Yes, I'm reviewing the American dub. The reason for it is because when I bought the Blu-Ray, despite having the option to listen to the film in Japanese with subtitles instead of watching the silly American dubbing, the English subtitles is still the dialogue that's heard in the English dub. How do I know this since I've never seen the original Japanese version? Well having the opening credits written in English, instead of Japanese are a big give away (which I'm beginning to realize that I more than likely reviewed the American cut of "Godzilla VS The Sea Monster" that was just dubbed in Japanese), as well as having the original title "Godzilla VS Mothra" in Japanese with the American title placed right in front of it. I've also read that the end credits are cut short in the American version, and that the fairies are now called the "Cosmos", which is all shown in the version that I own. It's a shame that I won't be reviewing the film the way it was originally released, but at least I won't have to listen to horrible English dubbing. And just to give you a heads up on the rest of my reviews of the Godzilla films from the “Heisei Era”, it turns that out the rest of the Blu-Ray’s I bought also are the American cuts that carries the same features that the “Godzilla And Mothra” Blu-Ray has. So even though I’m watching them in Japanese with English subtitles, I’m still sadly reviewing the American dubs. So with that out of the way, ON WITH THE REVIEW!
An archaeologist (Tetsuya Bessho) is sent by the Japanese Prime Minister to explore an infant Island with his ex-wife (Satomi Kobayashi), and the secretary of the rapacious Marutomo Company (Takehiro Murata); or else he'll be put away in jail for stealing an ancient artifact. The trio visits the Island and discovers a cave painting of two giant insects fighting each other, a giant egg on the other side of the cave, and two little women who are the Earth’s "Cosmos" (Keiko Imamura and Sayaka Osawa). The Cosmos explain to the trio that the asteroid that has recently landed on Earth (as shown in the beginning of the movie) has uncovered Mothra's egg, and awoken a creature known as Battra who hates humanity for their selfish destruction to the planet, and is a sworn enemy of Mothra. Mothra hatches out of her egg to protect the world from Battra's rage, but the business secretary takes the Cosmos to give them to his greedy boss (Makoto Ohtake) as a substitute for failing to give him the egg so he can money off of it, which causes Mothra to save the Cosmos' as she destroys the city. Oh and Godzilla was also awoken by the asteroid that landed in the ocean, and plans to destroy Japan along with the two monsters.
Unlike how the last three Godzilla films (not counting the American cut of "The Return Of Godzilla") were dark and gritty with complex and adult plots that hardly ever played out to the younger crowd, this one goes back to the franchise's family friendly roots. It has a sense of adventure filled with childlike charm and wonder. You have supporting characters that you can easily identify who is the hero, who is the comic relief, who is the love interest, and who is the villain right off the bat. There's a save the Earth message that's as a subtle as the message is delivered in an episode of "Captain Planet"! The plot is completely straight forward with little to no slow moments, unlike the other two films. The environment and some of the designs for the monsters isn't as shady as the other three films were (especially Mothra's new bright and colorful look). You have the singing fairies looking innocent and cute. And to emphasize on the fact that this film is directly aimed for a family audience, there's a wide eyed child who's the daughter of our two human leads that interacts with the Cosmos and Mothra. If you read my reviews or saw "Mothra" and "Mothra VS Godzilla", you may also notice a few similarities in this film's plot such as a giant egg being found on an Island; a greedy businessman who wants to capitalize on the egg and the Cosmos; Mothra starting out in her Larva form and cocooning herself to transform into her Imago form; And Mothra going on a mission to rescue the Cosmos while destroying the city. There's even a scene when Mothra destroys a Navy Ship as the Cosmos sing their song for her to save them that's a copy of a scene in the first film that Mothra appeared in. For many Godzilla fans, the concept of bringing the franchise back to the days when the franchise was aiming towards kids instead of adults, while taking aspects from other film's that starred Mothra felt like a step-backwards for this new era of Godzilla films. And as much as I perfectly understand where the fans are coming from, personally I don't mind it. I actually find it quite refreshing to see the series take a break from its dark and adult edge to give us something fun and family friendly, especially for a film that stars Mothra. And it's not like it tones down the action or strays far way from the dark look, because it doesn't. It's actually balanced out just as well as the first two films that starred Mothra. Furthermore, it’s not like this is the first time the "Heisei Era" had something aimed for kids. Remember the Dorats in the last movie?
