Alternate Titles: Rebirth of Mothra III
Year: 1998
Director: Okihiro Yoneda
Special Effects Director: Kenji Suzuki

Waaaaaait a minute. We can't use Godzilla, but we can still use King Ghidorah! Why didn't we think of that last movie?

Actually, they did use Death Ghidorah (or Desghidorah) in the first movie, so i don't really know why they decided to use a Ghidorah in this movie as well. It's kind of funny. We had the first two Rebirth of Mothra movies on a single flip-disc, and for a while i never knew there as a third one. When i saw references to King Ghidorah being in one of the movies, i said to myself, "well, not really!". Then it turned out that Tristar later released a box set with all three movies, but i wasn't buying that since we already had two of the movies. Which is why we have a bootleg copy and you'll see the little encore logo in our screengrabs below.

This movie begins on Infant Island (explicitly, whereas in the last two, at least in our English dubs, the island was never named). The evil Elias, Belvera, has sneaked in during the middle of the night and has opened a treasure chest. The two good Elias arrive to confront her. The actor playing one of the good Elias, Lora, has been replaced. She used to be portrayed by Sayaka Yamaguchi; now it's Misato Tate. The other Elias are played by the same actresses, and they're the only (non-monster) repeat characters in this movie.

Their costumes just keep getting bigger.

The chest that Belvera opens has three icons in it, representing Wisdom, Courage, and Love. Belvera tries to leave with all three, but thanks to the intervention of Fairy, she winds up dropping two of them. Belvera says, "Keep them, you'll need them. The king of terror is coming".

Wisdom & Courage are the two that are left behind. And it turns out that each of the Elias have a little dagger that gets turned into a lightsaber when the icon is added to it. Moll gets the Wisdom icon (i think i have that right; i'm going to have to pay attention to the Elias' names for the first time because they actually do stuff independently for once), and it activates her sword...

...but it turns out Lora's dagger doesn't activate with Courage, so hers and Belvera's got swapped.

None of them should have Wisdom.

Meanwhile, holy crap it's the asteroid i've been wondering about ever since Godzilla vs. Mothra!

No!

Not really. It's actually the asteroid that is bringing King Ghidorah to Earth.

But before we can get to that, we have to deal with our annoying human cast.

The most important is Shota (played by Takuma Yoshizawa). He almost seems like he's got legitimate developmental problems, but at a minimum he's an awkward, withdrawn kid. He's got a more rambunctious younger brother and sister (and why oh why can't they get actual kids to do the voice dubbing, or at least get the actors to stop screaming into the microphones?). Also in the shot above is his mom (played by Miyuki Matsuda, and dubbed by someone in a continual state of melodramatic panic). His dad is a truck driver (played by Atsushi Onita). The family situation seems relatively normal and healthy, at least until the morning after the meteor shower when the whole family is leaving for work or school except Shota. Dad tells Shota that he hopes he will consider going back to school again some time, and Shota makes a noncommittal noise. Mom then asks dad why he doesn't go to school. Is it because i have a job? Dad says of course not. Well then why not? Dad says, "I really don't know. He has his own idea about things.". The younger sister says she knows why he doesn't go to school. All turn to listen. "He's like this girl Yuriko in her class. She cries when she eats school lunch. It's not fair to force her to eat if she doesn't want it." Uhhhh, ok.

I really did think there might have been some kind of developmental problem with Shota and that was going to be a topic of the movie, which might have been interesting. But when it turned out that not even the parents knew what was wrong with him and just have this laissez faire approach to his school attendance, i realized we were just doing our normal Rebirth of Mothra nonsensical stuff and i shouldn't have been thinking about it that hard.

I think the entire family has problems. I think that's the running theme for all the humans in these Mothra movies.

Anyway, mom turns to remind Shota not to go to the forest where the meteor landed, and Shota nods but has his bike out before the parents are even down the street.

Already at the site of the asteroid landing are the Elias, who are using Fairy - who is now pink - to scan some ooze left behind by the meteor.

