 Sony // Buy from Amazon.comA typhoon looses a colossal egg from Infant Island and deposits it on a Japanese beach, in an area planned for future development. A pair of reporters (Akira Takarada and Yuriko Hoshi) is on the scene when a promoter declares the egg to be his private property and announces a theme park to be built around it. But Godzilla has been washed ashore in the typhoon and emerges from the earth to raise havoc. The reporters and professor Miura (Hiroshi Koizumi) travel to Infant Island to ask the fairy princesses to dispatch Mothra to protect Japan. The aged Mothra fights to protect her egg and, after a struggle, succumbs to Godzilla's radioactive breath. But the egg hatches, disgorging two colossal Mothra larvae to continue the struggle. The Godzilla franchise is truly an institution unto itself, with dozens of movies released over the past 50 years, toys, cartoons, video games, desktop USB hubs... you name it. Recently, Sony (in conjunction with Godzilla-creators Toho) have begun releasing the earliest films in fantastic 2-packs: both the original Japanese version of the movie as well as the English-dubbed version for North American audiences. The first release last year - of the first movie - must have done well, because we've got 2 new releases to marvel at, including this title, "Mothra vs. Godzilla." Now, in theory/conversation/reality, the thought of a giant moth is about the least scary thing I can think of... Bizarre and probably captivating, sure, but hardly as awe inspiring as a giant lizard that can shoot fire from it's mouth. However, 1964 mindsets must have thought otherwise, as it's indeed Mothra, the not-so-wittily named giant month, who gets to battle the mighty Godzilla in this sequel. Yet despite this self-created obstacle of a lame-duck sparring partner, this film is widely regarded as being the best of all Godzilla seqeuels. My thought is that this is because the film really establishes the formula of the Godzilla movie we all know & love -- while the original was (surprisingly) dark and serious, "Mothra" is much more campy (witness the giant month) and a whole lot more light-hearted. Future films would push the boundaries of believability (and zaniness) even further, but this one does a good job with the approach. It was also interested to see how differently the film was presented in its two versions - while essentially the same film, I found the North American version to just be odd - why not keep the name "Mothra" in the title? Is "Godzilla vs. The Thing" really that inventive? I dunno, but suffice it to say I prefer the original. Video While both versions of this film look great on this DVD, the edge definitely goes to the original "Mothra vs. Godzilla" as it's delivered in a pristine 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen transfer (not a chopped down 16x9 ratio that the Anglo version receives.) Audio Both films have clean & crisp soundtracks, the original (obviously) in Japanese (so I went with the insightful commentary) and the Anglo version with dubbed English - cheesy, but fun. Extras Closing Thoughts Another fascinating Godzilla 2-pack release (original & Anglo versions) + enriching extras = solid addition to any fan of the mighty Gojira! Labels: review |
