GODZILLA AND MOTHRA: THE BATTLE FOR EARTHDirector: Tokao Okawara
Genre: Kaiju eiga
THE MOVIE
After the ho-hum reception to Godzilla Vs. Biollante Toho decided that they were going to bring back some of the popular monsters from their vast pool of characters. After Godzilla Vs. King Ghidorah, Toho decided to bring back the very popular Mothra for the third Heisei Godzilla movie and the result is Godzilla and Mothra: The Battle For Earth. While not a total remake of Godzilla Vs. Mothra, G&M revisits a lot of elements of the earlier Toho classic, which is widely considered one of the better movies in the series. Like the previous movie, there is a remote island, a mysterious egg, a pair of fairy-like twins, an environmental theme, and an evil corporation out to exploit Mothra. The 1992 movie does add a new character in the form of Battra, Mothra's dark doppleganger and ancient opponent.
Godzilla shows off the prize he won from cashing in his tickets at Dave & Busters.A meteorite crashes into the Pacific and awakens Godzilla and also begins causing climatic disruptions. The meteorite also awakens a giant horned worm, which had apparently be slumbering beneath the sea as well. This new monster is aggressive and begins wreaking havoc.
Meanwhile, the storms reveal a giant egg on a remote island in the Pacific. A Japanese corporation sends in a crew to investigate, including a very Indiana Jones-like treasure hunter and his estranged wife. After discovering ancient cave paintings of battling insect monsters, they are contacted by the Cosmos, the miniature twins who speak for Mothra, an ancient Earth Guardian and that in the distant past she battled and defeated Battra, another guardian who had gone rogue. Battra-or at least another Battra-was sealed away beneath the sea until 1999 when he would rise again to intercept an asteroid headed for Earth.
When the company attempts the take the egg back to Japan, their ship is attacked by Godzilla, who is then attacked himself by the worm creature, now revealed to be Battra's larva. The egg then hatches revealing the Mothra larva. Battra battles Godzilla on the sea floor until both are trapped in a volcanic trench, leaving Mothra to swim away.
Later, Mothra spins her cocoon and hatches as the adult butterfly form of Mothra. Godzilla soon reappears as does the now adult Battra. The three battle until the two guardians join forces (after they apparently talk out their differences) to overcome Godzilla. The giant is defeated but Battra is killed, leaving Mothra to fulfill his task of intercepting the giant asteroid on a collision for Earth.
Can you blame him for being cranky?All-in-all, Godzilla and Mothra is a decent entry to the Heisei series of Godzilla movies and a fun update of Godzilla Vs. Mothra. Battra is a pretty cool addition to the Toho pantheon. It's interesting to have a darker spin on the Mothra design, however his actions toward the end of the movie aren't adequately explained. Also unexplained is why the ancients would use him to thwart the asteroid if he was so dangerously unstable in the first place.
This movie adds the "Earth Protector" mythos to the Mothra story and gives her a role in ancient human history. This plot point is utilized even in the later Millennium movies and is pretty much the standard back story at this point as opposed to the primitive "island goddess" backstory that she used to have.
How'd you like to find that crawling around in your backyard?THE MONSTERS/EFFECTS
Between Godzilla and the various Mothra and Battra forms, G&M has quite a bit of monster variety going on. Goji himself is largely unchanged from his look in Ghidorah. He retains the characteristic mammalian Heisei head and muscular upper body. One thing that has always struck me as weird about this version of Godzilla is that the upper half of his body is buff, yet he has enormous thunder thighs and cankles. He really needs to spread that work out around.
This version of Mothra was her first real appearance since 1968 and her re-introduction was only moderately successful. While the familiar larva design is actually pretty well done in G&M, the actual adult imago form leaves a lot to be desired. Often Mothra has suffered in Toho's movies from looking a bit like a plush toy and that is certainly the case here, where she looks like something you would pull out of a claw game. She's a bit too cuddly looking and it appears the puppet is totally flocked, even the wings. Needless to say, the flying is less than convincing, which is a problem that was not really solved until Godzilla Mothra King Ghidorah in 2001.
Perhaps a giant can of Raid would be useful?Battra, however, is quite a cool design in both the larva and flying form. The designers took the basic Mothra larva form and made it a lot meaner and more aggressive-looking, with some bold colors, sharp scales and a giant horn, from which it shoots energy beams. The adult form is pretty cool as well and a lot less butterfly-like than Mothra. Battra has a kind of crown of horns and a more powerful-looking body with more robust legs than his counterpart. Interestingly, Battra does not need to spin a cocoon and simply transforms into his adult body. Also, Battra is able to fire lightning out of every orifice.
This is Battra's sole movie appearance but he does make an appearance in the Xbox game Godzilla Save The Earth as a summonable character. In the Playstation 2 version of Godzilla Unleashed he is a playable character, although he is just a clone of Mothra. He does make an appearance in the recent IDW comic series Godzilla: Kingdom of Monsters.
MOST MEMORABLE SEQUENCE
The end battle sequence is pretty cool and takes place at an amusement park. Battra sustains some pretty nasty injuries from Godzilla as the two Earth Guardians fly him out to sea.
SEQUELS
Followed by Godzilla Vs. Mechagodzilla II.
HOME VIDEO AVAILABILITY
On a double sided DVD with Godzilla Vs. King Ghidorah.
TRAILER
Patrick Garone
www.patrickgarone.com
facebook.com/cityofthegodsnovel
Follow Me On Twitter
No comments:
Post a Comment