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| Mothra vs Godzilla : 4 of 5 | |
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6.07.2007
7:02 AM | Link |
 I absolutely love these new Classic Media releases of the original Godzilla films! It's so cool to watch both the Japanese and US versions and compare their differences, and the commentary track is by far the most scholarly discussion of this genre that you will ever hear. This time I enjoyed the 1964 release of Mothra vs Godzilla (released in the US as Godzilla vs the Thing, since they wanted to sell more tickets by keeping the other monster a secret!), which is considered by many to be one of the best Godzilla movies (and one of the last where Godzilla is a destructive force, rather than a kind of hero for Japan). I'm sure I saw this ages ago, but I completely forgot the story of Mothra's egg washing ashore, the death of the current Mothra, and then the birth of the caterpillar twins! The scenes with the "small beauties" (played by an old pop group called The Peanuts) speaking in unison are always great, and it's fun to hear them sing to Mothra. Godzilla does some great damage (using his tail much more in this movie), including destroying Himeji Castle, and there are some dramatic electrocution scenes before his eventual fate in Mothra's sticky webs. The visual effects are so cool for the 60s (thanks to one of only two optical printers in existence at the time!), and the music is fantastically dramatic, which is discussed in a short biography of the composer Ikufube. Besides the dubbed voices (some done by the Speed Racer crew), the US version includes an additional missile attack scene, which is really interesting. I totally cannot wait for the next round of DVD releases - seeing these movies in their original form is making me a huge Godzilla fan!
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