Godzilla vs. Mothra

Godzilla vs. Mothra (Gojira vs Mosura) known in the U.S. as Godzilla and Mothra: The Battle for Earth, is a 1992 film directed by Takao Okawara and written by Kazuki Omori. The score was composed by Akira Ifukube. Masahiro Kishimoto directed cinematography, and Koichi Kawakita directed special effects. It was produced by Tomoyuki Tanaka and Shogo Tomiyama. It is the 19th Godzilla film, appearing after Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah and before Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II. The running time is 1 hour 42 minutes.

Plot Synopsis
In 1993, one year after the Futurians attacked Japan with King Ghidorah and the attempt to remove Godzilla from history resulted in the Monster King growing larger and more powerful, a large meteorite crashes to Earth and lands in the Ogasawara Trench, causing massive environmental destruction around the world. In addition, Godzilla, who had been hibernating at the bottom of the Trench, awakens once again. Meanwhile, in Thailand, fortune-hunter/thief Takuya Fujita robbs a temple and bearly escapes with his life. However, as he crawls out of the temple, he is greated by armed policemen, who promptly arrest him. Soon after, Secratary Ruzo Dobashi and Takuya's ex-wife Masako Fujita arive from Japan and visit the thief in jail. They reviel that they are studying the effects of the meteorite's impact on the environment, and they have descovered something strange: a large object has been uncovered on the remote Infant Island in Indonesia. The development company Marutomo is planning to develop the island, but the giant mystery object is standing in their way. Marutomo has the backing of the Japanese government, and the Environmental Planning Bureau is sending a team to the island to investigate. Dobashi and Masako offer to get Takuya out of Thailand and suspend his 15 year prison scentence if he will lead the expedition and give the salary he recieves to his doughter Midori as child support. With the threat of nearly two decades in prison, Takuya accepts.

Back in Japan, Environmental Planning Bureau Chief Joji Minamino has begun to worry about the state of the world. He and his team have connected many of the environmental disturbances caused by the meteorite to human activity on Earth. He claims that although the meteorite started the chain reaction of destruction, mankind had, as it were, set up the dominos. When he hears that Godzilla has also awoken, he begins to fear the worst.

In Indonesia, the small yacht carrying the Infant Island expeditionary team, including Takuya, Masako, and Marutomo representative Kenji Andoh, sails towards its destination. They finally arive on the island, and descover the appalling destruction caused by Marutomo's deforestation. As they pass, they wonder if such a thing will ever happen to Japan. As they trek across the tropical island, and soon descover a rope bridge, which must be crossed to continue on. Unfortunatly, the bridge breaks as they cross, and the trio falls into the river below. They soon recover, but become all but lost in the center of the island. As night falls, they set up camp near a waterfall. As Andoh sleeps, Masako shows her ex-husband pictures of their doughter Midori, who believes that her father is a crime-fighter and capturing "bad guys". Masako could not bear to tell her child that her daddy is a "bad guy" himself. The next morning, Takuya wakes the others with the news that he has descovered a cave hidden behind the waterfall. As the trio enter the cave, they descover a mural on the wall of a cross-like object. Takuya pegs the cave painting at several thousand years old. On the opposite wall, they descover another mural, this one depicting what appear to be two giant, flying insects fighting each other. They then venture deeper into the cave, and finally emerge back into the jungle. When they reach the edge of the trees, they are greated by a remarkable sight: a gigantic, blue and yellow egg is resting on a hillside. This, they realize, is the giant object they were sent to investigate. As the team wonders aloud what kind of egg it is, two voices, speaking in unison, respond. The culprits: two tiny women who introduce themselves to the trio as the "Cosmos". They explain that the egg belongs to Mothra, a gigantic monster that had lived thousands of years ago. They tell the team that over 12,000 years earlier, an advanced civilization had existed on Earth. This ancient society was compleatly peaceful, living without war or unrest, and the people worshiped Mothra as their guardian. However, the scientists of the ancient civilization invented a machine designed to control the climate of the Earth. Apparently offended by this, the planet's life force literally manifested its self as a monster, a giant insect that resembled Mothra herself. This monster, known as the "Black Mothra" to the people, was called Battra, and ruthlessly attacked the civilization. Thankfully, Mothra rose to defend humanity, and she and Battra engaged in an epic battle (and it is this conflict that was documented in the cave mural). Eventually, Mothra suceeded in defeating Battra, and the monster was laid to rest in Siberia. However, Battra had not been entirely unsucessful in its mission, and the ancient civilization was left compleatly destroyed. Even worse, when the climate control device was destroyed in the conflict, the Earth had flooded, and much of the land was left underwater. Mothra escaped to the high ground and eventually settled on Infant Island. Now, 12,000 years later, Mothra's egg had been revieled. The Cosmos explain that human activity on the island had weakened the land, making it easy for the meteorite's impact to expose it. This, the tiny women explain, has put the egg in terrible danger, as they now fear that Battra himself may have awoken as well. As sworn enemies, Battra will surely head towards the egg with revenge in its twisted mind.

Far away, in Siberia, the Cosmos' fears begin to manifest into reality as the ice breaks, and a gigantic creature emerges, heading south quickly. In Japan, the JSDF (Japanese Self Defence Force) spot the creature as it grows closer to Japan. When Chief Minamino reads the report sent from Masako on Infant Island, he identifies the monster as Battra. Now on top of widespread environmental destruction, including rising sea levels, typhoons, and earthquakes, there is now a giant monster to contend with. Minamino now fears that doomsday may be near at hand.

