"MOTHRA"
Before I talk about the plot for this movie, let me tell you that finding this movie in its original Japanese cut was not at all easy to find. Most releases of the film that I can find to either rent or buy are the English dub of the film. Just searching for the original cut of the movie was so hard to find that I was going to resort to reviewing the film in its English dub, but luckily I've finally managed to find a copy of the original Japanese Cut that was paired with three other DVDs in a collection called "Icons Of Sci-Fi: Toho Collection". However, the packaging for these DVDs has to be one of the worst packaging that I've ever seen because all three DVDs are stacked on top of each other which is very easy for the them to get scratched. Unfortunately, my DVD copy of the original Japanese cut of "Mothra" got scratched because of the terrible packaging, and actually froze on me during one of the scenes. Thankfully, after stopping the film and playing it again as I scene selected my way to the scene that froze on me, it started to work again, and I didn't at all have another interruption as I watched the rest of the film. To make things even more stressful for me to review this film, my original review that I already typed up somehow got erased and now I have to rewrite the entire review all over again. So after all that stress of finding and reviewing this movie, is the movie worth stressing over to review despite being a film that's part of the Godzilla franchise; ON WITH THE REVIEW!
Survivors from a shipwreck are found on an uninhabited tropical Island that was used for atomic bomb testings. However, instead of the survivors being contaminated by the Islands radioactivity, they were given a juice from a (Japanese Blackface) native tribe on the Island that protects them from the Islands radioactivity. After finding out this information, a capitalist named Clark Nelson (Jerry Itou) leads an expedition to the Island where the survivors were found, along with Dr.Chujo (Hiroshi Koizumi ) and a stowaway reporter (which I have no idea how he got on the ship) named Zen (Frankie Sakai). Once they arrive on the Island, they discover two tiny women (Played by the musical duo "The Peanuts") that sing beautifully and carry the power of telepathy. After Nelson sees these two fairies, money signs appear in his eyes, and he takes them away, so that he can make money off them by forcing them perform on stage. As a result of the fairies capture, the Tribe and the fairies call out for the help of a giant monster named Mothra to come and save them.
Before I talk about the monster, the effects, and the characters; I feel like it’s important for me to start off with talking about the film's look and tone since it really differs compared to the previous Godzilla films that I reviewed. The last three Godzilla films they were dark, gritty, suspenseful, and serious, while at times having a bit of comedy to them. In this film on the other hand, all the stuff that I've just mentioned are gone! The film has some dramatic moments, but they're not as emotionally touching as the Godzilla films before this one. So instead of being a dark and suspenseful giant monster movie; this film is more of a light hearted giant monster movie that seems to be aimed more towards kids than adults. It looks more colorful than the last film in the series which was "Rodan"; there's an all around whimsical feel that's carried throughout the course of the movie; the characters and actors seem to play out more towards kids than adults; the film has innocent cute looking fairies; and the monster herself (I know its not exactly male or female, but screw it I'm calling Mothra a she since other people tend to do so) is cute looking and actually has a purpose for causing destruction, unlike the other monsters before her. Even the ending to this film is more happy, than it is sad like the endings to the previous films. This film pretty much plays out as if Disney was doing a live action giant monster movie made around that era. And while the tone has changed, it actually is an enjoyably entertaining giant monster flick that makes you feel like a kid, while also keeping a good amount of the stuff that we enjoy from these giant monster flicks from Toho.
The build-up to our lead monster Mothra is not as thrilling, suspenseful, or brings a sense of wonderment to the monster like the previous films did, but is still awesome. After our characters figure out that the hieroglyphic that they find on the Island translates to the word Mothra, where we then see the fairies getting captured by our villain Nelson as members of the Island's Tribe get killed (which looks very unconvincing of how the actors play dead); we see a dying member from the Tribe calling out to Mothra to help them, and as a result, the Island shakes and we see the appearance of Mothra's egg. I must say for a reveal of a giant egg, it’s surprisingly a cool reveal due to the powerful acting from the dying Tribe member; the special effects for the ground shaking; and the beautiful and whimsical music along with the choir. After we see the egg, we then get some excellent build-up to our creature inside the egg, as well as waiting just as eagerly as the fairies and the Tribe are for Mothra to hatch out of her egg. The three scenes that give this monster some excellent build-up as we wait with anticipation are the scene when the fairies are forced to sing on stage as they sing a catchy chant in their language for Mothra to come and rescue them; the scene (that happens after the previous scene that I mentioned) that has the Tribe dancing and doing a similar chant to try to awaken Mothra from her egg; and the scene when the fairies regrettably tell our heroes about Mothra and the destruction that she will cause if they're not taken back to their Island soon.
After all this build-up, we finally see Mothra hatch out of her egg as one of the Tribe members (who speaks in a godly voice) asks for Mothra to hatch out of her egg, and the reveal of Mothra hatching out of her egg is just as great as when we first saw Rodan hatch out of his egg. Instead of seeing Mothra in her famous Imago form as she hatches out of her egg, we instead see her in Larva form, and I have to say that not only do I think Mothra in its Larva form is both cool and cute in terms of design and how gigantic the costume looks, but after seeing those silly bug like creatures in the last Godzilla related film by Toho; this is in my opinion what the Meganulons should've been like, big and gigantic bug like creatures that destroy stuff and are indestructible, instead of being as big as the humans that are just there to eat people and become chow for our lead monster which makes these monsters pretty pointless. Mothra in her Larva is a major improvement who's powerful, gigantic, indestructible, has a better design, and actually has a purpose in the film's actual plot! For me, the best scenes with Mothra in her larva form is when she destroys a Navy ship as we hear the fairies sing; and when she destroys a jet with her thread as she builds herself a cocoon on the Tokyo Tower to form into her final metamorphosis stage.
