Mothra vs. Godzilla

IMDB
First time viewed: Yes
Current Release: No
Watched With: Andrew

Skipping ahead a bit to what is widely considered the best of the original run of Godzilla films. And out of all the Japanese Godzilla films I've seen so far, this one easily has the best pacing. It keeps the story moving and has enough fun sequences throughout to break up the human stuff, which is kind of fun itself.

At this stage Godzilla is still a badass who just pops out of the ground one day and starts smashing stuff up. It's up to Mothra, fresh off her own solo film, to stop him and protect her last egg. Now I did not know this about Mothra, but she is flanked by two tiny telepathic twins, that sing a lot. Not expecting that. I suppose it would have helped to have seen the Mothra film first. There's a whole other island of crazy stuff in that, and it makes a brief appearance in this one.

There's also a subplot about an evil businessman trying to make a tourist attraction out of Mothra's egg. So the film had a human villain too.

But the important stuff here are the kaiju fights, firstly the titular Mothra vs Godzilla and then Godzilla vs the two Mothra larvae. They are both pretty funny. Mothra dragging the big G by the tail was a site to behold but nothing can top when one of the little larvae gets his pincers latched onto the thing. Amazing.

I enjoyed this one, makes me really want to watch more of the classic run. I'll have to go back and fill in the gaps after this brief sampler marathon.