Back on Infant Island, Andoh has hatched a plan to protect the egg. He has contacted his boss, Marutomo's powerful CEO Mr. Tomokane, who has ordered that the egg be hauled back to Japan to be used as a tourist attraction. Andoh appeals to his team members and the Cosmos, insisting that moving the egg to Japan is a move to protect it. He claims that Japan will be a better environment to raise the egg in. The Cosmos agree, and also volunteer to travel to Japan as well. With that, a larger ship soon arives off the coast of the island, and the egg is soon loaded onto a barge to dragged back to Japan. However, near the coast of Japan, the JSDF has been deployed to attempt to fend off Battra as it continues to swim closer. Unfortunatly, the missiles fired by the jets have no effect on the beast, and it soon hits the coast and begins to burrow under the country. The giant larva soon emerges in Nogoya, and begins to level the city with powerful beams fired from the creature's eyes and the giant horn. With Nogoya in ruins, the creature once again heads below ground and dissapears. Back out at sea, as the ship towing Mothra's egg sails along, the captain has spotted something something concerning on the radar. Something big is approaching the area. Several minuites later, Godzilla himself rises from the sea and begins to approach the barge holding the egg. The egg hatches and the larvae Mothra fights Godzilla. Godzilla is interrupted by Battra, and they fight underwater. On the mainland, Mothra attempts to rescue The Cosmos. Surviving an attack from the military, Mothra spins a cocoon, emerging in her adult form as Godzilla emerges from an erupting volcano. Transforming to its adult form, Battra fights Mothra above the city. Battra is then nearly killed by Godzilla, but is rescued by Mothra, who re-energizes Battra with its life force. Mothra joins forces with Battra, and the two gigantic insects manage to defeat Godzilla, paralysing it and carrying it out to sea. However it would be a pyrrhic victory as Battra was severely injured during the fight with Godzilla and dies, its body sinking into the sea with Godzilla. Mothra uses her powers to secure Godzilla under the ocean. Mothra then leaves, flying into space to take Battra's place and destroy the asteroid heading for earth.

Commentary and Criticism
Although viewers appreciate some of the features of the film, such as the ethereal cinematography (in scenes such as when Mothra's larvae spins a cocoon), the unusual final battle scene set in an amusement park (with Battra using a Ferris Wheel as a weapon against Godzilla), and the typically beautiful score by Akira Ifukube, some critics charge that the film is burdened by a confluence of over-the-top themes and moments. For example, there is a blatant Indiana Jones influence in a beginning scene, when Takuya escapes from a crumbling ancient temple. Another example is the heavy environmentalist message, with a character musing in almost every scene about the destructiveness caused by human misdeeds. Although there has always been some element of this in Godzilla films, since Godzilla was created by nuclear tests and in ways recalls the devastation caused by atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, critics argue that the topic is handled here too heavy-handedly.

Another strange combination for the film is the tension between a child-friendly atmosphere and more adult themes. A young girl has a prominent role, and Mothra is implicitly cast as a guardian of children. (These ideas are further developed in the Rebirth of Mothra trilogy.) However, there is profanity (not typical for a Godzilla film), the broken relationship of a former couple is explored (with the two making bitter remarks to each other), and the violence caused by the monsters detracts from the child-like aura. It is a strange combination both liked and disliked by viewers.

Cast

 * Tetsuya Bessho as Takuya Fujita
 * Satomi Kobayashi as Masako Tezuka
 * Takehiro Murata as Kenji Andoh
 * Megumi Odaka as Miki Saegusa
 * Saburo Shinoda as Professor Fukazawa
 * Akiji Kobayashi as Yuzo Tsuchiashi
 * Akira Takarada as Environmental Planning Board Chief Jyoji Minamino
 * Makoto Otake as Marutomo Head Takeshi Tomokane
 * Keiko Imamura as Cosmos twin #1
 * Sayaka Osawa as Cosmos twin #2
 * Kenpachiro Satsuma as Godzilla
 * 'Hurricane Ryu' Hariken as Battra
 * Yoshiko Tanaka as Asuka Okouchi
 * Kôichi Ueda as Marutomo Employee

Trivia

 * The movie poster for this film was used as the selected cover of the musical CD, "The Best of Godzilla 2: 1984 to 1995".
 * Mothra journeys into outer space at the end of this film. In Godzilla vs Spacegodzilla she is somehow aware of Spacegodzilla and its intentions. It is possible that if Battra survived in this film, Mothra would have aided Godzilla and M.O.G.U.E.R.A in the battle with Spacegodzilla.
 * The Godzilla suit used predominantly in this film has been nicknamed "Battogoji".
 * The second suit used for the film, known alternately as the "Biogoji" and "Ghidogoji" suit (as it was previously used for both 1989's Godzilla vs Biollante and 1991's Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah), was actually stolen from Toho Studios and remained M.I.A. for several weeks. Ultimately, an older woman discovered, to her obveous shock, the suit laying on a beach near Tokyo Bay in quite a sorry state.  It was returned to Toho and repaired in time to be used in both the underwater fight sequence with the larval Battra, and for Godzilla's rise from the errupting Mt. Fuji for this, it's last film appearence before a well-earned retirement.