Talkback Thread #19: Godzilla vs. Mothra (1992)

[Arrow]

Godzilla vs. Mothra aka Godzilla and Mothra: The Battle for Earth



Talkback thread for the highest grossing Godzilla film in Japan to date. Discuss the fourth entry in the Heisei series, which re-introduces Mothra and introduces a new monster - Battra, the "Black Mothra". With Cosmos, indestructible rafts, flying maser jets and more!

Not really much to say except: second worst Heisei Godzilla film ever.

Discuss it.

[GodzillavsJason]

Well i think it sucks it is the worst Heisei movie, its the second worst Godzilla film in history. Oh and also we have to have goodie little to shoes Mothra come in and have try to spread peach and happiness of the world. God this movie sucks i always fall asleep through this and when i watch a Godzilla film i watch for Godzilla and the other monsters killing each other.
God i really wish they made the sequel to Godzilla vs King Ghidorah instead.

[DaikaijuSokogeki!]

I'm mixed on this one. Like King Ghidorah, I haven't seen this one in a long time. I remember liking a few things about this film such as Ifukube's music score, Godzilla's new suit and Battra as a whole. However, the pacing is really poor and the writing is extremely bad. Although I've only seen this dubbed, Kazuki Omori's horrid writing is ever present here. The SPFX also start taking a downward spiral here. Mothra and Battra's flying props are stiff and the fight scenes are not exciting.

So yeah, I can't really say much more about the film. Unlike King Ghidorah, Mothra's not too memorable. I don't hate it, but it's not one I watch too often as you can probably tell.

[Tyler]

The score is nice, but... not one of my favourites. What's up with Godzilla's ray? It sounds so funny. But it's not like that's the only thing off with this movie.

That poor donkey.

[HayesAJones]

Instead of focusing the negatives, I'll go ahead and list the positives:

- Godzilla emerging from Mt. Fuji
- The score
- Battra
- Some great money shots of Godzilla as shadows fall across his face
- Mothra emerging from her cocoon

[ZigraDude]

The music is great, Battra was a neat creation, the scene with Godzilla emerging from Mt. Fuji was fantastic, and the battle with Godzilla and the Battra Larva was cool. And that's pretty much it. This is in my bottom five Godzilla films.

[Hellspawn28]

One of my personal favorites in the Heisei series. The battle scenes in the movie where awesome, The movie does a good job on the human characters, and it was a really interesting movie. The score was good, and the visuals where great at the time (I love the cocoon scene in the movie).

Overall I think this was a great movie if you ask me.

[Armor Mothra]

I know I'm in the minority here, as it's one of my favorites in the heisei series. The human plot revolving around a divorced family is an interesting concept and I really liked the musical scores in it. I loved the scenes of battra and godzilla battling under water, mothra emerging from her cocoon, godzilla emerging from the volcano ,battra's transformation and mothra instilling her energy into battra. I thought the battle scenes were great as well. My favorites were mothra and battra's aerial battle over Yokohama, Imago mothra's brief battle with godzilla when she used her scale and lightning combo on him, and at the end of the battle where mothra and battra teamed up against godzilla.

[XxComablack1937xX]

I hardly remember this movie from memory so i might have to watch it again to change my mind but from what i remember i hatted the human scene's, i was never a big Mothra fan from the beginning... Battra was cool, Esp with it fighting with Godzilla.

I remember the ending battle being fun to watch, otherwise my memory is very blank on this movie. Although i remember them not showing what happened with Godzilla an battra after they fell into the ocean pissing me off.. It was like a disappointing ending unlike ''GMK'' or ''Godzilla vs King Ghidorah''

This an Space Godzilla being the worst in the Heisei Series.

[Hellspawn28]

I found it funny that critcs enjoy this movie, but fans hated it. A similar thing happen with the recent Harry Potter movie.

[HedorahLives]

I don't think the fans hated it, since it made so much money.

Like:

--Mothra. The special effects in GMK, SOS, and Final Wars all blow away Mothra's presentation here and arguably so does the Mothra trilogy. Still, I thought larva Mothra was the best version of it since the 1961 original and I like her soft furry look here. I've seen criticisms of the way she flies, but that's too nitpicky for me to care.

--Godzilla. He takes a backseat, but he still looks as good as ever. His personality in this movie is one of constant exasperation. He's woken up by a giant rock, finds himself in the middle of a war between two big bugs, and gets stuck in the earth's crust. Godzilla is nature's punching bag.

--I enjoyed the divorced couple and Mr. Andoh. Good chemistry between them all early on. Some of the more likeable characters of the entire series. Being a major fan of the original King Kong, I'm always a sucker for when the heroes go to a deserted island to look for something in monster movies.

--Some fine battle sequences. I like the climatic ferris wheel fight and also the earlier confrontation in the ocean.


--Liked the Cosmos. Worthy successors to the peanuts

--Also liked Mothra's revamped origin. Like Ghidorah's makeover in the prior film, it completely rewrites the backstory, but leaves the character in tact.

--Well-paced. Balances well the human character moments and the monster mayhem. Hardly lagged.

Dislike:

--Having Godzilla and Battra getting sucked into the earth for the entire middle part of the movie feels like a cheap way to get rid of them while Mothra does her thing.

