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Godzilla vs. Mothra

Godzilla vs. Mothra

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Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Great Picture, but audio and extras a bit dubious....
Review: Behind Godzilla vs. The Smog Monster (criminaly not available on DVD OR video) this is the best of the Godzilla films, mainly because the subject matter is taken seriously. Godzilla is a nightmare here, not a super-hero. The picture on the Simitar version is so clear it looks like a new film, but the audio(Like the monsters cries and the original score) is drowned out by the addition of enhanced sound effects. For example, scenes with fighter planes or bombs dropping seem to have been given new sound effects that drown out the original audio tracks! This was a bit distracting. Also , the extras which supposedly include Godzilla artwork and trailers are created by Simitar. The artwork is from the DVD covers, and the trailers aren't original at all, they are just highlights of the other Godzilla films Simitar has put out. These complaints aside, this is probably the best chance Americans have had to view this film in a quality fashion, so for the low price, I do recommend it, just dont get your hopes up about the extras. Still a great film.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: This is my personal favorite Godzilla film.
Review: A pair of greedy guys exploit an egg that has washed ashore in the circus. Sure enough, Mothra's tiny twins the Shobijin, come to Japan and warn them that the egg is Mothra's and if it hatches it might destroy Tokyo. Sure enough Godzilla comes and makes a big mess of Japan. And the natives of Mothra's island refuse to send Mothra over to help. Then who will defeat Godzilla. Tape is letterboxed. Dubbing is OK but the dialogue is garbled and kinda hard to make out. SPFX by Eiji Tsuburaya is top notch.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Given the DVD technology, why is this dubbed?
Review: It's wonderful that this, the best of all the Godzilla films, can be seen in its full format in the crystal imagery of DVD. But, considering the audio channel and subtitling capability of DVD, its almost unforgivable that this move has been released with only a dubbed audio channel! The dubbing for all the Godzilla films robs you of your chance to fully enjoy the performances of some of Japan's best actors (Takarada, Fujuki, Sahara, and Tazaki) and gives the film an extra level of silliness that hurts it. Come on, this is DVD! Simitar must really be a cheap company if that can't muster up the energy to provide a Japanese language track and English subtitles.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: 60's era Drive-In Classic
Review: This is one of the best Godzilla movies of the 60's era. Its presented in its original wide Tohoscope aspect ratio- the way it was meant to be seen. This american translation adds a battle scene with destroyers not scene in the original Japanese version. The dubbing is done well here, and the effects are great for the era.

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: 3 stars
Summary: Dreadful Monster on Monster Action
Review: First the bad: The photographers and the director of this movie were sleeping and in their place they found a bunch of kids with ADD and gave them the cameras. Well that is my theory because of all the Godzilla films this movie has the worst fight scenes. They are analogous to a adult movie when the camera in the middle of the action goes and focuses in on the guy;s butt. Basically when Godzilla was fighting Mothra we saw one random part of Godzilla moving then another part moving then switch over to Mothra and see a part of Mothra moving. All in all it was what made this movie not get a good rating.
Now the Good: The movie was hilariously ironic. Let's say that the evil Happy Enterprises happened to return the egg to Mothra's Island, well then Japan would have been doomed. So maybe evil businesses are capable of good in the long run. Also Happy Enterprises is probably one of the greatest names for a business. All the dialouge was classic. Where did the twins come from; nobody knows.
Also the movie shows a strong anti-nuke message in a not so subtle way. For example the characters on the ravaged island say "this island is reason enough to stop nuclear testing." HINT HINT! The plot like all other Godzilla movies was full of holes and it is also obvious that the Japanease military never learns that tanks are worthless against Godzilla.
For all the Godzilla fans this is a must have, but for the casual viewer pick up a different video.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Where is the greatness?
Review: While I fondly remember this Godzilla movie from childhood, probably due to it being perhaps the very first Godzilla movie I had seen, it somehow just doesn't strike me as being the very best of the Godzilla franchise. I have no arguments with the main story or the effects, which for the time period are not too embarrassing considering this "is" a Godzilla movie. Rather it's the manner in which Godzilla is depicted. From the very outset he seems clumsy and not very ferocious. Where is the greatness? The mighty Godzilla first appears in the movie as he wakes up in a field, begins to wreck havoc and proceeds to get his tail caught in a radio transmission tower. He is then hit by the tower as it crashes down on him and shortly thereafter, trips and falls almost drunkenly into a Japanese temple building, demolishing it in a very haphazard way.
He seems disoriented throughout his battle with Mothra, the giant moth that is called on to protect the world. And as the movie reaches its climax he simply stands there and growls as he gets cocooned by 2 small moth larvae and falls helplessly into the sea.

