MovieChat Forums > Mosura tai Gojira (1964) Discussion > One of THE best Godzilla films ever made

One of THE best Godzilla films ever made

posted 16 years ago by Emideon
8 replies | jump to latest

To stave off going on forever with some rant, I'll just list the reasons why I think so and see what others think

Probably the best musical score of the entire series

A great opening title scene (small but eh, it counts in my book)

The best and most naturally animated kaiju ever (Mothra)

One of the best looking Showa (or Heisei) godzilla designs ever.

Some of the most interesting military attack scenes

One of the most dramatic Godzilla-appears scene

A great plot with enjoyable characters

Fabulous production values

Custer had it coming, Cortes will get it soon.

[–] ZetaTauri 14 years ago

I couldn't agree more. I'm a fan of the genre as a whole, but "Mothra vs. Godzilla" is my long standing favorite.

- Frank
"We are one big happy fleet!" - KN Singh

[–] 14 years ago

[deleted]

[–] tnoel13-5 13 years ago

This is definately one of my top three favorite godzilla movies.

[–] jabba1_30 13 years ago

IMO, Mothra (1961) surpasses all the Showa films.

[–] ciarandino 12 years ago

Perhaps my favorite showa film and one of my favorite Godzilla movies full-stop. It has flaws, sure, but the immense quality outweighs the insignificant flaws.

[–] Chelios24 10 years ago

This is the last time he's portrayed as a negative force of nature for decades, isn't it?

He seems way more animalistic in this one, which makes it fit in more with the classic monster movies of the 1950s than the other movies in this series that came later.

[–] bok602 10 years ago

I agree that this is probably the best overall Godzilla film of the series.
I make the distinction of "overall" because while the original Japanese Gojira is clearly the best film-as-film in the series; it has some slow, occasionally boring bits.

Godzilla vs Mothra, while less grounded in reality than the original and occasionally silly (with over-abundant comic relief), moves along at a brisk pace and holds the attention.

One of the single greatest assets of the film is the score by Akira Ifukube; symphonic in scope, with the achingly beautiful Shobojin theme, the Odo Island Temple sequence and what I consider the most terrifying incarnation of the Godzilla theme; snarling brass, tuba and trombones in terror chords that gave me nightmares.

I also appreciate the fact that this one presented the evil Godzilla and a well-designed suit. I dismiss completely the warm-and-cuddly, kid-friendly Godzilla of the later films (they really jumped the shark having him do that ridiculous 'happy dance' in Godzilla vs the Astro Monster, nevermind flying in Godzilla vs the Smog Monster)

"If you don't know the answer -change the question."

[–] millsey72 (9557) 2 years ago

I guess you never saw Godzilla vs Megalon. Thats the best Godzilla movie during this era