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Godzilla vs. Mothra

Godzilla vs. Mothra

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Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Hardboiled Egg Salad
Review: A giant egg floats into Japanese waters after a hurricane. Twin miniature fairies plead for its return to Mothra Island. In a Shakespearean twist of fate, Godzilla attacks and the Japanese enlist Mothra's help. Godzilla's rampages are fine, building toppling fun. The military fights back and the battle rages. As juvenile sci-fi epics go, this one is worth the price. The production values are better than usual. Chuckle-headed humor asserts itself, but plenty of Godzilla screen time keeps the action moving. The Mothra song, as vocalized by the twin fairies, is enshrined in fantasy film folklore. Watching the giant egg hatch is exciting, and recalls a similar scene in "Rodan." Lightening flashes and thunder roars as cracks shoot across the egg's surface. The movie falters somewhat after two gigantic baby caterpillars take over for the first Mothra. Godzilla, who shrugged off rockets, bombs, and super-charged electrocution, has trouble with a rough-hewn silk shroud. Go figure. The Peanuts of the first Mothra flick portray the twin fairy girls. With all of the tiny women's mystery, one still lingers over their little faux-fur hats. The script doesn't explain the headgear. The special effects are unsophisticated by modern standards. The monsters are more lovable than today's ice-cold, computer-generated eye-candy. The Harry Potter generation can suit themselves. The venerable I. Honda directed this classic TOHO production. Saturday matinees and popcorn forever! ;-)

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: What a Godzilla Sequel !!!!!
Review: The third best Godzilla of the series. Once again Toho studios borrows another famous monster and pits it against the King of the Monsters. Godzilla's last apperance of the original series as a evil monster. This was the fourth Film of the series. A Great plot, good spiceal effects, and a good cast. Truely a Godzilla classic.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: The best sequel from the first Godzilla series
Review: This film is the best of the sequels from the first Godzilla series. There are touches of humor interspersed in the action, but it is not a silly movie by any means (unlike some of those that followed it). I don't know what it is about Mothra, but he is just a great monster--it is hard to even call him a monster because he somehow manages to emote real emotions. I cannot help but root him on, even against Godzilla. To my eyes, the Mothra special effects are very well done, especially when he directly attacks Godzilla.. Knowing that he (or she?) was using up what little strength he had in order to fend off the big lizard and protect his own egg made me really respect and empathize with him. When his strength was all gone and he came down to earth with one massive wing protectively covering his giant egg, I was actually quite touched.

Of course, you have to love the twins from Mothra Island. They really help make this movie one of Godzilla's best. We don't know why they are so small, but we know their island has been all but decimated as a result of nuclear testing--the traditional anti-nuclear argument is made quite forcefully when our Japanese protagonists visit the island to ask for Mothra's help in defeating Godzilla. What I love most about the twins is their singing--I have no idea what they are saying, but their voices are beautiful. One of the great strengths of this film is the entire musical score, arguably the best of the series.

Sure, the Mothra larvae aren't that impressive to look at, but they get the job done. This movie is somewhat unusual because there really aren't that many scenes of monster battles or wholesale destruction. Godzilla doesn't spend much time stomping around just for the sheer enjoyment of it, and he doesn't do anything as specific as picking up a trainload of people and tossing them aside. The obligatory tanks and airplanes attack, but they are as ineffective as usual against the big guy. When he squares off with Mothra, he has to stand in one place and fight the winged creature off; later on, the larvae cannot come up and duke it out with the big guy but instead must rely on their ability to spew silky cocoon-like fluid. These fights were definitely not conducted on Godzilla's own terms.