As rehashed as some the elements from the first two Mothra movies are, they do change a few things around with Mothra's design, ability, and origins. Instead of being part of a Native Tribe whose primary purpose is to protect the fairies, she's a guardian of the Earth, and protects the fairies because they're the Earth's Cosmos which is an overall cool and (for the most part) clever way of reinventing this famous monster. The design and effect for her Larva form aren't much different from her Larva form in the original films, and she doesn’t have any new powers in that form (at least not ones that stand-out). The scene when she attacks in that form as entertaining as it is, it isn't anything new and exciting. But to be fair, I think the scene was more focused on the emotion surrounding the characters (including the little girl) trying to deliver the Cosmos to her, as the army are getting ready to fire at her when they get a clear shot.
In the scenes when Mothra builds her Cocoon and hatches out
of it, I was hyped to see her appear in her Imago form for this new series of
Godzilla films, while being enchanted by the singing from the off-screen choir
(when she builds her Cocoon) and the Cosmos singing (when she hatches out of
it). And when I finally got a full view of Mothra's Imago form, I was impressed by
it. Granted the design for her wings look fake when with Mothra’s original
design they looked realistic. But I don't mind it for how soft and colorful
they look. There's sense of wonder of wanting to pet those beautiful fuzzy
wings. I also admire that they made her blue eyes glow that adds a sense of
life to the character, when with her original design, her eyes seemed lifeless.
Sure she doesn't change an expression which should make her seem more like a
puppet than a life-like creature. But the way the scenes with her interacting
with a character or a monster are directed that’s supported by music that can
be at times heartwarming or emotional, gives you a sense of every emotion
that's coming out of this monster's interaction with the people and things
around her. As for the flying effect, you hardly see the strings, but you do
get a sense that she's a puppet being pulled on a wire, but I do think she
looks more life like than King Ghidorah looked in the previous film (mostly for
how her scenes are shot and edited). In terms of abilities, Toho gives her
mostly new powers such as firing energy beams from her antenna, using her
pollen that creates a barrier around Godzilla that causes Godzilla's atomic
blasts to bounce back at him, and can produce lightning energy from the
underside of her wings. I did wish to see her create hurricane-like winds with
her wings like she used to do, but given that she's now played out as a
protector for the planet, I don't mind that ability being absent.
The new monster Battra has to be the best monster in this movie. The build-up to him isn't anything special, but it’s still suspenseful. That moment when he awakens and breaks out of the ice block is a very eerie scene because of how little we see of his face, and how the dramatic music just makes his entrance seem like that he's a stronger and deadly force compared to Mothra. When I first got a full glimpse of his design in his Larva form, I was freaked out for how devilish it looks, with its evil red glowing eyes, razor sharp teeth, and being covered with spikes all over his body. The color scheme of his body being drenched with the colors black, yellow, and red also adds to the fear factor of Mothra's demon counterpart. The roar that he carries is unfortunately the same roar as the monster Rodan, but I do like how they make this roar sound satanic to emphasize how evil he is. When Battra turns into his Imago, as cool and threatening as he looks where he looks like a combination of a bat and an insect as if it were created by Satan, I'd be lying if I said that I thought he looks and acts just as badass as he did in his Larva form. It's not bad, but I felt like he looked and acted more threatening and powerful in his Larva form, when in his Imago form he appears to be a little weaker. I felt like he could actually take down both Mothra and Godzilla in his original form, then in his current form. In fact, if you look at his Larva form, he's actually bigger than Mothra, when in his Imago form he appears to be about the same height as Mothra which takes away a bit of his menacing presence towards our hero. I also hate how he just instantly turns into his Imago form, instead of making himself a Cocoon like Mothra did. Can you imagine how awesome Battra's cocoon would probably look? The scenes with Battra in both forms destroying the city are cool scenes, but it’s mostly the scary and dramatic atmosphere that makes these scenes so intense.
