Those Japanese monsters are at it again giving jobs to the construction workers of the country with their continuing urban renewal. This time Mothra is battling another butterfly creature Battra who is a butterfly gone over to the dark side. A meteor awakened Battra and an expedition finds Mothra with his two little girl guardians on an island in the Indonesian Archipelago. These two look like their going head to head for a bit. But that same meteor also got Godzilla up from his hibernation in the Pacific deep.Destruction is spread around a bit with Nagoya and Yokohama taking some of the monster wrath. But the two butterflies decide they're going to tag team Godzilla in a handicap match.Believe me watching these movies is just like watching the WWE.

It occurred to me while watching this that I'm in fact a lot like Godzilla, I lay in hibernation for these flicks and surface about once each year to check one out before hanging it up again. This stuff is so silly I can't imagine why they keep coming up with them. Godzilla here looks pretty much like I recall from other pictures, but Mothra was decked out in colorful new duds sprinkling cosmic fairy dust wherever he flies. Or is Mothra a she? Does anybody know? What cracks me up about these films, (besides almost everything) is how one of the characters might yell out something like "Watch out for Godzilla. Get away!" while the monsters battle each other a couple of miles away. You think Godzilla heard that? Speaking of which, if you were actually watching a battle between Godzilla, Mothra and Battra, would you actually be cheering for your favorite from the sidelines? Very cool though was the make up job on Mothra this time out - quite colorful after hatching out from that immense, plastic looking giant larva. The Cosmos was a nifty creative touch as well, those miniature singers were just what the picture needed to keep those mutant monsters in check. Look, I know these films were basically made for a pre-teen audience and the kids who watched these when they came out must have gotten a big kick out of them, but for anyone else, I guess I'd have to quote one of the Japanese scientists on their continued appeal - "This is beyond our present knowledge or understanding".

As I have said with a previous review of a Godzilla film, you really can't rate this with the same standards of other films, why? Because it's Godzilla, it's not normal. Intention of the film, and did it accomplish it is how I grade these films.Having said that, this film wasn't the worst entry into the Godzilla franchise. It wasn't the best either. While, the special effects were had slightly improved on the last film, they are still far from revolutionary. They're not bad enough to spoil the film though. or the time, the special effects were not half bad.While this film improves in terms of plot holes (time travelers, with inconsistencies in the physics of time travel) it also goes a completely different direction. As I said, the last film was about time travel. This one was about fairies and other super natural phenomena. A fairly different direction. There is also a clear influence from the Indiana Jones films. Except, this isn't really as good as Indiana Jones vs Godzilla would be.The plot itself, while better, was very slow. Godzilla is already a established character, so you think it would be easy to have him show up and smash the place up. No. They had to introduce Mothra AND Battra first. Then have them hatch out of their eggs. Then have them go from larva to actual moths. I don't understand why Battra is called Battra. Looks more like a moth to me.So anyway, Mothra has to protect the earth, Battra has to do the same, but is more aggressive towards humans, because as we all know, we messed things up. Anyway, somewhere in- between, Godzilla, not wanting to disappoint to film goer by having his name on the film and not be in it (which I thought was the case when he took forever to show up) shows up and smashes the place up. With style, too. Godzilla isn't the good guy in this film, Mothra is, and Battra ends up being one. It still doesn't help the fact that I want to see Godzilla kill everything, including the good guys.Honestly though, this is one of the more touching Godzilla films. It's very slow, but worth checking out if you are a Godzilla fan.

Coming after the terrific Godzilla Vs King Ghidorah,Godzilla Vs Mothra manages to be almost as good. Unlike the previous film,which revived a monster from the older series but structured a new plot around it,Godzilla Vs Mothra is a remake of both the 60s Godzilla Vs Mothra and the original film,Mothra,which introduced the huge moth. Some scenes from those films are copied and sometimes improved,such as the cater pillar Mothra's slide through Tokyo ,destroying everything more by accident than anything else,or the cocooning and hatching of the 'adult' Mothra,which here is a quite beautiful scene. The film provides as much destructive mayhem as the previous film,and visually is even more impressive to look at. The much more cuddly Mothra is a nice touch,while Battra is an awesome menace. Once again,the human characters keep the interest while we wait for the monsters to turn up. Finally,Akira Ikifube's score has the most beautiful piece of music heard in a Godzilla film,actually taken from the first Godzilla Vs Mothra,but sounding much better here.However,the film does have it's problems. The plot is confused,and Godzilla could have almost been removed from the script,he has so little to do with the story. The film rams home it's environmentalist message with all the subtlety of Godzilla,and it becomes a bit tiresome.Nonetheless,another fine Godzilla film,and even if,in the end,it's not quite as good as the original Godzilla Vs Mothra,it's as good an updating as one would have a right to expect.