Review: Godzilla vs. Mothra

Corrupt businessman (Kenji Sahara) and his slimy cohort Yoshifumi Tajima stumble upon Mothra’s eggs that have washed up on the beach. They decide it’s a genius idea to profit off of it. Reporter Akira Takarada and annoying photographer Yuriko Hoshi team up with their professor pal Hiroshi Koizumi to aid Mothra’s twin guardians (Emi and Yumi Ito) in setting things back in order. Unfortunately the shit has already hit the fan anyway with Godzilla showing up to wreak things across Japan. Will Mothra be able to be used to counter Godzilla’s destructive forces? And did I mention there’s two perfectly healthy Mothra eggs laying about as well? Jun Tazaki as usual does grunt work playing the newspaper editor who is forever making fun of dopey journalist Yu Fujiki.

Many a Godzilla/kaiju fan consider this 1964 entry to be their favourite Godzilla film. Being directed by the great Ishiro Honda (“Gojira”, “Godzilla vs. Monster Zero”, and “Destroy All Monsters”- all great kaiju films) himself it’s certainly in my Top 10. Scripted by Shinichi Sekizawa (“Mothra”, the aforementioned “Godzilla vs. Monster Zero”), it has the benefit of not only featuring the G-Man himself, but my favourite monster, Mothra. Sure, Mothra was never the most threatening monster, in fact Mothra has always been most effective as an ally to Godzilla throughout the years (And FYI, I probably prefer the standalone 1961 “Mothra” film to this one). It always seemed the ‘friendliest’ of the Japanese monsters, aside from maybe Godzilla’s dopey Pillsbury Doughboy son Minya/Minilla, of course. I’ve always thought Mothra was one of the prettiest and strangest-looking of the monsters. It’s also for me the most interesting, being that it can exist and attack/defend in two states of being (larvae and moth), and the whole mythology of the character is fascinatingly weird. The two Mothra twin girls (who act as kind of guardians/interpreters) are classic Toho kaiju weirdness that I love, and Mothra also lays eggs so it can reproduce which always comes in handy if you’re worried about killing it off at some point. The film is definitely more Mothra than Godzilla, but the former is so weird and fascinating you won’t care that the G-Man is getting a bit of short shrift.

It’s in the human department that we start to see a few cracks. The film probably boasts one of the more recognisable casts of the franchise, in that almost all of the usual players are in this one. It’s really only Akira Kubo and Akihiko Hirata missing here. That said, lead actors Akira Takarada and bubble-headed Yuriko Hoshi are pretty bland, with the former also playing kind of a jerk, really. So that’s a shame, as Takarada is normally pretty reliable. Better work comes from fellow Toho veteran Kenji Sahara as the villain. He’s pretty good but plays a distant second in the acting stakes here. The real standout and absolute scene-stealer is Yoshifumi Tajima as an amusing pompous idiot. Next to the monsters, he’s what you’ll remember here long after the film is finished.

As I said earlier, Godzilla is probably given less prominence here than Mothra, however his entrance 30 minutes into the film is rather unique. He emerges from out of the dirt/sand, not the Pacific ocean as per usual. Admittedly that coolness is sullied a little bit when the first footage of him walking ends up looking too much like what it actually is: A guy in a suit. It’s a brief but regrettably noticeable bit. He’s also clumsy as fuck this time out, but that’s not actually a criticism, just an amusing observation. He gets his tail caught in a communications tower, bringing it crashing down on himself somewhat. Then he slips and falls into a big house. Was Frank Spencer from “Some Mothers Do ‘Ave ‘Em” in the suit? Did the big green G have a hard night out on the piss beforehand? Funny stuff at any rate. Meanwhile, all the CGI in the world just doesn’t compare to watching a man in a rubber suit getting attacked by toy tanks. It’s so much fun, I particularly liked the night scenes of Godzilla surrounded by explosions and fire. Awesome stuff from Toho circa the 1960s. For an imperfect film on the human front, you can’t say this doesn’t deliver the goods on the monster front. The final 30 minutes in particular are excellent, even if Mothra in moth form always looks a bit out of its depth in any kind of violent combat. That has always been the drawback with the creature, with all of its mythology and bits and bobs being its strength. However, Godzilla and the military more than hold up their end of things, and Mothra looks so cool it doesn’t matter.

The best way to describe this enjoyable Toho monster movie is to call it oddly charming. The monster action is terrific and makes the film more than worthwhile, even when some of the human scenes are a bit of a bore. 

Rating: B-