This is a truly classic, must-see selection in the Godzilla video library. The storyline is relatively strong, the special effects are quite good, the music is excellent, and the monsters put on a pretty good show. If you want to see Godzilla in hand-to-hand combat with other big green guys, check out one of the later films; if you want to see how good a Godzilla movie can be when great care goes into the writing and production efforts, Godzilla vs. Mothra is your movie.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: One of G's much better films
Review: I think this movie is the best of the Godzilla old series. The adult Mothra could look a little better and the Larvae Mothras are ugly.But it had a good plot and Godzilla looked cool and it was funny in spots those 2 tiny faries could look a little better too. and the battles are neat.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A LONG-TIME PERSONAL FAVORITE!!!
Review: I remember seeing Godzilla Vs. The Thing (the title of the American International Productions 1964 U.S. release and the one I prefer) at a local movie theatre in 1969 or 1970, several years after its original run in theatres. I also had seen it at least once on TV before that and several times since. When I first viewed the VHS widescreen version, I enjoyed seeing it in that format once again after all these years (I had missed seeing Godzilla approaching the Nagoya temple from the left, cutoff on the TV format)... and in near-pristine condition. The Simitar video (though externally labeled "Godzilla Vs. Mothra"), brings-back the classic "An American International Pictures release...Godzilla Vs. The Thing" opening credits. This is much nicer than the late 1980's Paramount Video release of Godzilla Vs. Mothra, which supplants the classic AI credits with the "new" title (which actually is the original Japanese title, reused for the sake of simplicity for newer audiences) and splices in the rest of the original credits...though done fairly well, one could detect the break! However, the Simitar version eliminates the really original intro that I had seen on TV during the 70's. It showed the AIP logo and music, followed by a blank, though scratchy, screen in which the opening Toho theme begins, fades to the ocean/hurricane scene(without credits for several seconds), then the AIP Release credit---DOES ANYONE REMEMBER THIS? Instead, Simitar chose to skip all that and advance the beginning of the theme to the point at which "American International Pictures" appears in front of the ocean. Aside from these technical points, the movie itself showcases Godzilla in his classic self---evil and menacing, with the best Godzilla suit design ever! Combined with impressive sfx (the optical mixing and composite photography are markedly improved from the previous King Kong vs. Godzilla), dramatic music score, logical scripting, and excellent English dubbing, this movie exemplifies the serious and attentive manner in which Toho Studios created their giant-monster movies during the mid-sixties. Highly recommended! This feature, along with the follow-up, "Ghidora, the Three-Headed Monster", I consider to be the best in the entire series.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Nice recovery after the whole "Kong" incident.
Review: Summary: Godzilla wages war against a giant moth and her offspring.

Over all, a good movie with above average monster effects, music, and acting (for this kind of movie that is).

Not to be confused with the later '90s version "Godzilla and Mothra: The Battle for Earth".

Next is "Ghidrah, the Three-Headed Monster".

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: excellent transfer at budget price
Review: The DVD image quality is excellent. I didn't expect much at the budget price, so the sharp, stable, colorful 2.35:1 widescreen transfer was a nice surprise. The box says "images of superb quality taken from the film's original print." It's usually best to ignore puffery, but here you really do get gorgeous video--about as good as (say) the Bond DVDs of the same vintage. Minor nits: there's some dust at the ends of the reels, and the widescreen transfer is not anamorphic (that is, not "enhanced for 16:9 TVs").

The 5.1 audio is choppy and strange at times. Whenever the dubbed English pops in, the sound quality changes, almost as if it briefly drops into mono. But part of the joy of vintage Godzilla is its glorious cheezyness. Making it too sterile would cut out its soul.

The DVD "extras" are negligible. At the price, it's unfair to complain about this. The important thing is that the film itself looks great. If you like Godzilla, don't hesitate.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: An Absolute Masterpeice of Monstrous Proportions
Review: Great Idea, terrific special FX, Fantastic story/plot and some of the most artful acting in the whole run of the Godzilla series, makes this film not only one of the best Godzilla movies, but a great classic that should and better be remembered long from now. Heck its even dubbed good! And thats really unexpected from a Godzilla movie! Colorful and breathtaking, Godzilla vs. Mothra is a beautifully made movie. Entertaining for all ages, its an instant hit even to this day. Everything and I mean everything in this movie is done perfectly, Ishrio Honda's directing is masterfull as he well executed the human drama, but didnt forget who the real star of the movie is (Godzilla). Akira Ifukube's beautiful score is recognized as some of the best of his work. And Acadamy Award winning special FX director Eiji Tsuburaya strikes gold with his miniatures, designsand techniques. Godzilla vs. Mothra is defenatly one of the greatest Godzilla films of all time.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A classic kaiju adventure.
Review: The G-series finally hit its stride with this film. The spfx are absolutely fantastic, full of imagination and spectacle. The letterbox version allows the beautiful screen compositions to really shine and the sound is so much better than previous versions. Eiji Tsubaraya brings a high level of believability to the life-or-death struggle between Mothra and The Big G. The humor is well integrated into the story and does not detract from the serious theme of mankind uniting to face a common threat. A veritable who's who of ToHo's best actors makes up the cast. There is so much to love about this movie(especially the score by Ifukube) that, if you have even a passing interest in Japanese monster mayhem, you owe it to yourself to see this film.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Marvalous.
Review: Godzilla vs. the Thing is actually the correct title. The movie was awsome compared to the disapointments that came befor and after it (by which I mean King Kong vs. Godzilla and Ghidrah, the Three Headed Monster). Godzilla looked waaaaaaaaaaaay better than that baggy alligator they showed in King Kong vs. Godzilla. This one is a must-see!


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