Review: REBIRTH OF MOTHRA 2 (1997)

We've reached the midpoint of another trilogy on our big list of movies to watch (HERE).

The film is Rebirth of Mothra 2 (aka Mothra 2: The Undersea Battle; 1997).



I'll go first:

It's like thematic whiplash, going from the great Gamera trilogy to the Mothra trilogy ... but here we are. 

We're treated to a different batch of annoying kids this time.  (In the old Gamera series, the children were smarter than any adults around.  Not so with these kids.)  We also get a pair of bumbling thieves, conned by the evil Elias sister into helping her rob an ancient temple.  The kids, of course, are helping the good Elias, along with the help of an earless Furby with magical urine.  I'm not kidding. 

"I ain't a Mogwai, that's for sure." 

We get yet another long chase scene between the good and bad Elias sisters.  This time it's in a forest and, somehow, it's more poorly composited than the living room scene in the last movie.  Poor compositing was also a problem in the big bad guy's attack on land. 

 

Funny thing: for the first time in one of these movies aimed at kids, a monster destroys a school but a big deal isn't made about it.  There should have been a couple of kids cheering him on, only to have a teacher or parent scoop them up and carry them away. 

So, the bad kaiju, Dagarla (Daghara), was created by an ancient civilization to dispose of pollution.  Gee, that sounds familiar.   

Also, the fights between it and Mothra are pretty good (except for the CG water funnel ... and all the visible strings).  The requisite beam weapons.  The requisite glitter.  The grabbing and tossing of large suits.  Dagarla's pit smoke is a puzzler, though. 

 

Mothra Leo gets a makeover, though, for the third act and becomes "Aqua Mothra," as seen up top.  This is so the moth can go underwater and fight Dagarla on its home turf after being covered in evil barnacles.  A water moth is a strange enough idea (especially since it mostly looks like a flying fish), but the CG-laden execution of it with swarms of tiny Aqua Mothras is so very dull and poor ...  But we get Rainbow Mothra (Mothra of Many Colors?), so that's pretty nice. 

In the meantime, via the kids and the dumb crooks, we get an abject lesson in trust and lying.  It's ridiculous.  And then there's the futuristic ancient temple and the hologram princess ... just nonsense. 

Regardless.  If you're thinking of watching this just for the action, you're going to be disappointed.   

Rebirth of Mothra 2 ... why won't the kids shut up?!  1.5 out of five atomic breath blasts.

Here's my son:

The most stupid parts were all the screaming and grunting from the kids and just about everything in the temple. They were totally ripping off some of The Indiana Jones movies and they copied the invisible bridge. And the evil monster couldn't move his arms at all. It just swam around and shot smoke and laser beams. 

So, rating wise, i'll say 1.9 out of 5 Atomic Breaths Of Awesomeness!!!

Up next, Kraa: The Sea Monster.

(GIFs from Tokumonster)