December 19th: Godzilla vs. Mothra (1992)

We have the first feature in the Heisei era of one of Godzilla’s main enemies/allies depending in the film in the form of Mothra. She is often described as his girlfriend, although if that is the case then this film must come when they are in a rocky patch. Godzilla vs. Mothra (1992) opens with a meteor hitting earth. This results in two events that will shape the course of the narrative. Firstly it awakens Godzilla from his hibernation in an underwater trench. At the same time, it cause a series of earthquakes which results in a giant egg being uncovered on an Indonesian island. A group of humans are sent to the island to collect the egg and bring it back to Japan. While doing so they discover a pair of tiny twin women who call themselves the Cosmos. They explain that the egg is that of Mothra, an ancient protector of earth who battled a dark version of herself named Battra. Unknowingly, Battra has also returned so it becomes a fight between all three Kaiju, with two trying to wreak havoc, and the other trying to stop them.

This is the weakest of the Heisei films so far, mostly due to the narrative just not being all that interesting at all. But it was so mad that it couldn’t help but be captivating and entertaining. This dials back the silliness quite some way. Yes it does involve the Cosmos which is a throwback to the original Godzilla films involving Mothra so that is a silly aspect to things, but I never particular liked those characters to begin with so it is not helping matters. But the worst thing about it is that it is very forgettable. Even as I sit here writing this now, I can’t really tell you all that much that happens throughout the film. One thing that was very noticeable throughout the film is that it felt less like a Godzilla film and more like a Mothra film. Godzilla is name dropped throughout and is obviously heavily involved I the climax, but otherwise the focus is almost all on Mothra. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but I would have preferred more of the big guy.  

The fight scenes in this film are also not the best, although that is not to say they are bad. But with these era of Godzilla I have got used to really fun action scenes, and here like the narrative they are somewhat forgettable. There is a pretty cool scene where Battra and Godzilla duke it out underwater which is a new thing that I can’t remember happening in any of these other films. Speaking of Battra, I am very much liking the design. It has a great colour palette of black and red with jagged edges and overall does look like an evil version of Mothra, so they achieved exactly what they were going for with that. And Mothra herself looks great. The design has not changed all that much from the original film’s design, but it obviously looks miles better. And Mothra is just really bloody cute in her final form. Not so much the caterpillar form that she starts as.

I’m struggling to really write much more about this film. Its not a bad film by any means, but something just didn’t click with me while watching it. It is possible I was just not in the mood for it, but it does feel like it is the weakest of the Heisei era so far. Based on that I don’t think I would recommend it unless you are doing a similar thing to me and making your way through the whole series.