“Rebirth of Mothra 2” Review

The following year, in 1997, Mothra returned after the success of Rebirth of Mothra (or simply titled, Mothra). Our favorite daikaiju insect began what would become a trilogy of films aimed at a much younger audience. Much of this was due to the cutesiness, if you will, of Mothra and how popular she (now a he) was with children.

When I first saw the first two films many years ago, I wasn’t terribly impressed with final product. Of course, I kept in mind the fact these films were not made for an adult audience. Still, I found many flaws within them and had a difficult time finding enough to like in the films to call them good.

As of this writing, it has been 11.5 years since I last saw Rebirth of Mothra 2. Let’s get on with the review so you can find out what I think of the film since the long hiatus. First, a synopsis:

Synopsis: Garbage gradually builds up in the world’s oceans. Mankind continues to abuse its only home and an ancient kaiju, Dagahra (pronounced “Dagarla” in the film) is awakened to seek vengeance on mankind. Dagahra was created by the ancient civilization, Nilai-Kanai.

Unfortunately, Dagahra ended up becoming a flawed creation and would also wreck havoc on the earth itself. Three children: Shiori, Kyohei, and Yoji come across a Furby-like creature called Ghogo (“Gorgo” in the film) who is seeking out help. By this time, Dagahra has unleashed starfish-like creatures, called Barem, across the ocean. These creatures possess acidic projectile capabilities and are spawned at an enormous rate by Dagahra.

Following Ghogo, the three children and the Elias (Belvera is not too far behind) are taken to Nilai-Kanai. The ancient civilization, which was housed in a gigantic pyramid, rises from the ocean’s depths. Belvera, hiring two henchmen, seeks out the children in order to possess Ghogo herself. Dagahra, meanwhile, arrives at the ancient city and proceeds to destroy it.

The Elias call out for Mothra’s help and the giant moth dukes it out in a back-and-forth contest while our heroes realize that Ghogo is the key to ridding the earth of Dagahra and the Barem.

After Mothra has been covered in Barem, Ghogo sacrifices itself to restore Mothra. Mothra, then, has the strength and energy to continue fighting Dagahra. While Dagahra, itself, has gotten stronger, Mothra can now transform itself into Aqua Mothra; having the capability to effectively swim and fight underwater against the beast.

Disintegrating itself into millions of Aqua Mothra’s, Mothra is able to destroy Dagahra from inside the kaiju and save the earth. Nilai-Kanai is destroyed when Dagahra is dumped on top of it by Mothra. The earth is, once again, safe for all of humanity.

Story: The story is very straight-forward as all three of these movies are. This should be no surprise considering they are children’s films.

I find, here, some very entertaining story elements, but am disappointed that not many of those areas are fleshed-out even further. It is great that this ancient civilization is introduced and we gradually learn about it as the movie progresses. Sadly, many things are cut short in favor of getting straight to the kaiju action (which is not a complaint, but since this was introduced in a fairly decent manner, I would have liked to have learned more about Nilai-Kanai).

Of course, plot holes abound in this movie. Again, no surprise, but the plot holes here are more numerous than the typical kaiju film. For example, if Ghogo was the key to destroying Dagahra, why couldn’t it cast itself onto the kaiju? Did Ghogo need another kaiju to assist in destroying Dagahra?

Another one is a visual plot hole: Mothra and Dagahra battle around Nilai-Kanai throughout the film. The pyramid is being blasted away, yet many shots continue to show a Nilai-Kanai that isn’t as terribly destroyed like it was shown in an earlier shot.

After a particular point in the film, Belvera is never seen, or heard from, again. What happened to her?

How did Dagahra go through its transformation?

Princess Yuna seems to be extremely powerful. If that is indeed the case, how come she didn’t play a bigger role in the film?

By the way, where is the military?

You get the idea.

While some of these are a bit frustrating and irritating, as I watched the film, I noticed such problems with the story didn’t necessarily affect my enjoyment of the film. Sure, the story is far from perfect, but some of these plot holes can be overlooked; that is if you’re a person, such as myself, who watches films more for enjoyment rather than looking for a work of art or a story that is extremely cohesive.

Special Effects: The special effects for Rebirth of Mothra 2 show many flashes of brilliance to the point where they still hold up over time. Unfortunately, there are numerous shots that don’t as well.

A number of the green screen shots are the main effects that do not hold up over time. There is a shot, for example, inside Nilai-Kanai showing the backs of the characters as they approach a room where they believe the treasure is hidden. In this shot, it is painfully obvious the actors are running in place. Also, towards the end of the movie, as the children and two fishermen are running down the steps of Nilai-Kanai into the dry pathway of the ocean, it is clear that the steps are not really there; they are computer-generated images.

As I watched the film, I couldn’t help, though, but to take notice of just how many effects shots there were. I would say, at the very least, 50% of the film is covered in CGI and practical effects shots.

One of my favorite scenes is where Kyohei and Yoji are looking for Shiori after she’s captured by the two fishermen (Belvera’s henchmen). There is one shot where they are running around inside the pyramid. The shot sets up the fact that the pyramid is huge and a labyrinth. This particular shot must have been constructed on a large stage and was put together very well.