Now I will admit, the build-up to Mothra hatching out of her cocoon in her Imago form isn't as great as the build-up to Mothra hatching out of her egg in her Larva form, but the scene when she hatches out of her cocoon is just as enchanting as when she hatched out of her egg, and perhaps even better since the military uses a giant laser to try to get her to come out so that they can destroy her. Despite that we only see Mothra in her Imago form for only the last 20 minutes of the movie, she still has plenty of time to shine, with her cute, creative, and awesome design; her determintion to rescue the fairies; and the fact that Toho upgraded their flying monster effect a bit by making the wires less visible, when with Rodan you just had to accept the fact that you're seeing the wires constantly since Toho was at the beginning of their experimental period of making a giant monster film that didn’t involve Godzilla. The only thing that I found pretty disappointing about Mothta in her Imago form is her only power is to flap her wings as she creates a wind like hurricane to destroy the city which is really no different from Rodan's ability. The scenes when she destroys the city by flapping her wings are still cool to watch, its just that I wish that they gave Mothra a new kind of power instead of simply rehashing Rodan's power.
As for the film's special effects while I can't compare it to other films made during Toho's experimental giant monster movie period; comparing it to the last Godzilla related film made during that period which was "Rodan", they've only improved the effects very little. Yes this giant bug like monster is better looking and more powerful compared to the bug like monsters in "Rodan; yes, Mothra's wires are covered up a bit more than the visible wires in "Rodan"; but the effects still haven't improved much since "Rodan". The models that Mothra destroys still lack the size and scale that the first Godzilla film had, as they look like obvious toy models complete with obvious toy soldiers in toy tanks. Things can’t look any more toy-like when the fairies turn into obvious dolls when they are picked up for the first time. When the effects don’t look like toys, they use a matting effect that is so painfully obvious that we see blurry blue lines around the actors. I will also admit, despite that Mothra's strings are less visible than the wires carrying Rodan, there are plenty of shots where you can see the strings. I could be wrong with this criticism in terms of effects but whether that they used an actor in a rubber suit on strings or not, Mothra for the most part looks more like a puppet on strings. As painful and laughably obvious as the effects are and being disappointed that the effects haven't updated that much, I honestly still sense the amount of hard work and passion that went into these effects, as well experimenting with a few different effects that they didn't use or use much of in "Rodan"; and despite the effects not looking that convincing, the scenes of destruction are still entertaining and fun to watch, and the interaction with the characters, the fairies, and the monster still look and act like they're actually interacting with each other, even though we clearly see the effect that they're using to make it happen. The effects may still be obvious and cheesy looking, but the effort during Toho's experimental period does show and remember I'm only comparing these effects to the effects in the film's related to the Godzilla franchise, so please excuse me if I don't know if there was a Toho giant monster film made during this experimental period that out did itself in terms of effects that make this film look like nothing.
We finally move on to the human characters and I must honestly say that much like the characters in the first Godzilla flick, these are actual human characters that I do care about and find myself being interested in, than just being good actors who are just there to build-up the monster like in the previous two films. The fairies that get captured and have to be saved by Mothra are so cute, innocent, and beautiful that you actually do feel enchanted by them, while also feeling bad for them at the same time; and their singing voices are so hauntingly beautiful that it really just adds to the enchantment to these characters. The film's villain despite being a one dimensional cliched greedy villain, the actor playing this villain is fun to watch, as well as making him very unlikable, which overall makes for an entertaining villain that you love to hate. Then there's the hot headed boss of the Newspaper business that two of our main characters work for, and the constant comical mood swings that this hot headed boss goes through as he goes from telling the characters to just get the story, to doing the right thing is fun to watch. The film does have a character that also plays out to the film's younger audience and that character is a kid who's related to one of our main characters, who's also a good actor and likable character, instead of just being a bad kid actor that's just in the film to be annoyingly cutesy to appeal to younger audiences. For me though, the best character in the whole entire film is the comical News reporter Zen. He's an enjoyably comical and over the top character that does silly and crazy things that are funny; but there's enough innocence and likability to this character to keep him from being the annoying obnoxious comical sidekick. Every scene that this character is in, he pretty much steals, whether he's doing something silly and comical; being appropriately dramatic during a serious moment; or doing a heroic deeds like saving a baby or taking part in a silly and childish looking fight. He's just an all around fun character who for me is one of the best human characters in this whole entire franchise. The only characters that I didn't find as memorable as the characters that I just mentioned are the scientist and the female reporter played by Kyoko Kagawa, and while not being memorable characters, the actors still do a great job at making the characters likable enough for you to care about them, instead of being completely bored by them.
After so much trouble of trying to review this film, I'm not going to lie, it was worth it, because it actually is a really enjoyable movie. The film's change of tone of being a family friendly giant monster is enjoyable and charming; the characters are fun and likable characters that you give a damn about; the build-up to Mothra is exciting; and Mothra in both forms is awesome, along with the scenes of destruction that she causes. The only major issue that I have with the film are the effects, because they are indeed laughably cheesy for how fake they are aside from one or two effects that I thought upped Toho's game. Still as bad as the effects are, the scenes of destruction are still entertaining and fun to watch. And like I said before, despite failing at looking real, the efforts from Toho of making these effects during this period of experimenting with other different types of giant monster films, along with the actors trying hard to work with these effects really does show. If you can get past the laughably bad effects despite the film's efforts of working with these effects, you will indeed find "Mothra" to be a wonderfully entertaining film that carries both the family and giant monster elements very well!
RATING 4/5
No comments:
Post a Comment