Rebirth of Mothra I, II and III

Rebirth of Mothra, I, II, & III

What a delight this series is!

Just a few remarks here.

First, I've extensively revised and corrected the subtitling on all three, although I gladly acknowledge the original work is not my own. I've regularized punctuation and spelling for consistency and correctness. In a very few places, I've altered the translation where my meager skills in Japanese suggested a better rendering. I've formatted the subtitle display so that where it would not fit all on one line, the lines are either broken equally, or where the line break matches punctuation. As for the two Elias fairies who attend Mothra, one's name is uniformly rendered as Lora, the other I've seen as both Moll and Mona. I've used Mona, although neither is quite exact -- "Moira" might be even closer, but I stuck with what's already in circulation. In the first movie, Mothra's foe is "Desghidorah" or "Death Ghidorah." After some inward debate, I opted to leave his name as Desghidorah, as the other seemed a bit clumsy. I've made no effort to render honorifics (-san, -sama, -kun, etc.) and just use the character's name, unadorned.

Second, I've provided a separate clip of the "Hymn To Mothra," subtitled in both the Malay it is sung in and the English translation. The clip is from RoM I, and is not my own. Lyrics and translation are owed to Wikizilla, a source for all things kaijuu (http://godzilla.wikia.com/wiki/Main_Page). Several different versions and multiple verses have accompanied Mothra over the years, refer to Wikizilla for a full rundown. No, I've made no attempt to insert the song subtitles into the movie itself.

Third, all three movies are in widescreen. Quality is good, but not outstanding. I considered buying the Bluray editions, but a number of reviews mentioned that they were not really modern Bluray quality anyway, so we'll go with these. Hey, the price is right.

So, some observations. Overall, the special effects are pretty stunning. The scene at the end of the first, when Caterpillar Mothra hatches out to Adult Mothra, is downright breathtaking. The miniature work with the Elias fairies is very effective and blends quite naturally with the full-size scenery and characters. Mona and Lora ride about on the back of a miniature Mothra-esque creature who they call simply "Fairy." There is a third Elias, who has chosen the Dark Side, Belvera. She rides on a small dragon named Garu Garu. They engage in a few aerial sorties which are rather reminiscent of Star Wars! Speaking of which, in the last movie, a special medallion attached to the girls' swords make them grow and glow like light sabers. The third movie also offered a bit of a disappointment from the effects department. The plot entails Mothra traveling into the distant past to battle and defeat Ghidorah, to the age of dinosaurs, when Ghidorah first came to Earth, and who was responsible for the extinction of the dinosaurs. Although Ghidorah himself is beautifully rendered, the dinosaurs are, as I say, rather disappointing. Perhaps this is an intentional homage to the classic movie age, but they look like 1950's stop-motion dinosaurs -- and NOT from Ray Harryhausen. One detail I quite enjoy; when Belvera spurs on Garu Garu, it looks like she's kick-starting a motorcycle! In the second, Garu Garu seems to have some mechanical prosthetics, and in the third he's become quite steampunk. A detail to watch for is Belvera slipping her foot into a stirrup, which she kicks out to apparently pull-start him like a lawn mower!

Of all Toho's monsters, Mothra is closer to being a magical creature than a standard "space monster" or radioactive mutation. The two "fairies" who attend her (yes, Mothra is a girl, at least in this series!) testify to this. Mothra here has the ability to transform herself into various configurations, much as an anime Magical Girl. She becomes an aquatic creature in the second movie, looking more like a flying fish, and in the third, a heavily armored flying lance. Also in the second, she transforms into a fleet of small X-Wing fighters to do battle with little creatures inside the main villain-monster, Dagahra. (Refer to the Wikizilla referenced before for all the many Mothra variations.) Somewhat related, the second movie references Okinawa's reputation as a magical land, rather the way the West conceives of Ireland as the home of the "Little People" and other mystic phenomena.

As for the girls, Lora and Mona, they are in this series distinct individuals, in contrast to the original Mothra series where they were not only identical, but moved and spoke together in unison. They are really quite delightful characters here in their own right, and Belvera provides a rather likeable "evil twin" - type foil to them. In the third movie, there is a story thread which lends some unintentional (I think!) humor. All three of the Elias must work together to defeat Ghidorah, to form the "Elias Triangle": an unbeatable combination of Wisdom, Love, and Courage. In other words: A brain . . . a heart . . . the noive! Yes, I found myself whistling "If I Only Had A Brain" through a couple of bits. Anyway, in the end we find Belvera isn't really all that bad, though -- and that's all I'll say on that!

As many Japanese kaijuu movies, there is a strong environmentalist theme to these (the first two, at least) which is not at all subtle. In the first, Death Ghidorah is awoken due in part to the activities of a logging company, and in the end, Mothra restores the loggers' ravages. The second abandons any pretense of subtlety. Dagahra, living relic of an ancient civilization, Nilai-Kanai, sunken like Atlantis, has awoken and is infesting Earth with small starfish-like creatures which feed on pollution and threaten to overrun and destroy all other life. (The third is entirely absent such a theme.)

I mentioned in notes about my earlier Gamera Collection, that after the original movie, the Gamera series slipped from being, in large part, movies =about= children to movies =for= children. The second of this series plays with that line, slippping back and forth over it without quite committing either way. The first big tipoff is a guest creature, not a monster, called Go-Go (or Gogho). Go-Go looks like a refugee from the Furby factory, and helps provide a large dose of comedy. Overall, in fact, this one is much lighter than the other two and serves up a few good laughs. One of those was really a good scene, and turned around a white-knuckle dramatic bit into a literal "LOL" moment. Watch for it toward the end! In contrast, the third has some quite intense stuff going on and may be too much for some children -- although it =is= largely about children. Children who have been rather spirited away by King Ghidorah to a giant, organic-looking egg-sphere, where he plans to eat them.

But all in all, this is a delightful series and well worth the watching for any fan of the Japanese monster movie genre.