Thiel-a-Vision Review: Godzilla vs. Mothra (1992)

Mothra is one of my favorite Japanese monsters. It just seems so...well...Japanese to create a city-destroying behemoth out of something as delicate and non-threatening as a moth. Nearly all giant monsters spring from reptiles or predatory insects, making Mothra a rarity. Mothra is also identified as female, another unusual attribute for this subgenre. Finally, Mothra is pretty. She adds a nice splash of color to the rubble of Tokyo.

Granted, Mothra is a decidedly second-string monster in the Godzilla series. (Yes, she's starred in four films of her own, but three of those appear to occupy a completely separate continuity from the adventures of the Big G.) If you're going up against King Ghidorah, you definitely want her watching your back, but she's not the first kaiju to call when the alien cyborgs arrive.

Although Mothra appeared in four of the original '50s - '70s Godzilla flicks, the so-called Heisei era of the '80s and '90s ignored those encounters. Hence, the 1992 Godzilla vs. Mothra chronicles their first meeting for the second time.

In some ways, not much has changed. Mothra is still a mostly pacifistic creature who usually takes action only when her pair of tiny, human priestesses are threatened. In days of old, both god and worshippers were products of nuclear testing, but here, Mothra is the defender of an ancient civilization and the itty-bitty women are the two remaining members of that race. 

This prehistoric civilization created a weather-controlling system and thereby pissed off the Earth, which responded by creating a black bug named Battra. Although Mothra defeated her rival, both creatures slipped into dormancy, to be awakened in the 20th Century due to human abuse of the environment.

All of this backstory makes the movie sound more interesting in theory than it is in fact. It winds up a bit on the dull side, retelling the familiar Mothra tale and forcing Godzilla to become a veritable bit player in his own film. The focus becomes not the attempt to repel Godzilla, but rather which of the oversized moths will prevail and go on to devour the world's sweaters.

Recognizing Mothra's basic liabilities in combat--that of being a fluttery bug--the film beefs her up for the '90s with an array of energy-beam attacks. It's colorful, but it seems like cheating.

Ultimately, the twin insects set aside their differences to tackle the greater threat of Godzilla--remember him? The film ends with Mothra assuming Battra's role as guardian of Earth.

As with some of the modern Godzilla films, this one comes off as a bit repetitive, though that's certainly in part due to its semi-remake nature. The human story is especially weak this time, kicking off with a poor man's Indiana Jones sequence and featuring characters who are thinly-drawn and poorly motivated, even for a kaiju story. The environmental message is none-too-subtle, though subtlety is not often called for in these films.

Godzilla vs. Mothra is a middle-of-the-road monster mash, one of the least-interesting of the latter day entries in the series.

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