The pyramid of Nilai-Kanai, Dagahra, and Mothra are portrayed well, also. The suit of Dagahra portrays a kaiju that is mostly at home in the water, but can fly and get around on land when needed to. The Mothra marionettes are highly detailed and show a little bit more articulation than the Mothra from 1992’s Godzilla Vs. Mothra. Sadly, the articulation isn’t a tremendous improvement as the marionette still shows a lot of stiffness in a number of shots. By the way, I absolutely LOVE the color scheme on this Mothra and all of the various Mothra incarnations we see throughout this trilogy!

Outside of some of the practical effects, a number of the kaiju beam weapons hold up well, too. Sure, at times it may not take much to produce a stream of light that is one color. But some of the beams in the movie are multi-colored at some points (most particularly at the end of the film) and venture off into different directions. Dagahra’s mouth beam is what stands out to me the most. This beam is black and purple in color with a red-ish spiral encompassing it. There are small streams of this red-ish color within the body of the beam itself. Even when Mothra is rejuvenated by Ghogo, his beams become more vibrant and sophisticated.

Speaking of Ghogo, the prop used for him is pretty well animated and its execution is pretty believable. There are some shots, such as some of the shots involving Shiori holding Ghogo, that don’t look convincing. But the eyes are what sell Ghogo here as well as the occasional bouncing bit that he does to move about.

I absolutely love what the effects team was able to do with a decent portion of the effects shots in the movie. However, there are just about as many other shots, most notably the green screen shots, that do not hold up well.

Acting: This is where the movie takes a turn for the worst. Again, I have to remind myself it’s a kids’ movie, but, at the same time, I still believe that shouldn’t exempt a film, such as this, from having actors portray good characters. When subpar, or bad, acting is present, I initially blame it on a poor script; unless I find out later that a particular actor/actress is, indeed, terrible.

In this case, I can’t help but to believe the script is the reason why we get subpar acting here. It isn’t terrible (although, I admit, some shots are a bit bad, but don’t go on for very long), but it isn’t great either.

Actually, the acting isn’t all that bad. It is passing for a film such as this and the kids do tend to deliver pretty good performances for the most part.

However, the most irritating aspect of the performances in the film are when people are yelling/screaming. Holy mackerel, I have never heard so much screaming and yelling in one movie in my entire life. Forget Kim Bassinger in Batman, this film violates the amount of screaming and yelling.

I even yelled “Shut up!” at my T.V. at one point. Sure, that may have been very stupid on my part, but I could not take it anymore.

Outside of the screaming and yelling, I thought the acting was serviceable for the film; if not above average by a small bit.

Battles: You want a kaiju movie with a lot of kaiju action and battle sequences? Why not try Rebirth of Mothra 2? Seriously, this film has a lot of kaiju action and a lot of Mothra throwing fists with Dagahra.

Let me warn you up front, like much of the Heisei era Godzilla films, Rebirth of Mothra 2 involves a lot of beams being thrown about. However, when you take into account that there really isn’t any other way a giant moth could go toe-to-toe with other kaiju, it makes perfect since why beam/long distance attacks are all over the place.

Unlike some of the typical good guy vs. bad guy films, where the bad guy, initially, conquers the hero followed by the hero triumphing, Rebirth of Mothra 2 gives both kaiju an even keeled battle. If one does get an upper hand, it doesn’t last for very long. The only exception is when Dagahra covers Mothra in Barem and the kaiju action is put on hold for a bit.

Even at the end, when Mothra destroys Dagahra, right before that, Dagahra was getting some nice shots in on Mothra.

My only complaint, that can easily be dismissed, is that neither kaiju, with the exception of Mothra at one point, is so overcome by the other’s attacks that they are fatigued or close to being down for the count. Especially with Mothra being so much more fragile than Dagahra. I never believed that Mothra was in any sort of serious danger; even when he was covered in Barem.

If you’re looking for a kaiju movie with quite a bit of kaiju action, Rebirth of Mothra 2 wouldn’t be a bad choice.

Overall: Rebirth of Mothra 2, for the most part, holds up with time. It is, though, a kids movie and that needs to be known and recognized by adult kaiju fans. Such films are never going to have the depth and cohesiveness as kaiju films whose target audience is, at least, teenagers. Sure, that still shouldn’t entirely give the producers an excuse to create a movie whose story is slapped together in the hopes that the kids will simply take it for what it is.

But this film, to a degree, does that, but not all the way. As an adult fan, I would have liked more of the Nilai-Kanai story to be fleshed-out and some of the plot holes fixed. However, when I place myself into the mindset of someone much younger, I can begin to see the charm of this movie. Heck, even as an adult, I can see those moments of brilliance that make me very impressed with a movie whose budget was probably much smaller than any Heisei Godzilla film and whose target audience is mostly those under the age of 10.

There are some eye-rolling moments, but there aren’t a lot of them. There are some bad effects shots, but some of them are down-right exceptional. Some of the acting is stale, but at other moments is better than what this movie probably deserved.

My biggest complaints with the film, outside of some of the plot holes (which I can pretty easily overlook, believe it or not), are about half of the effects shots and all of the screaming and yelling. Especially the screaming and the yelling.

In the end, I would recommend that every kaiju fan check out Rebirth of Mothra 2 at some point. It isn’t one of the greatest kaiju films, but it does have a lot of action and is pretty entertaining.

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