Fairy reports (telepathically; we don't get to hear it) that the ooze has "something to do with the dinosaurs", which according to this movie disappeared 135 million years ago, a good 70 million years earlier than is generally understood (135 million years is actually the length of time that non-avian dinosaurs existed, which may be where the confusion comes from). It's then said that King Ghidorah killed off the dinosaurs, and now it's returned. It's worth noting that the first Rebirth movie said that Desghidorah first appeared 65 million years ago, which was correctly said to be when the dinosaurs were wiped out. That movie didn't explicitly say that Desghidorah was responsible for the dinosaurs' extinction, but it seemed like a good assumption at the time. Maybe our dubbing got the years wrong, but you'd think that we're leading to some kind of tie-in with the first movie. Let me disabuse you of that notion right now.

If King Ghidorah wiped out dinosaurs 135 million years ago, what was Desghidorah doing 65 million years ago? Just wandering around by himself? Just him and the Elias and some unknown number of Mothras?

Before i go any further, let me pause here and see if Min has anything to say about the Elias' latest costumes.

Ok, i thought maybe their little queen outfits were just for the opening scene, but no, that's apparently what they're going to be wearing the whole movie. Sooooo practical.

Ok, now time for King Ghidorah to go on his rampage.

But it's different this time. First of all no lightning lasers (yet), and no cool/weird chirping noises (ever). Even weirder, King Ghidorah is not out for destruction. He's kidnapping children, causing them to disappear and reappear in a weird egg thing.

I don't know know why you would use King Ghidorah if you're going to use him in a way totally different than his previous appearances. Stooping to kidnapping kids, KG? Really? Are you jealous of Gamera? You can't force people into making you Friend of All Children.

If you're not making chirping noises, you're not King Ghidorah. You're also kidnapping kids which is weird.

Anyway, that's the story, and everyone in the city is in a panic over the missing children.

Although there's at least one parent out there who is like "Whew!".

Learning that that's what's going on, Moll says that they have to call Mothra. Lora considers that carefully for a minute before nodding in agreement. Of course you agree! It's your one move!

This of course necessitates the Mothra song. The conga version again. There are some new dance moves and glitter hands (literally).

More glitter wooooooohooooooo!!!!

Mothra has changed since the last movie. A different color scheme again...

...and s/he is apparently now Rainbow Mothra, and is back to being a girl. My understanding is that this will happen with certain species of insects when there are no females around, but there's no explanation in the movie.

It takes a while before King Ghidorah uses his laser breath...

...but it does come out eventually, although it's a more focused thing than in previous films.

He's also not been immune to the Kaiju arms race, and he's got some kind of pink wing lightning thing going on.

Original King Ghidorah was pretty fucking awesome. This wing lightning thing seems like overkill.

But his best move is when he just stomps on the poor moth. It happens fast, so you're just going to have to accept some blurry shots.

Once he's got Mothra on the ground, he just keeps stomping.

That's what i'm talking about! Classic.

Turn into little laser moths to get away! I know you can do it!

From there, Ghidora grabs Mothra and starts tossing her around.

The Elias try to help out with Fairy, but c'mon.

Hey, did i feel a little tingle?

What, are you kidding me?

Actually flying past Ghidorah's eye causes something weird to happen to Lora. There's a flash of an image of her in a different hairstyle, and suddenly she's strangling Moll. Lora gets knocked into King Ghidorah's egg.

Meanwhile, Belvera shows up to investigate the egg that the children are being kept in, decides she's not getting involved, and then is attacked by worms and pulled into the egg.

Shota is also checking out the egg, and has noticed that his brother and sister are among the captives. He's nearly attacked by worms too...

...but Moll shows up on Fairy to protect him.

The gummi worm animation is not good. At all.

At this point it's reported to the general public that the children are in the egg, and everyone cheers. I guess it's better than the kids just being dead. You'd think everyone would rush to the egg, or that at least the army would show up to fight King Ghidorah or something, but none of that will happen.

There's never a sense of urgency in these movies.

