Monster Movie of the Week: Rebirth of Mothra (1996)

Rebirth of Mothra (1996)
Directed by: Okihiro Yoneda
Genre: Kaiju eiga/Family

THE MOVIE

After Godzilla was "killed" in Godzilla vs. Destoroyah to make way for an American movie, Toho decided to produce a few movies focusing on their second most popular kaiju, Mothra (with the also-popular King Ghidorah in a supporting role). While she's best known to audiences for her many appearances in Godzilla's movies, Mothra actually debuted in her own eponymous movie in 1961, before being incorporated into the larger Toho monster universe, so Rebirth of Mothra is not her first time carrying a movie.

Rebirth of Mothra and its two sequels are not particularly well known in the U.S. (the third one has never even been available on DVD) and they might strike Toho fans as a bit kiddish but that shouldn't stop anyone from checking them out. Kaiju-philes will find a lot to love and some very cool monster designs despite the juvenile tone, ham-fisted environmental message, and low budget. It's also nice to see Mothra and Ghidorah get some of the spotlight for themselves.

More than any of the other Toho movies, the Rebirth of the Mothra series gives a central role to the Elias, the ubiquitous twins who have been Mothra's keepers and companions since her very first movie. Here the Elias are joined by a third (and evil) sister, Belvera. While the Elias ride around on a small butterfly, Belvera's mount is a tiny fire-breathing dragon. Throughout the three movies of the Mothra Trilogy, the three sisters battle it out, often using humans and monsters as surrogates, for the fate of the world. It's actually nice to see the Elias doing something more active rather than simply singing or waiting to be rescued.

In the first Rebirth movie, Belvera seeks to unleash an ancient monster, Death Ghidorah, from it's tomb deep within the heart of a mountain. She possesses a young girl to help her, while the girl's brother is enlisted by the Elias to prevent their sister from releasing Ghidorah. Sadly they fail and the monster wreaks havoc. The twins are forced to call upon Mothra who is old and exhausted from having just laid an egg. She is defeated by the monster but her offspring hatches and joins the fight. The battle rages and the mother is defeated but the new larva spins a cocoon and is reborn as Motra Leo, who finally defeats the monster and avenges his mother.


THE MONSTERS/EFFECTS

The Mothras tend to be on the cuddlier side, as they had during the Monster's appearance during the rest of the Heisei movies but I'm happy to say that Mothra Leo is given a slightly more aggressive design than the traditional Mothra. This is perhaps because he is the first explicitly male version of the character that we have seen.


Death Ghidorah is a bit more interesting as he is a substantially different version of the character than we have seen. In fact, he is not really even King Ghidorah but rather a kind of "Ghidroid," who shares a lot of Ghidorah's characteristics-three heads, wings, a nasty attitude-but has a different body layout and coloration. I, for one, like the redesign as the traditional Ghidorah has always seemed a bit topheavy and awkward, stumbling around on two legs. A four-legged Ghidorah makes a bit more sense. As much as I like the classic golden scaled appearance of the original Ghidorah, I like the rough skin texture and dark color scheme on this one. It's a really good alternate look for the character.
This look for Ghidorah is pretty influential as well. The short neck and smaller proportions made an appearance in the great Godzilla Mothra King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All Out Attack. The quadrupedal body layout also returned in Godzilla: Final Wars as Kaiser Ghidorah, who looks a bit like Rebirth of Mothra's Death Ghidorah.


HOME VIDEO AVAILABILITY

The first two Rebirth movies are available as a two pack DVD in the same style as most of the Heisei Godzilla movies. They are available as mail rentals from Netflix and all three movies are free to watch on Crackle.


MOST MEMORABLE SEQUENCE

The extended battle sequence at the end is pretty cool and is actually the first time Mothra and Ghidorah have tangled without Godzilla.

TRAILER





Patrick Garone is a writer, director, sketch comedian, and blogger. He is the author of City of the Gods: The Return of Quetzalcoatl. Follow him on Twitter for fun-sized ramblings on nerd culture and politics.