You won't be disappointed!

Too much of everything

hyped garbage

It is encouraging that the film ends so strongly.Otherwise, it wouldn't have been a particularly memorable film

Godzilla and Mothra: The Battle for Earth (1992)** 1/2 (out of 4)Japan once again has major fears as Godzilla is back and storming towards the country looking for much more destruction. The Japanese people are in luck as Mothra is back in action and willing to take on Godzilla as well as Battra, a dark butterfly who went to the bad guys club.I must admit that I found this film to be slightly more entertaining than the previous entry, GODZILLA VS. KING GHIDORAH simply because you didn't have to wait as long to get to the actual monsters. You know, I will freely admit that I enjoy watching these movies but I'm not a die hard fan of them and quite often while watching them I wonder who these were meant for. Were they adults who enjoyed watching the previous entries as children? Was this made for the children of Japan? I'm not really sure who they were made for but there's some childish charm to be had with them.For my money the best thing about this film are the various battle scenes. Yes, the special effects can be a bit childish and silly but to me that's part of the charm. I mean, if you're willing to believe that a giant butterfly is going to battle Godzilla then do we really need special effects like something in JURASSIC PARK? The film manages to have a child-like attitude and it's best that the viewers don't take this too seriously because, after all, we're dealing with a movie about monsters and little fairies that can predict things. I mean, what about the song these fairies sing to Mothra? The Godzilla costume looks quite good here and for the most part I liked the look of Battra. As for Mothra, he's a cute and cuddly little monster but he might be too cute for his own good. With that said, once the three are battling it certainly makes for a fun picture and one that fans should enjoy. As far as the rest goes, it is quite silly as the human characters are complete bores and there's really nothing fascinating about the actual story.

The 90's series makes way for Mothra. This time she's from the cosmos, as are her mini-twin lady friends. We're also introduced to Battra. One of the best things about this film is way each monster teeters between hero and villain. Each has a mission of their own, but they aren't exactly evil. It makes for much more interesting fights, and even a little depth to monster smash ups. The film begins as a strange Indiana Jones adventure film. Crumbling temples, rickety bridges etc. It adds for a little bit of unexpected fun before entering the world we are familiar with. Almost like if a Bond film started with a monster attack. Sure it's cheap and unoriginal, but for a film that has some boxes to tick, it's nice to have some variety. There is a heavy feminine touch to this movie. Toho trying to bring in the ladies to push up the box office receipts. The monsters have a lot more love and care, and we see a broken family at the heart of all this. This film really made me sit up during the destruction scenes. In broad daylight, it still looked real. The filmmakers now confident to compose images of monsters in the background and people in the foreground. It allows for some tremendous shots of absolute chaos, and stops the streets from seeming too empty.

Since the earlier years of Toho's Heisei series, members within Toho had been wanting to get Mothra back in a movie that could be her own. The first and closest to production script was to be 1990's Mothra vs Bagan (which was later proposed as Godzilla vs Bagan for a later film). After Godzilla vs Biollante failed to get much traction at the box office, Toho decided instead to focus on Godzilla films rather than risk anything without the international presence that Godzilla had. After the relative success of Godzilla vs King Ghidorah, it was actually proposed to have a sequel that again pitted Godzilla against the golden dragon. This idea never got too serious, but Toho wanted to maintain Godzilla's title opponent as a well known monster. Mothra fit that role. The best known proposal was to be 1992's Godzilla vs Gigamoth. The plot around pollution and general environmental concerns was similar to the actual Godzilla vs Mothra: The Battle for Earth. Gigamoth was to have been a Mothra mutated by recent pollution disasters and toxic weaponry. The script was altered and the Gigamoth aspect of the film became the Battra part of the film.Despite all of the proposals and interesting bits, GvM's plot still wasn't bad. The ancient war between the people/Mothra and the Earth/Battra was intriguing on paper. Good ideas don't guarantee a film's greatness, and this one proves that in spades. The movie is pretty staid, with dull character tension and an uninspiring love story. Godzilla looks much as he did the last year, which is to say pretty good. His atomic ray has a strange sound to it in this film that wasn't repeated in anything else. It's nothing close to a bother, just a quirk of this film if you wanna call it that. Mothra's redesign in the Heisei series looks okay, but rather fluffy and fake to be honest. Unlike the Showa era Mothra, this one has received a huge boost in power/weapons. She can beam spam all day if she wants, and she can essentially go toe-to-toe with Godzilla. Her larvae form looks fine and is otherwise about the same as the Showa larvae, but it pales in comparison to the might of the Battra larvae. Even the LARVAE Battra can beam spam! Both of the final forms of Mothra and Battra look a little stiff here.The lackluster pacing and mediocre monster battles do this film in and keep it from impressing anyone. I would rate this film a 4.5/10, among the lower scores for a Godzilla movie and the second worst amongst the Heisei series. As it stands, the film doesn't always maintain the viewer's attention.

This movie starts out pretty good, with realistic looking meteor falling to earth, but that's the end of good special effects for this film. Special effects director Koichi Kawakita must have been absent the day they shot this movie (although he is credited), because his previous film (Godzilla vs King Gidorah) was lot better than this one. The only reason I could think of for this movie's special effect being so bad was that it was rushed for summer season when kids are off school. These movies are primarily targeted I believe for elementary school kids which I think is grave mistake on Toho's part, because many children enjoyed Gamera 3 which was not catering to younger audiences.Asides from the above, this movie has more than few things in common with the original Mothra vs Godzilla (1964).1. There's a corrupt real estate developer as the main protagonist. 2. A typhoon exposes Mothra's egg. 3. Two man and a woman goes on an expedition to Infant (Mothra) island. 4. It's two monsters against one Godzilla. 5. Actor Akira Takarada stars in both movies.This DVD comes together with Godzilla vs King Gidorah which Toho created as their 60th anniversary project, which is one of the best Godzilla movie of the '90s.