Ranking the Mothra Movies
MORE KAIJU. YES PLZ. Like Gamera, Mothra has 12 movies so I'll put them all into one list. Some of these movies are Godzilla movies, but still feature Mothra as a main monster, so they are included. Let's get into it.
#12. Godzilla vs. The Sea Monster (Godzilla vs. Ebirah, Ebirah, Horror of the Deep) (1966) SHOWA IMDb: 5.1/10 Rotten Tomatoes: 39% (Monsters: Godzilla, Ebirah, Mothra, Giant Condor)
Director: Jun Fukuda
Soundtrack: Masaru Sato
Yeah, I've already said I'm not a huge fan of this movie, as fun as it can be to watch at times. Also, Mothra is only in this for about 5-10 minutes or less, so yeah. It automatically gets last place. Also, once she does show up, she literally is only there to save the slaves on Devil's Island with... a giant net. Yeah.
#11. Godzilla: Final Wars (2004) MILLENNIUM IMDb: 6.5/10 Rotten Tomatoes: 40% (Monsters: Godzilla, Rodan, Anguirus, King Caesar, Gigan, Monster X, Kaiser King Ghidorah, Zilla, Kamacuras, Kumonga, Ebirah, Minilla, Hedorah, Mothra)
I'm not fond of this movie either. However, it hypes the living hell out of Mothra, all leading up to... her getting beaten in relatively no time at all by Gigan. Yeah. Gigan. She was one of the three only protagonist monsters in the movie too, and the other that wasn't Godzilla was Minilla, who couldn't even fight because of his size. *Makes a thumbs down plop noise*
#10. Destroy all Monsters (1968) SHOWA IMDb: 6.7/10 Rotten Tomatoes: 71% (Monsters: Godzilla, Anguirus, Rodan, Mothra Larva, Gorosaurus, King Ghidorah, Manda, Minilla, Kumonga, Baragon, Varan)
Director: Ishirō Honda
Soundtrack: Akira Ifukube
Yes, I adore this movie. It's like Star Trek and Godzilla mixed together. However, Mothra really isn't in it that much. Godzilla, Anguirus and Gorosaurus could be considered the "main kaiju", I suppose. It also got kind of annoying only ever seeing Mothra's larva in the majority of the Showa films. So yeah. Great Godzilla movie, not-so-great Mothra movie.
#9. Rebirth of Mothra II (1997) HEISEI IMDb: 5.5/10 Rotten Tomatoes: 40% (Monsters: Mothra Leo (Rainbow & Aqua Forms), Dagahra, Garu Garu, Fairy Mothra, Barem, Ghogo)
Director: Kunio Miyoshi
Soundtrack: Toshiyuki Watanabe
So this was the 2nd film in Mothra's "Rebirth of Mothra" trilogy, which followed her last child, Mothra Leo (who happens to be male, unlike his mother). So in this one, there is some ancient creature known as Dagahra...
...who is a sea dragon that had the purpose of disposing of pollution for the city of Atlantis. However, he had a side effect which caused him to turn the pollution into starfish-like creatures called "Barem"...
... and they started to wreak havoc. After a chain of events, Atlantis sunk into the depths. Many, many years later, a young child finds a strange healing creature known as a "Ghogo"...
...and is found my the two good Elias twins and Fairy Mothra, who warns them of Dagahra and the return of their evil sister who wants to use him to her advantage. They go to where Atlantis once was with some other kids and get followed by two guys who are creepy and greedy or something. Anyway, long story short, they raise the temple and go in. Dagahra tries to attack. Mothra Leo shows up in his rainbow form and stops him. Dagahra goes onto the shore and looks super weird. The two fight again, and Mothra Leo wins by turning into Aqua Mothra.
It's movie with somewhat irritating characters (The only one like this in the series), and it actually can get kind of boring. I'm not kidding. I re-watched this movie to write this and I had to take breaks. Yeah. I can't remember the last time I had to do that with a film. It's definitely my least favorite straight-up Mothra movie.
#8. Godzilla vs. Mothra: Battle for Earth (Godzilla vs. Mothra) (1992) HEISEI IMDb: 6.1/10 Rotten Tomatoes: 67% (Monsters: Godzilla, Mothra, Battra, Mothra Larva, Battra Larva)
Director: Takao Okawara
Soundtrack: Akira Ifukube
This movie, while arguably focusing on Godzilla a little too... well, little for its title, Godzilla vs. Mothra: Battle for Earth still nonetheless provides an interesting take on Mothra that sort of started the Rebirth of Mothra series. We were introduced to Battra, Mothra's "evil" brother. However, the movie did fall short of what made some other Mothra movies so special and unique. I've got to say though, Mothra's heisei puppet design is pretty cool.
