Ghidorah, The Three-Headed Monster (1964)

There’s no reason for me to be cagey about this film. It was the most fun I had this week with my clothes on. It’s a new favourite kaiju movie, but I am starting to worry that I will be saying that for every film I am belatedly discovering for the first time. I cannot imagine fans of these movies disliking this though. It is quite simply, to use the proper cinematic term, absolutely awesome.

Bear with me as I rush through the main plot points, which are quite ridiculous. A meteor hits the Earth. A princess, being guarded by a detective, seemingly dies in a plane crash, but then returns while seemingly possessed by the spirit of a Venusian prophet. The mighty Ghidorah is due to rise up and cause some stress for humans, to put it mildly, but there is a chance that Godzilla and Rodan could work together and overpower this mutual enemy . . . if they can be persuaded that Ghidorah IS an enemy. That persuasion comes from a young Mothra, with translations offered to the audience by the fairy twins (once again played by Emi and Yumi Itô).

If that all sounds pretty bonkers then, trust me, it is. It is also hilarious and entertaining, particularly during one key scene in the third act that is the kaiju equivalent of kids being talked into moodily doing some housework. As is so often the case, none of the human characters make much of an impression, although the oddness of the tale helps them a bit, but this is all about the monster madness, which is delivered with gusto in the finale.

Director Ishirô Honda is working again with writer Shin’ichi Sekizawa, and both seem to make the most of the silly premise, adding plenty of humour throughout to let viewers know that it’s fine to grin and chuckle your way through this one. And grin and chuckle you surely will.

The effects seem a bit cheaper and more crude than some of the previous stuff we have seen, but that just adds to the feeling that this has been made with an emphasis on the daffy fun. 

I will mention Yôsuke Natsuki, Yuriko Hoshi, Hiroshi Koizumi, and Akiko Wakabayashi here. They all do fine in their roles, the latter particularly enjoyable as the aforementioned princess (who, let’s not forget, appears to become possessed by a prophetic Venusian), but they are, as expected, secondary to the monsters. And when the monsters are onscreen, well, the humans are quickly forgotten.

If these films keep being as good as this then I will just kick myself harder for not watching many of them years before now. Part of me hopes they are wildly inconsistent, but part of me is absolutely gleeful at the prospect of more features that are as much fun as this one.

9/10

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Mothra vs. Godzilla (1964)

Here we are again, wandering around in the land of kaiju, and if I already know what I am letting myself in for then there are millions of people in the world who can write about these movies much better than I do. But this is my review, documenting my journey through this wild and weird cinematic “zoo”, and I will continue to do the best I can.

This time around we have another giant egg, something turned into a money-making attraction by another opportunistic businessman, but people are once again warned off by two small fairies (the Shonijin, played here again by Emi Itô and Yumi Itô). As the title would suggest, Mothra appears, but it becomes a potential ally to the human race when an angry Godzilla re-awakens.

With Ishirô Honda back in the director’s chair, and writer Shin’ichi Sekizawa once again on the screenplay duties, this is familiar and hugely entertaining fare from people who could surely do this in their sleep. The plot and characters are perfectly fine, with everything put together well, and every viewer knows that it’s all building up to the titular confrontation. Mothra remains a wonderful creation, Godzilla is (for most people) the most lovable giant lizard to ever stomp on buildings, vehicles, and fleeing people, and the action is fun and inventive when it becomes the focus of the third act.

The human cast members all do fine, but I will always remember the two Itô sisters ahead of anyone else. You do get perfectly fine turns from Akira Takarada, Yuriko Hoshi, Hiroshi Koizumi, and others though, especially as our leads butt heads with the businessmen who want to value their own wealth over the interests of the people around them.

It’s also worth noting here that Mothra vs. Godzilla takes some time to specifically comment on the consequences of nuclear testing. The danger of nuclear power is obviously inherent in every Godzilla movie, considering the legacy of Big G, but the issues raised here somehow feel a bit more fresh and relevant, a reminder that it is not a problem consigned to a now-closed chapter of history.

I have omitted a few details here, hoping to keep a pleasant surprise or two in store for anyone else who may decide to finally watch this for the first time, but I highly recommend this as a superficially silly creature feature that, like so many other films of this ilk, manages to deliver fun action moments, as well as some thought-provoking musings on wielding power and working together for the greater good of the human race.

8/10

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Mothra (1961)

Okay, first of all, I need to apologise. In making 2024 a year of Godzilla on the blog, I soon realised that I wanted to cover every connected kaiju film. It's a task as momentous as the creatures themselves, and I have already missed out some key movies I wanted to cover on the journey. So there will be a little bit of backtracking before we move further forward. And this is my resource for planning the rest of the year (or however long it takes to cover the movies I want to review here) - https://www.tohokingdom.com/genre_movie_lists/kaiju_listing.htm - and any input, especially from those who know much more than I do, is always welcome.

Go ahead and make all the jokes you want (particularly if you are already envisioning the size of the giant bulb you would need to lure away a giant moth), but Mothra holds up very well today as another fantastic Japanese kaiju film. Based on a book by Shin'chirô Nakamura, it's the tale of greedy and exploitative individuals who bring the titular beast upon their heads when they fail to heed warnings against uprooting two tiny young women from their island home. These "twin fairies" aka Shobijin (played by Yumi Itô and Emi Itô) don't lash out at their captors, but they make everyone aware that the situation will lead to dire consequences. Those dire consequences start off in the form of a giant egg, which hatches a giant caterpillar, which eventually builds a cocoon and prepares to become, as you may have surmised already, Mothra.

Another film from the kaiju master, AKA Ishirô Honda, Mothra is everything you want from this kind of film. The screenplay, by Shin'ichi Sekizawa, mixes the usual messaging with a good smattering of atmosphere throughout the first half before delivering the fun spectacle in the second half. It somehow manages to deliver the goods without feeling like a lazy retread, thanks to the use of the Shobijin, and Mothra makes a hell of an impact in both main, destructive, incarnations.

The cast make much less of an impact, although both Yumi and Emi Itô are delightful every time they appear onscreen. Jerry Itô is the evil capitalist, Clark Nelson, Hiroshi Koizumi plays Dr Shin'ichi Chûjô, someone who might come up with whatever plan is needed to deal with/placate Mothra, and Kyôko Kagawa is a photographer named Michi Hanamura. They all get one or two decent moments, but the film always steps up a notch when showing us either the Shobijin or Mothra.

I don't have much more to say. Although I was familiar with the titular beast, I'd only ever seen the modern Mothra in the American "monsterverse" movies, which is a different, but beautiful, visual feast. Finally seeing the original creature in the original film was a real treat, and I was smiling from start to finish as the pieces of the plot were moved into place, paving the way for the expected third act of panic and large-scale catastrophe. Mothra deserves to remain such a beloved film (and I know it is, considering how many friends of mine are fans of it) so I encourage others to avoid delaying a viewing of it for as long as I did.

9/10

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