Shota's parents go home to find that Shota is not home. They know that Shota knew a path to the forest through a cave, so they go off on their own to try to find him. As they're driving, mom says, "That boy. He just ignores everything I say to him these days.". And dad responds, "I told you you should have used the belt on him more often." Oooookay. We've come a long way from "you don't have to go to school if you don't want to, son".

I'm just going to hope the translation is super terrible and the actual dialogue is 25% less insane.

Inside the egg, the possessed Lora finds Belvera, and takes her Love icon. They then battle...

...and Belvera winds up trapped under her latest Garu-Garu robot dragon.

Outside the egg, Moll is wondering what they can do to stop King Ghidorah.

I used to know a guy named Godzilla that could have helped.

Then Mothra "speaks" (a series of rumbles), and Moll tells Shota says, "She said there's a way. There's only one way. But Mothra can't do it. To travel so far back in time, 130 million years, the time when King Ghidorah first came to Earth." (Maybe he came to Earth 130 million years ago but it took him 65 million years to kill all the dinosaurs?)

Moll talks to Mothra in a language that sounds like Tolkein elvish.

The idea is that King Ghidorah was only a "baby" back then, so he should be easier to beat. But of course even then he slaughtered all the dinosaurs. Oh and also that would involve TIME TRAVEL.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Weirdly, it's said that "there was another, but King Ghidorah was powerful from the start". Another? I am interested. Who was that?

Was it a sister? Was it huh??

Moll asks Mothra to wait for Lora, but Mothra refuses. She says that Mothra knows that she won't be able to come back from the past.

Well she better have laid a spare egg, then.

Just to point out another seeming discrepancy, in the first movie, describing the history of Desghidorah, it was said that that monster was defeated by "many Mothras". So i would think that Mothra flying back into the past wouldn't be necessary; there were already lots of Mothras around at that time; what difference would one more make?

Anyway, Mothra goes time traveling, supported by a song from Moll. Time travel apparently involves flying so fast that the sky starts looking like a tunnel...

...and then turning into Fish-Mothra from the last movie...

...and then Solar Sailer Mothra.

Exhausted from her time travel song, Moll falls off Fairy. Shota just dumbly watches her spill to the ground. Moll then makes Shota promise to go into the egg to help her sister, because Mothra can't survive in the past without help from Lora.

"Lora loves the innocence of children." "But I can't even go to school. I'm too afraid." "No, you're not afraid. You're just very sensitive to how people treat you. You can't stand anger and intimidation, and that's a good thing."

What the hell are you crazy people talking about?

Shota reluctantly agrees, and Moll gives him her tiny sword. Then Moll, her energy depleted, crystallizes.

Min wants you to know that Shota just leaves Molls little crystal body behind on a divot in a rock, which later gets filled with water. If she turned back into human form, she would drown. Thanks, Shota! She also wants to know how it is that Fairy can continue to exist. We've seen the Elias generate Fairy by casting a kind of spell, basically summoning it from Mothra. But Mothra is in the past. Moll is a statue. And Lora is mind-controlled and trapped in an egg. Who is sustaining Fairy's magic?

Can't i just be my own person?
No, but you're *adorable*!

Now some fun with transitional segues. It's not my fault. This movie will cut back and forth between events happening in the present and events happening 130 million years ago. I think that's really weird, but it's actually a very common thing for movies to do. So when i say, "Meanwhile, in the past", it's not my fault.

Ok, first thing's first. Where's the Godzillasaurus?

The dinosaurs in the past are one step up from Rex from Toy Story.

Look at his tiny arms!!!!

Back in the present, Shota runs up to King Ghidorah and taunts him, which causes King Ghidorah to put him in the egg.

Min: That's not what i would have done. Moll gave him a sword, so i would have walked up to the egg and tried to cut my way in.
Fnord: Well your Dungeon Master would have been very disappointed in you, because that was clearly the wrong option.
Min: You give me a pointy thing and tell me to use it, i'm going to use it to cut things.

And back to the past again. A more spindly version of King Ghidorah shows up, attacking a T. Rex that was hunting a Triceretops.

Then Mothra shows up to attack and oh ok, that's why you're called Rainbow Mothra.