#7. Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack (GMK) (2001) MILLENNIUM IMDb: 7.2/10 Rotten Tomatoes: 50% (Monsters: Godzilla, Mothra, King Ghidorah, Baragon)
Director: Shusuke Kaneko
Soundtrack: Kow Otani
Well, I feel horrible for putting this here. Let me explain. Is this a great Godzilla movie? Yes, yes it is! Totally! I love it. However, it is a Godzilla movie, and more distinctly so than most other entries on this list. Seriously. I love Mothra's wasp-esque look in this one, but... well, quite simply...
SHE DOESN'T DO SHIT.
And I mean that, I really do. She shows up and attacks some teenagers who are trespassing in a lake at night and then goes into a cocoon. So that gives her an initial screen time of about... 30 seconds? 50? Then she shows up later and gets completely wrecked by Godzilla. Yep. Sorry, but it's super disappointing. It may be my only thing wrong with this movie...
...well, aside from the scene where the guy tries to hang himself in the woods and accidentally finds Ghidorah (He wasn't King Ghidorah yet ;) )... yeah...
#6. Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S. (2003) MILLENNIUM IMDb: 6.7/10 Rotten Tomatoes: 72% (Monsters/Machines: Godzilla, Kiryu, Mothra, Kamoebas)
Director: Masaaki Tezuka
Soundtrack: Michiru Oshima
Yeah, it seems like a lot of people dislike this movie. But it actually was connected to Mothra's first ever movie from 1961 along with the original Godzilla movie and the previous one. Plus, both she and her larva have a pretty integral role in this one's plot. And she's a lot more caring and powerful than one might first think.
#5. Rebirth of Mothra (1996) HEISEI IMDb: 6/10 Rotten Tomatoes: 48% (Monsters: Mothra, Mothra Leo (Larval & Imago forms), Desghidorah, Garu Garu, Fairy Mothra)
Director: Okihiro Yoneda
Soundtrack: Toshiyuki Watanabe
So this movie actually is pretty cute and has oddly enjoyable characters. This is the first movie of the Rebirth of Mothra trilogy, and it started it off right. Let's start with the basics: Mothra has laid an egg, and the twin Elias sisters (No longer the Shobijin, however they are still tiny women but with less high-pitched voices) are looking after it. Their names are Moll and Lora. However, there is a third sister who has become evil and seeks power over the humans: Belvera. Mothra is very exhausted and is getting rather old, which worries Moll and Lora.
A family lives nearby consisting of a mother, a father, a son and a daughter. The father works for a logging company and finds a strange seal in the ground. It is removed and exposes the hidden lair of the benevolent sisters. Belvera seeks this seal to gain control over the ancient hydra that is sealed away beneath the ground: Desghidorah.
And, uh, yeah, he looks awesome. Anyway, so Belvera starts messing around with the kids and making the sister be a jerk so she can find the seal. The other sisters fight her, but Belvera succeeds and releases him. Mothra arrives to battle him. Her child hatches early when he senses her being in danger, and heads off to help in the fight. He is dubbed "Mothra Leo". Desghidorah almost kills him, but Mothra takes a bad beating in order to fly him to safety. She ultimately dies from age, injury and exhaustion. Leo transforms into his Imago form...
...to avenge his mother's death. He is a lot stronger (and ends up having, like, way more powers than Mothra in the next two films) and engages in a final battle against Desghidorah. He manages to restore balance to land that the dragon has destroyed and restores the seal, trapping Desghidorah back underground. It's a really fun movie with great kaiju designs and actually really likeable characters.
#4. Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster (1964) SHOWA IMDb: 6.7/10 Rotten Tomatoes: 80% (Monsters: Godzilla, King Ghidorah, Rodan, Mothra Larva)
Director: Ishirō Honda
Soundtrack: Akira Ifukube
Yep, this one. This movie does an excellent job of balancing all of the kaiju in question, and it's cool to see the tag-team action. In this movie it's actually really cool to see how the Mothra larva adds to the fights, it feels less annoying and more dynamic than some of the later Showa entries with her in them.
Also, I'll always remember "Godzilla, what foul language!"
