Kaiju Chronology: Rebirth of Mothra 2

He's big!  He's bad!  He's adorable!  Mothra is back again in today's film- Rebirth of Mothra 2.  The fluffy little (big) guy is back to protect the Earth again.  What kind of threat is it this time?  You'll never guess.  It is a big, angry monster that wants to destroy the Environment (and us).  Shocking- I know.  This one aims for the younger Demographic, giving you children heroes, tiny people that ride a tiny Moth and much, much more.  Why is a little Kuriboh (look it up) the key to a hidden treasure?  Why does a monster eat garbage?  Why do large Starfish spit poison in your face like those poison-spitting Dinosaurs from Jurassic Park (like you know their name!)?  To find out the answers to all of those questions (Warning: Results Not Guaranteed), read on...

The film begins with...HOLY SHIT- THAT IS ALOT OF MOTHRAS!!!

Seriously- that happens!

Where was I?  Okay, so there is trash, a mysterious monster lurking around and three kids that discover...Fuzzy Tomato?

The evil little person is after, but, thankfully, the good ones are here too (and so is Fairy).  We get tiny people, Fairy (the tiny Mothra) and this little fuzzball (above) at once- too cute!

The Plot revolves around a hidden city in the Ocean- where else would it be?- that our young heroes find.  They get to go on a live-action (sort of, anyhow) version of that Arcade Game where you paddle the boat past Dinosaurs and Volcanoes.

Oh Arcades, we miss you.

The evil little person summons Dagarah to start smashing shit up.  She wants the treasure in the Hidden City and will do anything to get it.

You know what that means- call in Mothra!  Your name is in the Title, so it is about time you did something!

The battle goes in Mothra's favor until Dagarah coats him in the freaky-acid spitting Starfish that were created by our worst enemy- pollution!

With things going so badly, how can they turn around?

Well, FT turns out to be a fairly-literal Deus Ex Machina created by the former residents of the Hidden City.  They reject evil and side with us.

Mothra is rejuvenated for the final battle and pulls out a new mode to finish off the creature!  He's...Fish Mothra?

Either way, it looks bad-ass and manages to save the Earth...for now.  The End.

It definitely skews younger, but is still quite fun.  The key thing is that the film's demographic is definitely younger than me- roughly the 8-15 year old market.  Like I've said before though, I am a kid at heart.  At this film's heart are two things: a message about treating the Earth right and that giant Monsters must always battle.  I'm all for those!  In spite of its age (being made in 1997), the film has really good Special Effects- both practical and CG.  Yes, not all of the integration of people and Blue Screen (I assume) backgrounds look perfect.  Yes, the blending of the monster suits and people in shot are still not always great.  I'm willing to overlook alot of that because of the amount of detail work put into it.  I sound like an old man when I complain about how CG has become a crutch for so many films and Directors.  Why bother making creatures and sets when you can just draw them like a super-powerful version of MS Paint?  I'll rant later.  My point is that Toho put a lot of work into making these cool-looking and functional monsters and I love em!  While Mothra will never take the place of Godzilla, he/she did star in some overlooked films.  Besides, what other Toho creature can claim to be a modern-day Moses?

Up next, I cover a film that has taken over a Decade to get to the United States.  I sure hope it was worth the wait!  Stay tuned...