Some of those shots come off not so well, but better than some of the prior, and even later, films.

The Mothra larva and adult forms are fantastic! The larva Mothra is the best-looking larva we’ll get until 2003’s Godzilla X Mothra X Mechagodzilla: Tokyo S.O.S. Even then, I would say this particular larva could easily rival those larvae. The adult marionette is a splendor to behold. Although I don’t find it as awesome as 1964’s Mothra Vs. Godzilla, it is definitely one of the better-looking adult Mothra marionettes.

Acting: We have a good cast with Mothra. Frankie Sakai is a good actor that also gives us some comic relief throughout the movie. But I don’t think I would have made him the lead actor. That I would have given to Hiroshi Koizumi, who, as always, is great! His performance as Chujo is solid and he will later reprise this role in Godzilla X Mothra X Mechagodzilla: Tokyo S.O.S. 

Jerry Ito, however, steals the show. His Nelson character is the type of villain you love to hate. Sure, there are a few moments where the character has some over-the-top moments, but they aren’t nearly as bad as what we see in other Godzilla or Toho sci-fi movies. It must be noted, too, that Ito is in no way related to the twin fairies: Emi and Yumi Ito.

Emi and Yumi give us terrific performances as the Shobijin. They set the bar, and set it really high, for future twins playing these roles. Their voices are stellar and their acting is great.

Battles: With the film being a solo kaiju film, there isn’t much in the way of any battles except for confrontations with the military and the actual city destruction.

The scenes with the military are tremendously short, but effective. The military plays a very passive role once the setting shifts to Newkirk City. Mothra’s destruction scenes are breathtaking, but, unlike Gojira and Rodan, the time spent on these shots isn’t as long. There are a lot of back-and-forth shots between Mothra destroying the city and the human drama, so that takes a fair amount of destruction out.

The biggest setback to this part of the movie, outside the fairly short destruction sequences, is that Mothra wasn’t introduced sooner. This involves the human drama, which I will now get to.

Human Drama: While we get a nice story here, there are moments where the story lags. Nelson, being the villain of the film, is great, but too much time is spent on him. Also, the attempts, towards the end of the film, to rescue the Shobijin drag on longer than they need to. 

When I watch this movie, I always (I kid you not, it happens every time) find myself either spacing off or doing something else for a brief moment while listening to the human drama. We get some good character development here, but we get too much drama that isn’t drama; it’s simply filler. This time would have been more wisely spent bringing Mothra sooner into the film and/or focusing more on her destruction scenes.

Overall: Mothra is a lighter-hearted movie than Gojira and Rodan. While it still, to a much smaller degree, deals with atomic weapons, it is nice to have something not so serious and depressing sometimes. The movie has a nice story, but it’s weakness lies with too much human drama and not quite enough focus on Mothra’s destruction.

The movie is still entertaining and very well made. Even though it’s not my favorite out of the Big Three, it’s a movie I would still recommend people seeing.