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Godzilla vs. Mothra

Godzilla vs. Mothra

List Price: $14.98
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Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Simitar DVD
Review: VIDEO QUALITY:
As with all Simitar Godzilla releases (minus "Terror of Mecha-Godzilla"), "Mothra vs. Godzilla" is presented as a double sided disc with the choice of both widescreen and full screen editions. The full screen print is simply disgusting, not only loosing so much of the image (as you would expect), the print if completely covered in scratches, hairs, cuts... burns? Colours are extremely faded, and overall, its downright terrible. The widescreen version is a vast improvement, though still a fairly shoddy print. Again, the print seems to be lacking colour, and is covered in cuts, scratches, and hairs, though not to the same extent. The widescreen print also lacks 16:9 enhancement, which means widescreen viewers are stuck with a stretched picture, which pretty much invalidates the whole point in owning a widescreen TV. Both prints also seem to blur a lot, making fine detail hard to spot. Out of all the releases available in the United States, this is the best you will ever find, though the video is still miles off from DVD Toho's region 2 release.

AUDIO QUALITY:
Naturally, the disc only contains the English dubbing. On both widescreen and full screen versions, you are given the option of both Mono and Dolby Digital 5.1 audio tracks. Sadly, on both tracks, the entire film is accompanied by that classic "fuzz" that sneaks in the background. Luckily, this is not too noticeable. For the most part, the sounds are vibrant, though occasionally higher pitches such as Godzilla's roar and the Peanuts singing sound distorted.

EXTRA FEATURES:
Simitar are one of the few distributors to actually have any extra material on their American kaiju releases. Sadly though, none of it is really of any particular interest. There are several Godzilla screen savers included for DVD-ROM users, which are only compatible with Windows® 95 machines. There are also some custom trailers Simitar designed for their Godzilla releases, which are made in a cheesy 1950's American monster movie style. There is a video art gallery, and for DVD-ROM users a printable art gallery, which is fairly interesting. Despite a short trivia game and a link to their now non-existent website, it doesn't offer much more. Still, its nice to see someone attempting to bring special features to overseas releases, however lacklustre they may be.

OVERALL:
This is the best you will ever get in the USA, and practically anywhere outside Japan. For most fans, this is definitely the route to go. You get to see the film in its original widescreen format, and with a much clearer print than ever seen on TV in America. As with most American releases, you're stuck with English dubbing as the only audio option, but never the less it sounds good. If you're a die hard fan, and really want to see this film in action, the DVD Toho release may be of interest to you. Though at a much higher price, and missing English subtitles, the DVD Toho release is simply a much better print all around. Understandably though, most fans won't want to fork out the $50 for a non-subtitled DVD, thus this DVD from Simitar is the best way to go... if you can actually find a copy, that is.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: I have the Widescreen version on VHS
Review: and it's great.Godzilla was not beaten by bugs.He simply took a dive to get ready for his next movie.To alleviate any confusion,the first american title for this movie was GODZILLA vs THE THING.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: 2nd Best Showa Godzilla flick
Review: "Godzilla vs. Mothra" is everything "King Kong vs. Godzilla" should have been. The entire film oozes quality. Drama, Plot, Effects are spot on perfect. The pacing of the film is just right, action seems to proceed naturally throughout. The music for this movie is awesome. If all the Godzilla movies had been this good, I probably wouldn't have a life, because I would keep watching them over and over again. :-)

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: MOTHRA
Review: Godzilla vs thing the bick gmmick to cover the moster Mothra.G vs Godzilla is really good I mean Mothra dies from godzilla but
its off springs manage to hold their own and cocoon G to death for a victroy.But its a good Flick and the monster action is great a must see godzilla film

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: A Classic "Godzilla," but tends to drag
Review: First off, this movie is a classic, and should be seen. But it's not the best "Godzilla" movie I've seen; furthermore, this movie tends to drag its feet around. In short, this movie seems too long even though it's a short film.

Most of the movie is dominated by Human Scenes. There are some humorous moments, but they're much more subtle, and far less in number than I hoped for. To be sure, the Human Scenes do engage the audience to certain point initially, but before the movie's conclusion, the Human Scenes feel as though they overstayed their welcome.

Part of the reason for this is the lack of Monster Scenes - not to mention the fact that Godzilla doesn't appear until the 30th minute.

