Rating of
3.5/4
One of the better Godzilla movies I've seen
The M.O.W. - wrote on 09/07/08
A meteor has struck Earth, and it wakes "Battra," a monster akin to "Mothra," that once destroyed a dominate civilization that tried to control the Earth's weather system. "Battra" was supose to wake to save the planet of a planet-destroyer meteor, but the smaller one woke him too early. Not only did the meteor waken "Battra," it woke one of the most deadly creatures to ever roam the planet -- "Godzilla"!
Shortly after the meteor struck the planet, a gigantic greenish egg is discovered, and is placed on a barge to be taken to Tokyo, Japan, along with two minute priestesses called "The Cosmos" (Keiko Imamura and Sayaka Osawa) who are able to communicate with "Mothra," a giant moth-like creature inside the egg.
Suddenly, while the ship hauling "Mothra's" egg is en route home, "Godzilla" appears and attacks the egg -- thus hatching the larvae inside. "Godzilla" is eventually distracted by "Battra," giving "Mothra" the chance to head to Japan to save "The Cosmos".
"Mothra" then becomes the focus of the Japanese military, since "Battra" and "Godzilla" seemingly disappeared. After the battle, "Mothra" spins a cocoon around itself to change into its adult form as "Godzilla" emerges from Mt Fuji, and "Battra" comes from nowhere.
At first, "Battra" and "Motra" fight one another until "Godzilla" attacks. "Mothra" then convinces its rival to join forces to defeat the nuclear-powered lizard.
The first thing you will have to notice is the special effects. Some look a lot older than they are, while others work nicely. You still get to see a person in a combersome "Godzilla" costume" stomping on obvious building models, as well as model miltary vehicles and aircraft -- but that is what the fans want. Another thing you will notice is that it's fairly obvious that the humans are in front of a blue screen when dealing with "The Cosmos" and "Mothra".
There is a lot of subplots to attract a female audience. One being that "Mothra" is very much like a mother protecting her children in its relationship with "The Cosmos". Another is that two main human characters, who are divorced, bury the hatchet for the sake of their daughter who loves them more than anything.
Because of the frequent battle scenes with the monsters, the human storylines are not able to be explored to great extent. It is, after all, a movie about the monsters more than the humans. The characters were well written, and well performed, but weren't given much since they mostly had to run from the monsters most of the time.
Despite getting top billing, "Godzilla" isn't given much to do in this film. This movie is really "Mothra" and "Battra's". However, even though "Godzilla" is the villian, you do cheer when he emerges from the volcano in the final battle between it and the two flying foes. The battles, especially the ones in and under the water, are fun to watch. Other special effects, like the dust that "Mothra" emits and "Godzilla's" famed fire-breath and the vocalizations of the monsters have been nicely put together, and are quite simular to simular sound effects used about 40 years ago.
Japan is mostly seen in model form while the monsters destroy the city, and each other. However, these scenes are nicely edited together with scenes with real buildings.
There is some violence, but no blood in this film. And I can only recall only one instance of foul language. It is also not a very scary movie. Real young, highly impressionable children may need to be kept away from this film, especially if they don't understand that the monsters are pretend. I would say that children under five shouldn't watch it, but I remember my mother babysitting a three-year old who loved "The King of the Monsters".
Non-fans may enjoy what little plots involving the humans there is, and the obvious message of how we need to take care of Mother Earth before something more worse than the three monsters combind happens. But the fanbase of this genre will certainly enjoy this much more.