It all seems so unlike the destructive, foreboding, Godzilla originally depicted in his very first incarnation in 1954. I don't know if they were trying to develop Godzilla's character as more sympathetic by showing his bumbling, confused side but it just doesn't really work. I think that many people lose sight of the fact that the original Godzilla was intended as a metaphor for nuclear destruction and curiously the producers of Godzilla vs. Mothra seemed to have ignored that crucial plot point as well. It would be obvious to me in order to create a sense of terror that Godzilla should be depicted, as originally conceived, as undeniably powerful, unwavering and having no apparent motivation or purpose other than to use his overwhelming indiscriminate destructive force against the world. Perhaps Toho was deliberately attempting to attract American audiences and felt the best method was to soften Godzilla's image. It may have been the correct strategy, as it is difficult to continually present the same character only as an antagonistic monster without allowing for even a small portion of human appeal. However, the character flaws are jarringly abrupt and a more measured approach might have been more appropriate.
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On the plus side, the battle with the army and navy and the electrocution sequence were all well done and seem just as impressive today as they did in the sixties when this movie was first released. Unimpressive though is the depiction of the military at that time, which always appeared to have had such bad aim. They unleash a barrage of missiles and shells at Godzilla to halt his rampage only to completely miss their target time after time.

The mother Mothra creature is effective and certainly provides an interesting contrast to the giant radioactive lizard of Godzilla. It is interesting to note that Mothra's weapon in fighting Godzilla is the powerful wind that is created by flapping its gigantic wings. A somewhat more natural means of attack compared to Godzilla's blasting heat breath. Could Mothra and the native islanders that worship it, represent society's backlash against nuclear proliferation?

All in all it is at times perplexing, but nonetheless enjoyable and I recommend it for its genre defining soundtrack, engaging storytelling, well realized human characters and simple yet effective special effects. On the other hand, I take away points for it's portrayal of Godzilla. And while certainly more endearing; he is now beginning to take on a more comical side. He stumbles through some of this picture as if he doesn't belong and appears as significantly less than a great and terrifying monster.

Many fans of Godzilla cite this movie as their all time favorite and call it the best Godzilla movie made. I would rate the original Godzilla film from 1954 and the underrated and more successful, King Kong vs. Godzilla, both in their original Japanese incarnation, as superior.


Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Those annoying twin fairies always get to me...
Review: When Godzilla reared his angry head again, Toho studios wanted something good to take him on. Winging her way in from her own premier movie, Mothra is just what is needed to put the big guy down.

"Godzilla vs. Mothra" ("Mosura tai Gojira" or "Mothra vs. Godzilla" in Japanese,) is a great sequel in the first series of Godzilla flicks. After the overly-campy "Godzilla vs. King Kong," Toho studios took a back-to-basics approach with the mighty lizard, designing a new, more menacing suit and allowing him to rampage over such familiar landmarks as Nagoya Castle. This new suit is famous amongst Godzilla fans, and was unfortunately damaged during production.

Crossing over from the film "Mothra," Emi and Yumi Ito, the Fairy Twin's known as the Shobijin, come to Japan to attempt to reclaim Mothra's egg which was dislodged by a typhoon. Profit-minded executives see money in the colossal egg, and refuse to return it. Godzilla arrives. Mothra arrives. Giant monster battle ensues.

This DVD, however, is a terrible presentation of a good film. There is no original language track, which should be absolutely shameful when presenting a non-English movie. Also, the US release is altered from the Japanese original, including extra scenes of a "Frontier Missile" that were filmed at the request of the American studios, who felt it was patriotic.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Godzilla vs. THE THING!
Review: The orginal Godzilla vs. Mothra. It has great scenes of destruction and mayhem. This film hasm y favorite Godzilla music and Mothra was great in this. Ever since i was five years old this was one of the first i saw on tv.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: a classic godzilla film
Review: this is a must see godzilla movie for any person who is the littlest bit of a fan. the godzilla costume in this movie changed yet again from the previous film and is what many fan consider the best of the series. It scales are made darker gray and he is given eye brows sort of. in this film godzilla is again the bad guy the way it should be. the movie is fast pace and exiting with well developed charactors which is rare for a godzilla movie. the only bad thing is bad thing about the movie is the deformed turtle on Infant island which looks like something out of a barney episode.


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