There have been monsters destroying cities for years with the most notable obviously being Godzilla and Kong. With the release of the great Godzilla: King of Monsters this year what better time to revisit another classic Kaiju Mothra. Mill Creek Entertainment is bringing the original 1961 classic home with an all-new SteelBook edition that fans will no doubt be eager to add to their collections.

 

Mothra follows the reports of human life on Infant Island, the supposedly deserted site of atomic bomb tests, an international expedition to the heavily-radiated island discovers a native tribe and tiny twin female fairies called "Shobijin" who guard a sacred egg. The overzealous expedition leader kidnaps the Shobijin to exhibit in a Tokyo stage show but soon they summon their protector, hatching the egg and releasing a giant caterpillar. When Mothra arrives in Japan and finally transforms into the ultimate beast, impervious to modern weapons, the nation and its people face their destruction.

 

Growing up I was obsessed with martial arts movies and all things giant monsters. As much as I loved Godzilla for whatever reason I found Mothra to be awesome the first time I saw her in Godzilla vs. Mothra. I realized I had never seen the original Mothra feature that offered up her first appearance all the way through, but this new version changed all that. First you have to know that all of these films are horribly dated and silly, but all in the best way possible. Every one of them are pretty much the same story with the humans doing something to upset the kaiju and destruction ensues.

 

What’s interesting about this one is that it is an origin story of sorts with very little actual Mothra in her monarch form that we all know and love and instead mostly in larva state. The most of the movie is ridiculous, but is part of the history of the character and at the time of its release was no doubt something fresh and new to fill the Godzilla vacancy before his return. I still love this character and enjoyed this film as it delivered exactly what I was hoping for all around. You have to be a fan of these classic films to enjoy it, but let’s be honest that is all that is going to likely be checking this out anyway.

 

For more information or to get your copy head over to https://www.millcreekent.com/mothra.html