We've reached a point now in the Godzilla
countdown where the movies are no longer glaringly bad. The symbolic strength of this movie is top notch and the plot is very good, but there are thirteen other more
fascinating films to watch, and I think this is a testimony to
the strength and continuity of the Godzilla series. It's not that this movie is middle of the pack, it's that it and its thirteen followers are just good all around movies and could all be deserving of a top ten or even top five finish. The fourth Godzilla movie
to be released, and the first to match up Godzilla with arguably
Toho's second most famous kaiju creation Mothra. It is a very
complete movie, and it could easily slot in higher in
other fans countdowns in my opinion. I understand the confusion one might
have in the idea of a giant radioactive monster in Godzilla battling an overgrown
moth, but bear with me here while I break it down a little more
analytically. Usually in most G movies where Mothra makes a cameo, she
gets beat up pretty good by the Big G. I mean Mothra can land some blows and
take some hits, but generally speaking, she doesn't match up well with
Godzilla. There have been movies where Godzilla and Mothra are allies, and more
where they are exact opposites, and Mothra ends up protecting humanity from
Godzilla. Godzilla isn't always the good guy, nor is he always the bad guy, but
Mothra is always good. This in mind, it is important to understand Mothra as
more than just a big moth monster that Toho dreamed up, she usually is there to
represent everything "good" and also to show just how fragile that
good is. To the best of my knowledge, Godzilla is pretty antagonistic towards
Mothra, with the exception of some monster island scenes and in "Destroy
All Monsters", where everyone gets along. Bless her heart, Mothra will get
her wings blown off by Godzilla's atomic ray time and time again to remind us
that the "good" is beautifully fragile and deserves to be
preserved. Moving on, Mothra vs Godzilla was released in the United States
under the clever title, Godzilla vs The Thing, an obvious example of the time
period in film history when it was appropriate to give movies and monsters
alike shitty names. Thus, in the English dubbed VHS, the characters refer to
Mothra as The Thing over and over, not exclusively, but enough to be annoyed by
it. The movie starts with Mothra's egg washing ashore in Japan, where a greedy
business man buys it to use as a theme park attraction. Godzilla arises from
the ground in a developing piece of land, and immediately goes after the
egg. There is a strong theme present in this movie about the greed of
human nature, shown definitively in the character who bought the egg, and his
master entrepreneur who actually owns the theme park along with a locker full
of cold hard cash. One could almost say that Mothra's egg, once purchased and
on display, could represent the greed of humanity and how big it actually is.
It's no coincidence when Godzilla attempts to destroy this egg as soon as he
begins his rampage through Japan; just another way Godzilla breaks barriers in
subtle ways. However, before the egg can be destroyed, Mothra defends it
valiantly, dragging Godzilla around before she is killed by the King of the
Monsters. Resting on her egg as she dies, the egg hatches and reveals two
larval mothras, smaller and sluggish looking, they appear innocent and
powerless against the onslaught of Godzilla, who is actually quite the menace
this time around. Godzilla destroys the building the two evil business men are
in, as they fight over the locker of cash, and satisfyingly puts an end to the
greediest most selfish characters in the movie. But even in this bright
spot, Godzilla remains the bad guy, as he turns his attention towards a band of
escaping children and attempts to "get" them. I don't want to say kill them because of the strong connotation, but the goal of Godzilla here is somewhat evil, and this is probably the example of Godzilla at his worst in terms of relating to children. Before he can go to the darkside though, the two larval
mothras step in and cocoon Godzilla in their moth splooge before dropping him
into the ocean, saving the children. The symbolism in this movie is fantastic,
and it's one of the more powerful and meaningful films in the series. It is
also very entertaining, especially for such an old entry, and I myself could
watch it over and over again. It is a perfect example of what a Godzilla movie
is supposed to do, entertain and spread awareness on human ignorance. Chalk
this one up as a legendary monster matchup.
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| Mothra knocks over Godzilla. |
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| Godzilla suddenly rises out of the ground in this movie, and teaches us an important lesson in doing so. The land he comes out of is undeveloped and recently purchased by a businessman, who looks on in horror as Godzilla surprises everyone by being under our noses the entire time. He appears as a powerful force of nature and reminds us that we don't own anything on this planet, this planet owns us. |
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