December 4th: Mothra vs. Godzilla (1964)

On to the fourth film of the Showa era and it is our first introduction to one of the big hitter of the franchise, Mothra. The film opens up with a typhoon that once it passes has left behind a giant egg. A shady entrepreneur takes control of the egg for monetary gain, refusing to give the egg back when two tiny twins from Infant Island appear in Japan explaining that the egg to belong to their island’s deity, Mothra. When Godzilla reappears to cause havoc, our heroes have to go to infant island to beg forgiveness and ask for Mothra’s help to beat Godzilla.

This series loves it’s tone changes, doesn’t it? To be fair, this one isn’t quite as big a leap as the last time, but it does real it back in somewhat from the level of goofy that King Kong vs. Godzilla (1962) took it to. In fact, it becomes a nice little middle ground between the two, where it takes itself somewhat seriously, but not so much that to become as bleak as Godzilla (1954) or to take away the charm that the last film brought to the table. A great example of this is the fact that the anti-nuclear weapons sentiment makes an appearance again, but it is not a focus. It is mentioned briefly and then the story continues, allowing for a message to be delivered without it being hammered in and making the tone heavier than it needs to be. And then to keep it a little silly, you have the tiny twins. Now, I am still unsure how I feel about these twins. On the one hand they serve their narrative purpose absolutely fine and are the connection between the main characters and Mothra. On the other, why are they so tiny? It doesn’t really add anything to the situation and only gives more questions that the film has no interest in answering. It’s a very small quibble but it is a quibble nonetheless.

However, what they don’t do is detract from the rest of the film which for now is handily the best sequel. While it definitely doesn’t reach the heights of the original, it is the most solid follow up. For one, the scale is back for Godzilla, at least for the most part. They do a great job of making him feel massive. There are a couple of moments where it does feel again like it is a man in a suit amongst miniatures, but it is a big improvement on King Kong vs. Godzilla. They have also fixed Godzilla’s face in this one and the overall design is brilliant. I also just love the characterisation of Godzilla in this one, although it is much sillier. He is basically just a big dope, who in the first scene of him wrecking Tokyo, most of it is done by mistake. At one point he gets his tale caught in a tower and brings it down trying to get unstuck, and then he trips in a moat and crashes into the castle accidentally. Its hilarious honestly. The design on Mothra is also superb, both in full grown and larvae form. It has become an iconic design, and with the colour grade on the film she really pops. The battle scenes in this film are also really solid, and the ending is a smart way of taking Godzilla out.

Easily the best sequel so far, although with there having been only 3 including this one that isn’t the biggest achievement. But I imagine as I go this will remain high on the list. It is a very solid Showa era Godzilla film, in that it is campy and fun without going so far into the realms of ridiculous, and it is also a solidly made film to boot. Definitely a recommend from me.