And as far as Monster Battles go, there are four - but only two feature Monster-on-Monster action:
1) Godzilla vs. the Military
2) Godzilla vs. the Military
3) Godzilla vs. Mothra
4) Godzilla vs. Mothra's two offspring

That might seem like a lot, but it certainly didn't feel like it. The two military scenes are done well enough, but the last battle(s) wasn't as fun as I remembered it. And for me, I'm most enthralled by Kaiju movies when two or more monsters are going at it. The climactic fight certainly wasn't bad, but it certainly wasn't the best I've seen.

All in all, I definitely recommend this movie, but I did feel that the Human Scenes dominated too much of the screen's focus. The scenes did flow logically enough - but for me, there wasn't an adequate number of good Monster Scenes. And I didn't much enjoy waiting 30 minutes to see Godzilla.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: The greatest of all Godzilla sequels
Review: 1964's "Godzilla vs. Mothra," (originally released in the U.S. as "Godzilla vs. The Thing" as a publicity gimmick to hide the identity of Godzilla's adversary) is the best of the many sequels to the original "Godzilla." The film series reached a level of wonderful pop-culture entertainment here: imaginative effects, gripping and simple story-line, and fantastic monster mashing. It's actually a smart, well-put together movie, something that people who look down on Japanese monster movies as silly and stupid would never expect. And it is LOADS of fun.

This film followed up quickly on the massive success of "King Kong vs. Godzilla." The studio, Toho, wanted Godzilla to go up against another 'name' monster, and selected one of their own: the gigantic moth/caterpillar Mothra, who had starred the hit 1961 film "Mothra." The story has Godzilla returning to wreck havoc on Japan (this is the last time for many years that Godzilla would be the unquestioned 'bad guy'), defying the military's numerous ingenious -- but ineffective -- attempts to stop him. The one hope for humanity lies in recruiting Mothra to take on the big lizard. But the people of Infant Island where Mothra lives are reluctant to help because two unscrupulous businessmen have captured Morthra's lost egg and turned it into a sideshow attraction. When they refuse to surrender the egg, it begins to look like Godzilla will get to have his way with Japan unopposed...

The film is absolutely loaded with stunning effects and action sequences. Godzilla's initial rampage in Nagoya is a knock-out, with the Big-G smashing a radio tower and Nagoya castle to the ground (Haruo Nakajima, the actor inside the suit, does a wonderful performance in this scene). The Godzilla suit used in this movie, known as the "Mosu-Goji" to fans, is beautiful: sleek, evil, and extremely personable. The two confrontations between Godzilla and Mothra, the first time in moth form, the second time in caterpillar form, are the best monster fights in all of the G-movies. Effects wizard Eiji Tsubaraya finds creative ways to have the monsters tackle each other, and the music from Akira Ifukube just keeps building and building. The finale is as exciting as anything you'll see in a big effects film from any country.

The human scenes are very effective as well, with good performances all around from actors like Kenji Sahara and Akira Takarada, regulars in monster movies. Director Ishiro Honda provides his customary humanitarian touch to the story, and he takes it with an appropriate level of seriousness. No doubt about it, Honda was a great director, and in his hands, giant monster movies could seem like more than just light entertainment.

The version on this disc is the dubbed American version. The Japanese language version with subtitles is superior -- a five-star rating easily -- but has never been available on a home video format (someone should really do something about this!). However, this is probably the best dubbed version ever of a Godzilla film. The voice acting is quite good, and almost nothing has been changed or edited from the original. Actually, a scene has been added, involving a U.S. military ploy to attack Godzilla with newly developed missiles. (Guess how effective that is.) The only real trouble with the dubbing is that the characters sometimes refer to Mothra as "the Thing" and other times by its real name, which is pretty strange sounding.

The disc has nothing in the way of real extras. Also, the advertised 5.1 stereo is a cheat: the producers of the disc added a few extra sound effects here and there for the back speakers -- such as when Godzilla is being electrified or when tanks are firing -- that sound tinny, awful, and unconnected to the actual film. Stick with the original mono option.

Even dubbed, "Godzilla vs. Mothra" is a four-star film and a must for anyone who loves giant monsters or just wants to have a good time on a Saturday night with friends. ROAR ON GODZILLA!

