TrueJoshNight Truly Dreadful Film

StunnaKrypto Self-important, over-dramatic, uninspired.

Livestonth I am only giving this movie a 1 for the great cast, though I can't imagine what any of them were thinking. This movie was horrible

Seraherrera The movie is wonderful and true, an act of love in all its contradictions and complexity

zee What I like about the Mothramovies is the look, the island culture, the dancing, singing. There's a lovely style to it. Mothra herself is kind of cool, a goddess rather than a monster. What is less appealing is that this first movie-- as well as the others --is slow. Nothing much happens for the first half. The plot isn't that strong, and it is paced horribly. And so I find myself waiting for the next musical number, the next interesting minor-key song to Mothra, or the next modern dance number with dozens of dancers.

pyrocitor Film theorists postulating that giant movie monsters serve as figurative representations of the destructive force of female emancipation post-WWII will assuredly have a good chuckle with Ishiro Honda's Mothra, one of the most sturdy, well-crafted, and enjoyable of the Godzilla brethren. A reworking of the King Kong colonial island theft story, Mothra distinguishes itself from most of its contemporaries by pouring the satirical subtext on hard, while still delivering its fair share of trashy large-scale property destruction.Like many of the Honda flicks, Mothra starts slow, but compensates with its better than average script and (human) cast to sell it, thunderously debating the ethics of abducting a pair of adorably polite tiny island sprites to use as singing sideshow fairies (a subplot sold well by the enjoyable despicable Jerry Ito). But, once their songs are revealed as prayers to their island deity, the fun really starts. Although Godzilla has been variously theorized as a force of nature beyond morality (at least until the 2014 American abomination), the matriarchal Mothra is the first explicit example of the monster-as-protector trope, lending an intriguingly layer of moral vindication to her subsequent swathe of mayhem. Mothra herself looks incredible, and the intricacy of her character design makes her eerily captivating to watch. Whether lurching across the ocean as a steadfast larval juggernaut, or fluttering about the city, she's a devastatingly beautiful maelstrom of destruction. Similarly, Honda makes ingenious use of innovative sound editing, with the Islander twins' eerie electric organ speech and Mothra's chirping lending the film a fantastically eerie feel.Here, Mothra's target is not only Tokyo, but the fictional nation of Rolisica (any similarities to any existing United Sta-er, countries is purely coincidental). The symbolism - Mothra is born in Japan only to wreak havoc on the US-ahem-I-mean- Rolisica - is almost as fun as the destruction itself as the destruction itself (extensive miniatures work which is impressive, if not convincing), and Honda takes evident glee in having non-Japanese flee in terror for once. The film's veering into religious iconography in its climax is initially a bit jarring, but retroactively makes sense, juxtaposed with the Islanders' own totemic worship, and even the antagonist's worship of money. Regardless, Mothra being a comparatively peaceful monster allows for about as happy an ending as the genre is likely to ever permit (complete with punchline and literal laugh track). As such, for being what it is - a campy, relatively silly kaiju escapade - Mothra's tongue-in-cheek sociopolitical subtext and comparatively sturdy storytelling, along with its genuinely spectacular character design, affirm it as a hugely fun, abiding genre classic.-7/10

Nick Retzlaff I got this movie from the mill creek entertainment Sci-fi Creature Classics and Mothra was one of them. Made in 1961 by toho it's about this island that gets attacked by a atomic bomb. A team of Japanese explorers check out the radiated island and are surprised to see life there. Also there are these twin girls called the Ailenas, or the Peanut Sisters as some people call them. Some guy takes them to exploit them and they're singing voices. A bit later when the Peanut sisters sing it awaking's Mothra which appears about halfway though the movie. I mostly watched this for the Mothera song which sounds pretty peaceful and beautiful. Also when Mothra finally cocoons into a butterfly or moth it really gets good. If your a monster movie fan check this one out since it's considered a classic Sci-Fi monster movie.

Michael_Elliott Mothra (1961) **American version**** 1/2 (out of 4)A jerk businessman finds a couple twin fairies on an island and kidnaps then, which lets loose Mothra, a giant caterpillar who eventually takes flight to wreck Japan. This monster movie from Toho is probably one of their most loved and it's also one of their best. As with others films from this genre, most of the dialogue is either over dramatic or just downright silly and that holds true here. It's a real shame the first hour isn't at least half as exciting as the final thirty-minutes, which features our beloved creature really doing some major damage and delivering all sorts of cheap thrills. The human characters are all pretty one dimensional as they're either bad, good or there for comic relief. The two twin fairies are somewhat as legendary as the creatures from Toho and I must admit they have a certain amount of charm that will keep a smile on your face. With all of that said, the real star here is the title creature who I prefer to Godzilla. The final thirty-minutes contain some great action sequences including a beautiful one where a bridge collapses into some water, which eventually causes some huge waves. The entire sequence of the caterpillar falling over, building a cocoon and then flying off is extremely well done. The special effects of the fire that comes before the flying sequence is rather silly looking but it doesn't take anything away from the film. People have often complained about the poor looking special effects in Godzilla and to a point I'd agree with them but I think the work here is much better. Perhaps because of the wind storm created by the creature is why they can get away with a lot more but the effects of this are nicely handled.