#3. Rebirth of Mothra III (1998) HEISEI IMDb: 5.9/10 Rotten Tomatoes: 65% (Monsters: Mothra Leo (Rainbow, Aqua, Light Speed, Armor & Eternal Forms), King Ghidorah, Cretaceous King Ghidorah, Primitive Mothra, Fairy Mothra, Garu Garu, T-Rex, Triceratops)
Director: Okihiro Yoneda
Soundtrack: Toshiyuki Watanabe
Ah, yes. This movie is so fun to watch, and it's also great! It manages to be complicated but not too complicated.
So basically King Ghidorah (Or Grand King Ghidorah as he's called in this one) shows up. Bad news bears. He starts capturing children and keeps them in a dome. He needs their life force to feed on. How quaint.
The three sisters also get in a fight over some sword power units. Yeah, that happens. They find a chip to transform one of their swords. Belvera flies too close to King Ghidorah (Trying to control him, of course), and- oh, by the way: KING GHIDORAH LOOKS SO AMAZING IN THIS MOVIE.
Anyway, so Belvera accidentally gets trapped in the dome. Lora looks into King Ghidorah's eyes and is overtaken by evil. She drops into the dome and fights with Belvera. Moll finds a teenage boy who is playing hooky from school. He did not get captured. She explains that Rainbow Mothra (The evolved version of Mothra Leo) is badly damaged from a previous fight with King Ghidorah and cannot defeat him. She figures out that Rainbow Mothra can go back in time to when Ghidorah first came to Earth: the Cretaceous period. Rainbow Mothra, with the help of Moll, turns into Light Speed Mothra and goes back in time to battle the Cretaceous dragon, who also looks pretty awesome.
Rainbow Mothra manages to defeat the ancient Ghidorah, but before taking massive damage himself. Ancient Mothra larvae wrap him in a cocoon so he can become stronger in the future. The children are freed and the two sisters are released, but Moll is stuck in a sort of coma. The other sisters use the sword thingy to bring her back to life. However, just as this happens... King Ghidorah reappears! Apparently the older version's tail evolved over time into a much more powerful Ghidorah. Just in time, however, Rainbow Mothra wakes up in his new form: Armor Mothra. They fight for a while until Mothra Leo manages to prevail and defeat King Ghidorah once and for all. He evolves into Eternal Mothra and flies off.
This movie is super fun! It has great suits/puppets, likeable characters and epic fights. I really love it, you should definitely give it a watch!
#2. Mothra vs. Godzilla (Godzilla vs. Mothra) (1964) SHOWA IMDb: 6.5/10 Rotten Tomatoes: 90% (Monsters: Godzilla, Mothra, Mothra Larva)
Director: Ishirō Honda
Soundtrack: Akira Ifukube
Do I even need to explain this one? I like it for all the same reasons that I like it as a Godzilla film. It's so great and fun, and it was really interesting to see a flying opponent go up against Godzilla. It's just really fun, WATCH IT.
#1. Mothra (1961) SHOWA IMDb: 6.6/10 Rotten Tomatoes: 73% (Monsters: Mothra, Mothra Larva, Vampire Plant)
Director: Ishirō Honda
Soundtrack: Yūji Koseki
Okay, this was actually a really hard decision to make. I only like this one a hair more than Mothra vs. Godzilla. But it's just so unique for a kaiju movie. I won't bother you too much with this one's plot, but in a nutshell:
A group finds a strange island with vampiric plants and small twin women with beautiful voices. The group wants to keep them there, but a man by the name of Clark Nelson gets greedy and kidnaps them later. He returns to the island and captures them, killing some natives in the process. He is using their singing to make money at his nightclub. The Shobijin call out to Mothra, who comes and attacks Japan in her larval form. Clark Nelson is still allowed to keep them, but eventually he flees with the Shobijin. Mothra cocoons herself and turns into her adult moth form. Nelson is killed in a police shootout. A special symbol is used to attract her to an airport where the Shobijin have been brought safely. She flies off with them.
This movie provides a really interesting reasoning for Mothra's actions and actually has a decent antagonist. In case you were curious, he's from "Rolisica", which is basically a fictional country combing Russia and America. Just like the original Gojira, it's quite different from the ones that followed.
Welp, there we are! Another kaiju down. I'll be ranking plenty of other kaiju flims/designs (and plenty of other movies and things as well) in the future. Sorry for any typos, it usually takes me a while to catch them. :P
-sonicfan0001