This is actually the most physical Mothra has ever gotten. She even uses her little legs to claw at King (or is it Prince at this point?) Ghidorah...

...which you wouldn't think would be very effective, but soon Ghidorah's head is looking pretty bloody.

As for King Ghidorah, i'm not sure if this Mesozoic Era version is a puppet or pure CGI or what, but he's got weird legs that look funny when he walks.

I have a feeling that they designed a pure puppet version to fight Mothra, since Mothra has never been a true rubber suit Kaiju, but it didn't quite work out so they relegated this attempt to the prehistory version.

Back in the present, Shota finds Lora, but she's still possessed and she moves to kill him.

What's she going to do? Acupuncture him to death? Just smack her.

Belvera shouts, "No don't, Lora! If you kill a human being, it will mean the end of everything." This from the woman that's been trying to kill humans for the first two movies. But Shota tells Lora that it was Moll's last request that he find her, and that seems to reach the inner Lora. I don't really get the hairstyle thing.

Lora passes out, but Belvera is able to merge the three tiny swords into one moderately less tiny sword.

Shota of course doesn't know not to trust Belvera, but we haven't seen anything in this movie to suggest that giving Belvera a weapon is a good idea.

Please. Based on Shota's performance so far, even if he did know, he'd still just stand there catching flies.

Back in the past again, Mothra zaps off a segment of King Ghidorah's tail. King Ghidroah falls down in the present. Back in the past is the funniest scene in the movie, where a T. Rex and a Triceratops approach the tail segment together, and look at each other confused while it burrows into the ground.

Whaddya make of that, George?

No idea, Rex. Wanna go play a round of golf?
They wouldn't play golf even if you gave them a day to get used to each other.

Despite the earlier successes, Mothra is now getting killed.

Uh, this was supposed to be easier?

Blasted...

...chewed up, and just generally hurt bad.

But back in the present, Lora wakes up and starts singing. This revives Mothra in the past, who launches her famous glitter attack.

This seems to sedate King Ghidorah (my interpretation), allowing her to pick him up and toss him into a volcano.

In the present, King Ghidorah disappears and the egg disappears and the kids are all friends. But that's not how time travel is supposed to work! This whole event in the present shouldn't even have happened, right?

Remember Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah? We should get Toho a book on the rules of time travel.

Shota's parents finally make it out of the cave they've been working their way through (which took Shota all of 30 seconds to get through earlier), and instead of the egg they just find a bunch of kids celebrating and playing in a field. Since they've been in a cave for half the movie, i expected them to be pretty pissed to seemingly find out that there really was no emergency at all and the kids are all just playing hooky, but they take it in stride.

Fnord: Wait, what happened to the Elias?
Min: Trampled.

Actually, Belvera and Moll have gone to see the puddle that Shota left their sister in.

In the past, Mothra is dying. But here come some Mesozoic Mothra larva!

They're pretty bad-ass with their armored faces.

So are these the "another" that Lora mentioned? And/or are these the "many" Mothras mentioned in the first film? No idea. There seem to be three of them. And they cover present-day Mothra with silk.

Back in the present, Belvera notices that something doesn't make sense. "If King Ghidorah did die, wouldn't history have changed?"

Fnord: Thank you!
Min: I hate time travel.

But despite raising that point, it's not addressed. King Ghidorah returns, presumably because part of his tail survived, although that's not explicitly said either.

Is he an earthworm?

The kids are still all in the woods. Why won't their parents come get them? Or where are the police? Shota's parents are the only ones there, and they seem to be shopping randomly for new children.

"Hey, kid. *You'll* go to school, right?"
"We finally get the kids we wanted, not the kids we ended up with."

But the kids all disappear again now that King Ghidorah's returned.

What the hell? You can't just pick up where you left off. I hate time travel.

Belvera and Lora team up to try to stop Ghidorah, with Belvera saying, "Sometimes kindness isn't enough. Sometimes we need to destroy our enemies." Lora seems to agree, but they're barely able to make Ghidorah notice them.

But Mothra re-emerges as well, in a different form.