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: An exelent Godzilla movie but I expected more
Review: I first saw this movie when I was 8 and I wasn`t impressed at all. By the look of the cover, I thought Mothra was going to be freaky looking. It only turned out to be a cute, overgrown moth. I read the back of the cover and saw that it said it was the most exiting Godzilla movie. I hated the movie so I put it aside. But about 2 months later my Grandmother had to buy another copy of it and my Grandfather had a copy already.( He likes Godzilla too.) I had no choice but to bring it home and give it another chance. I`m very glad I did! I still think that the idea of a giant moth is strange and I really hate those twin fairies. But I think Godzilla looks great and the plot is easy to follow. I really like the scenes when the twin Mothras spin a cacoon around Godzilla and I didn`t know rock melted like that. Here is the story: A giant egg is washed ashore and two twin faries come to say that Mothra who lives on Infant island wants it back. The people of Tokyo lock it in a glass cage. On a dustland, Godzilla digs out of the ground and as always, starts destroying Tokyo. When he reaches the egg, Mothra attacks Godzilla before he can start gorging himself. Mothra drags the reptile away from the egg. Probably a mile or so. Mothra maneges to make Godzilla roll into a pit and uses poison on him. Eventuly, Godzilla burns Mothra`s wing with his Atomic ray. Mothra lands next to her egg and dies. Godzilla heads for Tokyo forgetting about lunch. The military uses electricity on Godzilla. Godzilla maneges to destroy the generators and headed for Iwa island to menece a class on a feild trip. Luckily, the twin fairies manege to hatch the egg. Twin moth larves come out of the egg and head for the island to fight Godzilla. They spin a thick layered cacoon around Godzilla. The raging reptile who was blind because of the thick layers of web tumbled on the ground rolling in rage. He soon rolled off a cliff and into the depths of the sea. While all this is happening, a rescue boat goes to the island and bring the kids and teachers back to Tokyo. I do love this movie alot and the speacial effects are great but I expected more fright and I hate those twin fairies.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A Great Mothra Fight With Godzilla!
Review: Godzilla vs.Mothra is a great Godzilla movie like Godzilla vs.Mechagodzilla(1975)and Terror Of Mechagodzilla(1976)and Godzilla Raids Again(1956)and Godzilla King Of the Monsters(1954)Mothra is a great Godzilla foe becuase it's based on a real creature the moth I hate when Godzilla gets attacked by Mothra(Larva)and kills him,I hate when Godzilla kills the mom Mothra but did I take a star or two away?No!You know why becuase this movie is a classic!

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Good movie, but the DVD presentation falls short...
Review: Let it be known that I'm an avid Godzilla fan, and I wanted some DVDs for my new DVD player, so I bought this DVD. Boy, was I disappointed! There's really only 3 extras on the DVD--interactive menus with scene selection, a Destroy All Monsters Game Cube promo, and audio set-up options (english mono and 5.1 Surround sound). The 5.1 Surround sound echoes and sounds unbarable. Options to change the language to Japanese, and add/remove subtitles would've been nice, as I don't care for dubs. The picture's quality is really bad--there's scratches, and what not, making it seem like a bad video transfer. Still, the promo's pretty cool, the animated intro by Mothra's kinda neat. Overall, this DVD is worth picking up only if you can't get a hold of Simitar's superior version.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: The Definitive Godzilla Movie
Review: Godzilla vs. Mothra (aka) Godzilla vs. The Thing is unquestionably
The best Godzilla movie ever made.
This one has it all. Good characters, Paganistic savages worshiping idols on a remote island, the twins fairies, army tanks and army men being squashed like bugs, plus lots and lots of explosions.
Any serious Godzilla fan would argue that if they were stranded on a desert island and could only have one Godzilla movie- This would be it.
The story is fast paced, the characters are interesting and you actually feel remorse for Mothra when Godzilla defeats her. (Thats not the end of the movie-trust me there is more to come)
Unfortunately this release is not letterboxed and has no extras, but for the low price it deserves a place in any monster movie fans library.
Put the wife and kids to bed early on a Friday Night, order yourself a totally cheesy pizza and grab a cold one so you can totally kick back and enjoy this nostalgic masterpiece from a simpler time. Enjoy and let Godzilla rule!!!


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