Godzilla VS Mothra (1992)
Produced and Released by: Toho Co. Ltd.
Director: Takao Okawara
By Dr Kain

Introduction

Godzilla returned in 1991 along with a new origin story for King Ghidorah, who was a fan-favorite from the Showa series. In 1992 Toho resurrected another monster, this time it was Mothra, however instead of creating a film that was similar to the original Mothra vs. Godzilla, Toho threw in a new monster into the mix, Battra the Black Mothra.

The Story

A meteorite crashes down to the Earth and sets off a series of disasters such as typhoons and at the same time causes the world’s Defense Agency to lose track of Godzilla. A gigantic egg is uncovered on Infant Island, located in Indonesia.

Three people are sent to the island to check out the egg, a convict and grave robber named Takuya Fujita (Tetsuya Bessho), his ex-wife Masako Tezuka (Satomi Kobayashi), and a representative of Marumoto Corporation (a deforestation company) Kenji Andoh (Takehiro Murata). While on the island they run into little girls the size of dolls called The Cosmos. The Cosmos tell the group that the egg belongs to Mothra, the guardian of a civilization that was around thousands of years ago, which had managed to construct a device to control the weather. Nature took revenge on this culture and created Battra, the Black Mothra, who succeeded in destroying the weather device, causing the Cosmos’ race to be destroyed. Battra is predicted to return now that Mothra’s egg has been uncovered.

Takuya, Masako, and Kenji take the egg back with them on a boat when they return home, but the cruise is interrupted by Godzilla’s attack on the egg. Mothra hatches and dives into the ocean when Battra also appears in its larvae form. Godzilla and Battra battle each other underwater until the ground splits and lava ipours out into the ocean. Both Godzilla and Battra disappear, at least for now.

After returning to Japan Kenji kidnapped the Cosmos and took them to the Marumoto Corporation, where they plan to use them to make a lot of money. The Cosmos summon Mothra, who stirs up panic around Japan until they are saved. While Mothra is leaving, he/she/it is attacked by the military, crawls up to the Diet Building and creates a cocoon.

Hours later Godzilla emerges from a volcano and Battra comes up from the sea, transforming into its adult form, and Mothra hatches from the cocoon, also in his/her/its adult form. The three gather in Yokohama and begin to fight each other. Mothra and Battra team up and fly Godzilla off into the sea where he is dropped along with the dead Battra. Mothra and the Cosmos leave the Earth because an asteroid is on a crash course toward Earth, set to hit in 1999. Mothra had promised Battra she/he/it would take care of the asteroid in its place.

Review

Godzilla vs. Mothra 1992 was first released in the US in 1998 through Sony when Roland Emerich’s Godzilla movie was about to hit theaters. I immediately picked it up, and found the movie quite enjoyable.

The movie seems to be more of a remake of the original Mothra vs. Godzilla, but the introduction of Battra and the battle at the end help it improve upon the original. The twin girls/Cosmos seem to be kidnapped in every movie they appear in, and this was no different. It does get a little stale, but it was funny to see them get kidnapped from the kidnappers. They are also not as goofy looking as the ones from the Showa era, and I found that to also be an improvement.

The costumes for the monsters are excellent. Godzilla looks fierce, but the top of his head still looks like an egg much like in Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah, but that doesn’t detract from the design. Mothra’s larvae form looks nearly identical to the Showa’s version, but it is the adult form that looks different. Instead of being some yellow looking color, the fur is pure white with colorful wings. Battra has the coolest looking form, which reminds me of something out of the Legacy of Kain video game series. The larvae form looks like a moth larvae, but blue/black with yellow horns and red stripe. The adult form also looks like an adult moth with the blue/black skin/fur, but has spikes over its body, three horns, and red and black colored wings.

Conclusion

While this movie is not the best of the Heisei series, it is still a really interesting movie. The battles are cool, and Battra was an interesting idea. If you have never seen this movie, I highly recommend it.

Movie Score 4/5

Dr Kain