--The moral implications of the hero stealing the Cosmos and thus prompting Mothra's wrath is too easily glossed over. But, then, it's a kaiju movie. That's par.

--Akira Takarada is given too little to do. It was nice to see him, but anyone could've played his part.

--Miki is also given the least to do of any of her appearences. She's a cosmos detector and that's it.

--The "environmental" message is shallow, intrusive, and Omori continually beats us over the head with it. That's the usual for most "morals" in kaiju movies, but this is a particularly annoying case.

Purgatory:

--Battra. Like him in concept (the ying to Mothra's yang) and mostly in execution. However, he doesn't get nearly enough to do. His rampage early on was nice, but adult Battra didn't get to show his stuff nearly enough before forming a truce with Mothra. Also, using Rodan's roar was lazy.

--Anyone else want to see the Maritomo (sp?) guy get whacked a la the two business men in the 1964 original? Granted, his lifeblood is destroyed and he's left a wimpering mess at the end...

--That weird sound for Godzilla's ray was an odd touch. I don't hate it, but it is curious.


Overall, a good addition to the franchise, but not a great one. I probably watch this the most of any of the Heisei movies, aside from Biollante. Possibly because it's a lighter, fun film where, for once, Godzilla's existence isn't on the line. Just an enjoyable romp and I can see why it was so successful.

[Legion1979]

I think this is the Heisei movie that has held up the absolute worst, which is hilarious considering just how much it's made. It's just Mothra meets Mothra vs Godzilla with a bunch of other uninteresting stuff thrown in. Aside from a handful of great effects and Ifukube's score there's not much to recommend this one sadly.

Here's a selection of comments from a similar talkback thread on another forum...

Anyway, this movie hurt more than I expected it would. It is a half-baked rehash of things we've seen before (where it was done better). The '61 and '64 Mothras put the 1990s incarnation to shame. The adult forms of both Battra and Mothra are pretty badly realized, with their stiff legs being the worst parts.

This is definitely one of the weakest films for me (particularly in the context of the Heisei series of Godzilla films).

This is one of the worst Godzilla films.

The worst part of the whole movie is that it tries so hard to be Mothra vs. Godzilla, but it fails so hard. Battra is okay, too, but only the larva stage.

This movie SUCKS

Definitely one of the lesser Heisei films. Not the worst, but not really great either. This is when the Godzilla series officially made the transition to "soulless, formulaic cash grab" if you ask me.

I remember liking this one a lot as a kid. A shame it doesn't hold up today.

I remember really liking this film when it was brand new. Shame I dislike it so much now.

[Hellspawn28]

I don't think the fans hated it, since it made so much money.

Making a lot of money is not everything. Batman & Robin, GINO, Episode I, Jurassic Park III, Terminator 3, AVP, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, X-Men 3, Spider-Man 3, Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, The Half-Blood Prince, and Transformers 2 made a lot of money, but fans hated them. There a lot of movies that are bad, but still made a lot of money.

This is one of those love or hate type of movies.

[Showa Gyaos]

A boring rehash of Mothra, but with Godzilla and Battra added to the story. Let's just say this: Mothra, despite being in the title, ruined it.

[HedorahLives]

Here's a question: would it have been preferable if the climax was actually Godzilla and Mothra being forced to join forces against a mega powerful Battra? Or was the Mothra/Battra truce the better way to go with the story? Godzilla essentially saved Mothra's ass from Battra twice in this movie, albeit unintentionally, and one might accuse the big bug of ingratitude.

[GodzillavsJason]

Here's a question: would it have been preferable if the climax was actually Godzilla and Mothra being forced to join forces against a mega powerful Battra? Or was the Mothra/Battra truce the better way to go with the story? Godzilla essentially saved Mothra's ass from Battra twice in this movie, albeit unintentionally, and one might accuse the big bug of ingratitude.

Heres a better idea how about Godzilla and Battra joining forces against Mothra and they would kill her slow and painful. Then when Battra turns around Godzilla kills him. Now that would make the movie a thousand times better.

[Showa Gyaos]

Here's a question: would it have been preferable if the climax was actually Godzilla and Mothra being forced to join forces against a mega powerful Battra? Or was the Mothra/Battra truce the better way to go with the story? Godzilla essentially saved Mothra's ass from Battra twice in this movie, albeit unintentionally, and one might accuse the big bug of ingratitude.

I still think Gigamoth would have been the best option.

[Mini-Godzilla]

It suffers from being a 90's Godzilla movie, but it's still fairly decent. The characterization helps immensely, especially considering the divorce angle. I like it more than most of the 90's films, actually.

[Goji]

The music is great, Battra was a neat creation, the scene with Godzilla emerging from Mt. Fuji was fantastic, and the battle with Godzilla and the Battra Larva was cool. And that's pretty much it. This is in my bottom five Godzilla films.

This is literally exactly how I feel about the film. It's funny how this was the only film that was screened subtitled at G-fest...and it STILL sucked just as bad.

And this is not a "love or hate" type of movie at all. MOST people dislike it, with a few feeling that it's "okay", with an even smaller group that "loves it" (which I personally have seen maybe once or twice).

[Hellspawn28]

And this is not a "love or hate" type of movie at all.

I disargee since I always view this as love or hate type of movie since crtics enjoy it seeing that it holds a 80% on RT but fans hated it. I don't know why fans bash this movie so much.