I hold a special place in my heart for Japanese films involving giant monsters laying waste to entire cities. In my younger days, I used to look so forward to Saturday’s when some local station would usually play one of these films on the “Creature Feature”. Unfortunately though, I think many that didn’t grow up as a fan of these films look at them as being nothing more than low-grade, cheesy entertainment. And I can’t blame them, as the US dubbed versions of most of these films are cringe-worthy. Many people probably don’t realize that the Japanese version of Godzilla (or Gojira to us purist snobs) is actually a meditation on the dangers of nuclear testing, and that most of these films are heavily altered upon import. Sure, many of them are just good escapist fun in their original forms, but there are those few that stand above the others and attempt to do something other than just provide monsters on the rampage. Mothra is one of those films, and it’s one of the most unique entries in the Kaiju genre.

Members of an expedition are caught in a typhoon and stranded on Infant Island, a site for nuclear tests used by the nation of Rolisica. Eventually they’re saved, and scientists are amazed that none of them have been affected by any radiation sickness. The survivors attribute it to some sort of juice given to them by the natives of the island. This sparks a new expedition between Japan and Rolisica led by a greedy businessman named Clark Nelson. Upon their arrival, they find odd plants, a native tribe, and two small girls whose singing saves a few members of the expedition when they’re attacked by some of the islands plant life. When reported, one of the members of Nelson’s crew attempts to kidnap the girls, but once everyone else see’s how the islands natives act, Nelson reluctantly tells the man to let the girls loose, and they all return to Japan.

Nelson however believes these girls could make him a lot of money, and he secretly takes a crew back to the island and kidnaps the girls, killing many of the islands natives. Nelson brings them back to Japan and forces the girls to star in a stage play, reaping in a massive profit. Back on the island however, the remaining natives pray to their god, named “Mothra”, which at this point is a giant egg, to go and save the girls. Nelson doesn’t realize that the girls singing actually acts as a homing device for Mothra, and when she hatches out of the egg still in the larval caterpillar stage, she heads straight towards Tokyo.

Like Gojira before it, Mothra is just as concerned with delivering a message as it is with delivering the destruction. Mothra features some heavy political subtext underneath its exterior that for the most part centers on the evils of atomic testing. Rolisica is obviously a sly substitution for America, and Nelson completely ignoring the fact that the island they’re testing on has a native population seems to be a jab at the US’s nuclear testing program. The bombing of Hiroshima was less than 20 years earlier, and many in Japan were surely still reeling from the tragedy. It shouldn’t come as a surprise that most of Japan’s population were not too keen on atomic weapons.

Another way that Mothra stands out from the pack is that the monster here is portrayed as a sympathetic figure. She’s not bent on destruction, nor does she really wish anyone harm; she just wants to rescue the girls. It just so happens that she’s a giant, and destruction is sure to follow her. What also makes Mothra different from many similar films is that the creature here evolves throughout the films runtime. She goes from an egg, to a caterpillar, to her final form as a moth. Because of this, Mothra definitely has more character than many of her kaiju counterparts.

Of course, regardless of how well developed the story is, just like most films of this ilk, you’ll have to suspend disbelief just a bit to be able to enjoy yourself when it comes to the FX work. The tanks, cars, and boats look just like the remote-controlled toys they are, the scenes that involve super-imposing film on top of one another looks quite bad, and Mothra is far from frightening lumbering around on land and in the skies. Thankfully, she isn’t meant to be feared here, so it’s not too much of a sticking point. On the other hand however, some of the FX work here is among the best I’ve seen from the genre for this timeframe. Many of the destruction scenes are far better looking than they have any right to, and Mothra making her cocoon looks pretty impressive.

Among fans of these films, Mothra is among the most highly regarded, and with good reason. It sets itself apart from the pack by featuring a monster that isn’t inherently evil, and because of that it feels fresher than many of its companion films. Many true-blue Americans may frown upon the way the film portrays the US, although by the same token, I doubt the type of person that would be offended by something like this isn’t watching foreign films featuring giant monsters in the first place. For those that think this genre is just cheesy B-movie territory, Mothra is definitely a good jumping off point to see that that isn’t always the case.