Finally out of the three monsters there's the king of monsters himself Godzilla, and for a film titled "Godzilla And Mothra: The Battle For Earth", Godzilla isn't really the focus of the movie. It's really the fight between Mothra and Battra that's the film’s primary focus. Godzilla's presence just feels there for a marquee value just like how he was shoehorned into the movie "Godzilla VS Megalon". He honestly didn't feel needed. If anything, he just serves more as tool to give us more action, and a reason for Mothra and Battra to settle their differences (I seriously don't think I'm giving anything away. It seems pretty obvious since Godzilla wants to destroy both of them). I'm not going to say that the action scenes of them fighting each other aren’t awesome, because they are, especially in the climax. But I find it extremely underwhelming that Godzilla isn't the star of the movie. This film should have just been called "Mothra VS Battra: The Battle For Earth", instead of "Godzilla And Mothra". The Godzilla suit is also starting to look a little faker then it did in the previous movie. His neck and skin look more rubbery than it looked in the last film, and his face now completely lacks expression and emotion, when in the previous film, his face seemed very expressive (especially for when he meets the businessman who admires him for saving him and his troops). Toho also changed Godzilla's roar to make it sound high pitched and less threatening, which in my opinion totally kills the tone of making Godzilla evil and monstrous. I can understand why they made his roar less menacing in the "Showa" film's since he was portrayed more as hero. But since he's made to be a villain in this film, toning down his roar to make it sound less scary is completely unnecessary, especially when you already have a monster that has a roar from hell. As for the rest of the effects for the scenes of the monsters fighting and causing destruction, I don't think they're as bad as fans build them up to be. The vehicles do look very toy-like (especially when you see toy Pilots in the Jet-planes up close), and the use of optical effects for the lasers does a get a bit tiresome after awhile, but I still think they look fine. The models for the city are mostly shot up to scale and look well detailed. The use of explosions and optical effects still look cool. And the cinematography and the choreography for the fights are well put together.
As you already know, the human characters are easy to identify and are not as complex as the other characters were in the previous two films. There's not even a large variety of them either. And truth be told, I'm glad they cut the cast of characters short, instead of having too many. Sure there are a bunch of characters in the military and politics who just watch Godzilla, and the appearance of the psychic woman Miki (Megumi Odaka) is just as pointless as she was in the previous film. But they're not in the film as much as the human characters that I've mentioned when describing the film's plot and style. And the characters themselves are actually not boring, or uninteresting. I was attached to them from beginning to end. The Archeologist despite being an Indiana Jones rip-off (complete with stealing an artifact in a temple with traps, and hanging on a dangling rocky old bridge) is still enjoyable. The relationship between the Archeologist and his Ex-Wife is interesting, as the actors themselves share great chemistry together. The comic-relief character has plenty of good comical moments. The little girl despite obviously playing out to the young crowd has one or two sweet scenes. And the actresses playing the Cosmos are just as cute as the Peanuts were at playing these fairies in the "Showa Era", while also having such beautiful singing voices. The matting effects for the fairies are hit and miss, where the effect will look convincing at times, when on other occasions you get the impression that they're added in to a scene to look small (particularly when the little girl is holding them in the palm of her hand, where the fairies seem to be floating for no reason at all). The only major hang-up that I have with these characters, which is also the biggest issue that I have with the film is the forced saving the earth message that surrounds the film. I'm not at all against saving the earth because I do think this issue should be addressed to kids. But how the film delivers this message isn't anywhere near subtle. It’s completely shoved in your face, and comes off as painfully preachy. And how the characters (including the Cosmos) talk about the message just feels unnatural, and out of the blue. Its almost feels as if the characters are breaking the fourth wall and directly talking down to the audience to remind them that the earth needs saving, like how a cartoon character like Captain Planet would do. And to make the message come off as even more pretentious is the obvious bad guy, who you know right away that he's going to be the human antagonist. I mean sure he's entertaining for how over the top nasty and childish he is, but his character and motivation is cliched to the point where it feels old and worn out. His personality is all bark and no bite. And despite being a cold hearted and selfish human being, he doesn't get punished for it at all! This whole forced moral is undoubtedly the film’s biggest weak spot.
When I reviewed "Godzilla VS King Ghidorah" I went in expecting it to be as great as people build it up to be, but instead found the film to be way too over-hyped, despite still enjoying it. With this film I went in expecting it to be as bad as fans make it out to be with very little good in it, but instead found myself thoroughly enjoying it. I'm not going to say it’s a great Godzilla film or one of my favorites in the "Heisei Era". But I don't think it’s as bad as something like "Godzilla's Revenge" or "Godzilla VS Hedorah". The characters are likable. The action scenes are a lot of fun. Half of the effects look nice. Battra is a great addition to the franchise (who I hope to see again in later films). And some of the aspects of the film playing on the familiarity to earlier Mothra films, while adding a few new things are welcoming. Is it disappointing that Godzilla feels like he's been added in the plot as an afterthought; yes. Do half of the effects look bad; absolutely. Is the execution of the environmental message painful; completely! But for all its faults it still does know how to entertain, and keep you invested.
RATING 3/5
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