Of all the Japanese kaiju, or giant monster movies that I've seen, MOTHRA has to have one of the most ridiculous menaces: a giant caterpillar that ends up cocooned before turning into a giant furry moth. Is it scary? Nope. Are the special effects decent? Not really, which is why the titular menace remains hidden for much of the film, with the giant moth itself only appearing for a final reel rampage. Kaiju films are by their very nature pretty unbelievable productions, but I couldn't stop chuckling when I saw the beast in this one.
The film itself is squarely aimed at kids. In case you weren't convinced, the presence of two annoyingly cute little twin fairy women hit that point home. Yes, they're twee, and their singing scenes are surreal in the extreme, but I don't think this film would be the same without them. Elsewhere, it's business as usual for a monster flick, with the human side divided into two forces: the good guys – here, virtually all of them are reporters, which makes for a nice change – and the bad guys, who, as usual, plan to exploit the situation for themselves.
The acting is what you'd expect for the film. The characters are larger than life and the actors all seem to be having a ball. I enjoyed Takashi Shimura's turn as 'news editor'; this is a guy used to playing roles in Kurosawa films, so it's kind of funny to see him here. The special effects are, shall we say, primitive, but the film remains colourful and engaging throughout, so it's hard to dislike them. The climatic scenes of Matchbox cars being tossed through the air and cardboard buildings falling over are quite a lot of fun.
The storyline is a virtual retread of KING KONG, with the fairies replacing Fay Wray and Mothra replacing Kong. I'm down with that, but it does mean you always know what's going to happen next. I also found the first half pretty talky, with lots of long, drawn out dialogue, some repetition, and a whole lot of sequences where the story doesn't really progress. Still, there's some fun action along the way, including an improbable fight scene and the always entertaining monster rampage scenes. All in all a pretty good film, if not a fabulous one.
The film itself is squarely aimed at kids. In case you weren't convinced, the presence of two annoyingly cute little twin fairy women hit that point home. Yes, they're twee, and their singing scenes are surreal in the extreme, but I don't think this film would be the same without them. Elsewhere, it's business as usual for a monster flick, with the human side divided into two forces: the good guys – here, virtually all of them are reporters, which makes for a nice change – and the bad guys, who, as usual, plan to exploit the situation for themselves.
The acting is what you'd expect for the film. The characters are larger than life and the actors all seem to be having a ball. I enjoyed Takashi Shimura's turn as 'news editor'; this is a guy used to playing roles in Kurosawa films, so it's kind of funny to see him here. The special effects are, shall we say, primitive, but the film remains colourful and engaging throughout, so it's hard to dislike them. The climatic scenes of Matchbox cars being tossed through the air and cardboard buildings falling over are quite a lot of fun.
The storyline is a virtual retread of KING KONG, with the fairies replacing Fay Wray and Mothra replacing Kong. I'm down with that, but it does mean you always know what's going to happen next. I also found the first half pretty talky, with lots of long, drawn out dialogue, some repetition, and a whole lot of sequences where the story doesn't really progress. Still, there's some fun action along the way, including an improbable fight scene and the always entertaining monster rampage scenes. All in all a pretty good film, if not a fabulous one.