Director: Takao Okawara
Year: 1992
Country: Japan
Alternate Titles: Gojira tai Mosura
Genre: Kaiju
Plot:
Working on an archeological expedition, a team of explorers finds the presence of a giant egg on an island to be a clue to an ancient race of beings that protected the planet from a series of cataclysmic activities. The creature inside the egg, known as Mothra, is a new that’s repeating again with the reappearance of both Godzilla and a new opponent in Battra who are supposed to help restore the balance in the world, but when a logging company steals the egg to take it back to Japan both Godzilla and Battra appear to destroy the country. When Mothra appears and joins the fray against the monsters, she realizes the true threat Godzilla poses to the world and tries to convince Battra to join her in stopping his attempt to destroy the planet.
Review:
Overall, this was a fairly disappointing effort without much going for it. Almost all of the positives here are based on the special effects work which even that is somewhat hit-or-miss. The presentation of Godzilla is a bit less than the previous entries in terms of realism but he’s still somewhat impressive with the way he comes across in terms of the suit and some of the major setpieces in here. Taking on Mothra outside the transport ship taking its egg to Japan and the eventual battle with the military where the new mazer jets deployed against him come off quite well. His secondary counterpoint, the dark moth Battra, is quite impressive in both incarnations with the larva version sporting a series of imposing horns alongside a strange horn protruding from the top of its head and some stylish markings on its body that carry over into the spiked final flying version. This design comes off nicely enough as a general design with enough features carried over from the larval stage which helps to provide a great touch alongside the contrast between the darker creature and lighter Battra fighting against Godzilla. This leads to plenty of fun with the monster action including the larval Battra’s attack on Nagoya, the larval Mothra scouring Tokyo for the Fairies, and the final battle with the adult forms taking on Godzilla which has plenty of back-and-forth tactics between both forces with lots of action and creative tactics. Overall, these are the best factors with this one.
There are some big problems here that hold this one down. The main issue here is an immensely underwhelming and bland human story that tries to move this one along. The main human story involving the archeologist getting back in line with his family while trying to help solve the mysterious disappearance of the Fairies from the island isn’t all that interesting with the idea not making him or his plight all that worthwhile. Already presented as a flippant rule-breaker more concerned with making a new discovery in a priceless temple than spending time with his family, there’s little reason for her to want him to be in their lives based on all the trouble he keeps causing them while not even truly earning a redemption arc trying to save them. Likewise, the concurrent angles involving the corporation trying to get the right to bulldoze the island for their wood but eventually coming to learn self-righteous actions through the resurrection of Battra based on their quest to continually strip the environment without repercussions that get hammered home beyond the point of redundancy so it just grows tiresome listening to their speeches explaining how they’ve wrought everything upon the country by themselves. Leaving too many characters on-screen and getting very little about it to the point of irritating at how often it comes up so the point becomes moot eventually.
There are also some underwhelming issues with the special effects work where for everything it does right there are a lot of issues with it. The main issue here is Mothra, for being the title creature with the most screentime, is still not that impressive with a larval form that doesn’t come off close to the original with its smooth-crawling, non-undulating form gliding through the city or plush-covered adult with the wrong fur covering to look like a toy than anything else. This type of presentation is carried over to a lesser but still noticeable degree with Godzilla who has less of a realistic bent than normal as the footsteps are no longer thundering echoes in the distance while a strange mechanical whirring sound accompanies the atomic ray blasts. It leaves a strange mark on the film where the look is great but the effects to bring it to life are a bit over the place. The last thing with this one is the final half where it simply introduces this bizarre setup involving the introduction of a strange disaster for Mothra to handle that comes out of nowhere as if it needed to add an extra element to be added to the story for no reason which has little build-up or purpose. There’s simply piling on plenty of extra elements trying to add something else to do simply because there’s nothing else to do and it just makes for an example of something else added on to keep the story going, all of which drag this one down considerably.
Overview:** /5
A highly disappointing and underwhelming entry that only has a few likable elements and plenty of issues, this is on the lower end of the scale in the franchise without much to make it worthwhile. This is mainly for the hardcore fans of the era in the series or fans of the creatures while most others out there should wait for others in the series first before going for this one.
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