Gojira vs. Mosura (1992)

Director:

Takao Okawara

Writer:

Kazuki Omori (writer)

Release Date:

12 December 1992 (Japan)

Genre:

Horror | Sci-Fi

Plot:

In the midst of another rampage by Godzilla, Mothra emerges to save the human race from Battra.

Plot Keywords:

Godzilla | Creature | Monster Movie | Monster Terrorizes City | Moth

Awards:

1 win & 2 nominations

Cast

Tetsuya Bessho	...	Takuya Fujita
Satomi Kobayashi	...	Masako Tezuka
Takehiro Murata	...	Kenji Andoh
Saburo Shinoda	...	Professor Fukazawa
Akiji Kobayashi	...	Yuzo Tsuchiashi
Akira Takarada	...	Environmental Planning Board Chief Jyoji Minamino
Makoto Ôtake	...	Marutomo Head Takeshi Tomokane
Keiko Imamura	...	Cosmos #1
Sayaka Osawa	...	Cosmos #2
Kenpachiro Satsuma	...	Gojira
'Hurricane Ryu' Hariken	...	Batora
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Megumi Odaka	...	Miki Saegusa
Yoshiko Tanaka	...	Asuka Okouchi
Kôichi Ueda	...	Marutomo Employee

Also Known As:

Godzilla and Mothra: The Battle for Earth (USA) (video title)
Godzilla vs. Mothra
Godzilla - Kampf der Sauriermutanten (Germany) [de]
Godzilla contra Mothra (Spain) [es]
Godzilla et Mothra (France) (DVD title) [fr]
Gozdilla e Mothra (Portugal) [pt]

Runtime:

102 min | USA:100 min

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Australia:PG | Germany:12 | UK:PG | USA:Unrated

Company:

Toho Company

Trivia:

This film's origin went back to 1990 with the concept Mothra Vs. Bagan. The film would include battles all across Asia in places like Shanghai and Bangkok. However, when Gojira tai Biorante (1989) failed, Toho blamed the fact that an unfamiliar monster was used and this project was put on hold to give Godzilla another shot with Gojira tai Kingu Gidora (1991).

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: When the larva Mothra bites Godzilla's tail in the ocean, look closely at the base of the tail as it's tossing Mothra upwards. You can clearly see the tail is a separate prop on some kind of support that has distorted it's shape - widening it unnaturally.

Quotes:

Miki Saegusa: [psychically] Godzilla! Oh my God!

Movie Connections:

References Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)

the strings were supposed to show

There's no doubt that the strings show on the puppets in this movie; yet exactly for that reason, I suspect this was intentional. The Toho SFX crew isn't stupid - and they've successfully erased the string that wags Godzilla's tail for decades. So I can't imagine that they just slipped up here. I think the strings were supposed to show.

Why might they do that? Well let's start by getting real here - the Godzilla series is essentially a series of photographed puppet shows with spectacular explosions. But while most audiences think the emphasis here is on the spectacular explosions (that obviously need excellent SFX to be credible), in reality the emphasis is on "puppet show." Puppeteering is almost a lost art. The Godzilla series arrived at exactly the time historically when professional live-performance puppeteering disappeared from our cultures (West and East), and also at the same time that movie special effects were beginning to crank into high gear. Thus the Godzilla films record the last of professional puppeteering, but in such a way as to obscure that very fact through deployment of extravagant effects.

However, if you know what you're doing is recording puppet shows, it's inevitable that you'd want to poke fun at that very fact now and again - and the Godzilla series is filled with such moments, with exception of the first original film.

Allowing this film to be a puppet show means that different criteria must be applied to it than are applied to, say, Star Wars or Alien. Appreciation of a puppet show does not require "willing suspension of disbelief" - one can always see the strings. Instead, what the audience enjoys is the skill with which the puppeteer brings inanimate wood to life, as well as the humor puppeteers use to construct all their stories.

With this in mind, Godzilla and Mothra Battle for Earth is really a pretty good puppet show. It is beautifully designed and well-photographed; the script is rich in humor; the monsters have strong and well-defined personalities; the back-story is fairly interesting but doesn't detract from the central conflicts; and the music is just wonderful.

It is probably not all that a die-hard Godzilla fan might want; but it is certainly the definitive appearance of Mothra.

it is really intended for the young - and for the young-at-heart; like all really good puppet shows.

I enjoyed it thoroughly, and hope the reader does too; it feels good and, if you recognize what's really going on, it's an important record of a lost art; that makes it good all the way around.