Toho Kingdom

LSD Jellyfish wrote:

Israha wrote:Looks like I'm one of the few who like second one the best. In my opinion, it has the best pace, best monster fights and is the only one with completely new and original villain (yep, Dagahra technically is just a generic dragon-ish creature, but at least he is new...unlike the two Ghidorah variations in first and third movie).

Storywise, I prefer the third one, but overall, my vote goes to second. First one I consider the most unengaging of the three.

Yeah I agree Daghrla was cool for being completely new but I still think Desghidorah was interesting enough. He had four legs, wasn't gold and was more spikier. Plus he had fire based weapons. He also was more hunched over and looked way more like a dragon. IMO he and Daghrla were cool, it's just a shame they most likely will never be in any other Godzilla related media.

Not saying Desghidorah is a bad monster, I'm actually a fan of him. And yep, he is semi-original, but three heads and "Ghidorah" in his name...that alone makes him a bit uninspired, in my point of view. But both him and Dagahra are great kaiju, I'd also like to see em used more than in one movie.

Surprised by the assertion that II has the best pace. I find it that it has both the most dull plotting and lifeless monster scenes of any of the trilogy. True, it doesn't suffer the same lag at the end of the second act as the first and third movies - it is the most evenly paced - but it has neither peaks nor valleys for me. Just one long, undifferentiated mass.

eabaker wrote:Surprised by the assertion that II has the best pace. I find it that it has both the most dull plotting and lifeless monster scenes of any of the trilogy. True, it doesn't suffer the same lag at the end of the second act as the first and third movies - it is the most evenly paced - but it has neither peaks nor valleys for me. Just one long, undifferentiated mass.

Yep, that's what I meant, the even pacing. Something is happening pretty much all the duration of the movie. Is the plotting simplistic, kiddish and sometimes flat out stupid? Definitely, but it has the flow. I like this approach more than "10 minutes of good action and 20 minutes of nothing" style.

But the monster scenes lifeless? Comparing to the first ROM, where Desghidorah is just standing on a spot 3/4 of his screentime? Couldn't disagree more.

I find monster immobility to be a major issue in all three RoM flicks, but Dagahra feels the most like a big, static lump to me. Sure, Death Ghidorah may stand in one place a lot, but at least his heads and necks move around; Dagahra has practically no articulation whatsoever.

As for the pacing, yeah, it keeps moving, but with no changes in the rhythm, that becomes really monotonous to me.

Dagahra is hella stiff, gotta agree with that. But he's moving from one place to another throughout the whole movie, while Desghidorah is just standing still, then takes off once, is knocked down and defeated, end of story. For how potentially cool and entertaining monster he is, he was severely underused in his movie. Dagahra was used way better, in my opinion.

Not to mention GKG (probably the best Ghidorah incarnation there is, I should say), his fight/destruction scenes are severely underdeveloped.

I definitely agree that III fatally underused GKG.

III has the best plot, II has the best dub.

Watched III for the first time last week in my friend's shed with hookah. That film was a lot better and much more enjoyable than I thought it'd be. Haven't seen the other two since I was really young so I have no idea how those fare by comparison.

Space Hunter M wrote:III has the best plot, II has the best dub.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-douBR6iIm4

Whoa, wtf. I haven't seen the dubs since I was like 10 but seeing them now they're super shitty.

I peronsally enjoy three (somewhat), probably just for GKG though.

Space Hunter M wrote:III has the best plot, II has the best dub.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-douBR6iIm4

I remember this! It did have a pretty craptastic dub.

The first one is easily the most watchable, mainly because it was a novelty to get a non-Godzilla film at the time and the repetitive formulas hadn't set in yet.

Mothra 2 is definitely the worst Toho giant monster film ever made.

Mothra 3 is almost as bad, but gets points for the King Ghidorah design. That's really all it has going for it though. It's still pretty awful.

Space Hunter M wrote:III has the best plot, II has the best dub.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-douBR6iIm4

Which begs the question, why do they always get horribly bad adult voice actors to dub kids in these things? I mean saying one has "the best dub" is really an exercise in deep relativity. Yeah It might not have the absolute worst dub, I mean the kids might not sound like 65 year old heavy smokers for once... But "best" in comparison does not always mean "good".

I like all three films, but got to give to Grand King Ghidorah in Rebirth of Mothra 3.

1st Movie: A new spin on an old character. Mothra Leo, male Mothra.
2nd Movie: Special Effects, Setting, Final Battle
3rd Movie: Grand King Ghidorah, Final Battle, The Plot Twist due to Time Travel

Now I have a question. In the first two films they establish that Mothra Leo is a male correct? But in the final film the keep calling Leo a female. Is this just an error in the English dub or is it present in the original Japanses dub also? Has anyone else noticed this?

Japanese doesn't rely as heavily on gendered pronouns as English, so I'd write this one off as a dubbing error.

I have 2 questions I would like to ask about Mothra 3.

First, why did they change the wing colors of Rainbow Mothra from being rainbow colored at the end of Mothra 2, to almost all blue in Mothra 3?

Second, why didn't Sayaka Yamaguchi reprise her role as Lara in Mothra 3 and was instead replaced by Misato Tate?

I actually enjoy them all - even the much-maligned ROM2. The first is the best, by virtue of the fact that it's tighter and more straightforward in its plotting, and it features an excellent enemy monster. The third has a great central plot and some fantastic monster designs. As for the second, all it really needed was for someone to step in and cut out a big chunk of the Disney Channel-style humor. From a monster and production design standpoint, it's well-executed and visually cool.

I liked the first one the best. It was a very well done family film with likeable characters, a pretty good story, and good special effects. The second one was horrible. I was expecting King Ghidorah to be a lot better in the third one, but he's not destructive enough. He just makes the school children disappear instead of blasting everything to bits.

mschenk wrote:He just makes the school children disappear instead of blasting everything to bits.

While there weren't a ton of them, we did see scenes of Ghidorah blasting the city to bits. Maybe you just fell asleep at those parts.

Plus, kidnapping children in order to boil them all to death and eat them is pretty damn heinous, IMO.

First one was fun, from what I can remember.

Second one was one of the worst man-made experiences I have ever witnessed.

Fell asleep in the middle of the third one. Couldn't finish it.