Post by lunarmoth on Aug 13, 2018 9:55:30 GMT -8
I don't think it should be any surprise that I like Mothra. Next to Godzilla, she's my favorite of Toho's creations, so I figured why not have a discussion thread for her movies? Though I don't believe the second or third of the Rebirth trilogy are significant enough to warrant to their own threads, so the first one will have to share. Who else has seen these movies, and what did you think of them?
In my opinion there's a clear linear arc in the storytelling quality. They're all very clearly targeted towards children primarily, and that has the usual negative effects on kaiju movies it normally does. Though they aren't so potent until the third movie. The first Rebirth of Mothra, despite the multiple showtunes (one could call them), is definitely the best. The children and their parents mostly act pretty believably, mostly, and so don't really bring down the story any. Though the prolonged chase scene between Belvera and her sisters in the family's house does drag on.
However, once we get to the monster things get great. Death Ghidorah (No. I will not call him Des Ghidorah) despite the unimaginative name has a great design, and the fights between it, Mothra, and Mothra's child are awesome. There's a bit of emotional weight to the end of the first encounter (trying not to spoil), and Mothra Leo is green...What? I like green.
Rebirth of Mothra II isn't nearly as good, though. The children are less believable, and so are the adults. Though the main adults' cheese does get a little amusing after awhile. The main plot of the movie is nonsensical, though. When the treasure of Nirai Kanai is revealed it makes a large portion of the movie pointless. That said, the fights in this one are also top notch.
And Rebirth of Mothra III is the worst one. Bringing in King Ghidorah to face Mothra on her own sounds awesome, right? So why is it the worst? Because it is stupid. None of the kids are believable. King Ghidorah kidnapping children instead of just...you know destroying shit is never explained. Mothra goes back in time cause reasons, which kills one of the fairies...cause reasons. The main kid character is someone who I feel NOTHING for, and I'm given no reason to. And the magical mcguffin introduced at the start doesn't actually play any important role in the plot other than to an undo something better left the way it was after Ghidorah's already been killed.
BUT Rebirth of Mothra III again features GREAT fights. Like seriously, this entire trilogy is full of some of Toho's best kaiju brawls. And it also features the best design Mothra's ever had in my opinion. Eternal Mothra. Which you can see if you mouse over my avatar.
So all in all, really only the first one is worth much of a watch I'd say. As the series declines with each entry. But the trilogy honestly has some really amazing fights, and Mothra herself is never one of the problems in the movies.