By the way, according to Wikipedia, the following versions of Mothra appear in this film: Raindow Mothra, Light Speed Mothra, Armor Mothra, and Eternal Mothra. I think we are up to Armor Mothra at this point.

Looks more like Mecha-Mothra to me.

She's made out of liquid metal.

I know i'm a grouchy old man, but i'm not a fan of all this CGI. Bring back the rubber suits and puppets.

Mothra flies into Ghidorah, slicing one of his wings.

The fight continues...

...and then Mothra slices off the wing completely.

Min: And yet he can still fly.
Fnord: Let's face it, it was never those wings that were holding him up.

King Ghidorah just hovers there and Mothra rams him again.

This time he crystallizes...

...and then explodes.

Mothra then transforms yet again, into Eternal Mothra, i assume.

Hello! I'm still fuzzy and adorable.

Mothra tells the Elias to use the sword on Moll, and luckily they don't do it Min's way and just stab her with it (Hey! I wouldn't stab her. Mebbe cut her a little. Could be blood magic that's needed, you know.). Also luckily they get her out of the water first so she doesn't wake up and take a deep breath. So she's transformed back into (tiny) human form. Belvera says "it doesn't matter that we don't agree with each other" and then leaves with Garu-Garu.

It turns out all the parents had all been waiting politely behind a police barricade, and the movie ends with them all rushing out to greet their children. Shota's parents get to wave confusedly at Mothra and the fairies.

I've begrudgingly accepted the fact that the Heisei Mothra films are not in continuity with Mothra and King Ghidorah's Heisei Godzilla appearances (although i still don't know why!). But these three movies barely seem to be in continuity with themselves. Oh sure, the Elias are in all three. But in this film, Mothra is suddenly a girl, Belvera has an unexplained face turn, and no one even points out the similarities between King Ghidorah and Desghidorah, let alone explain their similar but not quite the same backstories. For that matter, the story isn't even consistent with itself. Even though they point out the time travel problem, they don't address it. King Ghidorah's tail surviving in the past doesn't explain why King Ghidorah would exist for a while in the present, then disappear, and then reappear again.

I hate time travel stories.

All that said, the story is of noticeably better quality than the previous one. It's got a more serious soundtrack (except for the singing. oh god, the singing.), better looking effects, and a less silly plot despite that fact that it involves an egg full of horrible screaming children. *shudder* And it is nice to see Mothra joined by another classic member of the Godzilla pantheon, even if he is reduced to a cartoonish child kidnapping version of himself here.

Definitely better than the previous movie.

Although that's a very low bar.

Godzilla Drinking Game
	Someone thinks it's a good idea to drag a giant monster across the ocean on a raft (giant eggs count).
	Attacking planes fly directly at a monster, with no possibility of avoiding a crash even if the monster didn't swat them down.
	People refuse to believe in the existence of a giant monster even though they've already acknowledged that Godzilla exists.
	A submarine explodes.
	Teens have a dance party on a boat. Two drinks/head smacks if they get attacked by a monster during the party.
	The government is completely ineffective when faced with a corporation doing something illegal.	If King Ghidorah was incorporated, this one would count. The authorities sure don't do anything about the kidnapped kids, even when the police discover where they are.
	A humongous lumbering monster manages to sneak up on someone. Two drinks/head smacks if it's the army and they're supposedly using radar.
	A scientist suddenly figures everything out with little-to-no information and explains it all to everyone.	See? That's what's wrong with these movies. No scientists!
	A monster suddenly grows in size just because.
	People expose themselves to major amounts of radiation with no concern.
	Everyone suddenly knows a monster's name. Two drinks/head smacks if everyone else nods appreciatively and repeats it.	If this is a new continuity, then how do the police and all the humans know King Ghidorah's name? The Elias know it, but they only talk to Shota in this film.
	Army missiles can't seem to hit a 150+ foot monster and instead explode harmlessly around it.
	A woman falls down for no reason.
	Bad dinosaur science. You have to give a little leeway for the time period, but pretending a children's picture book is a scientific journal is always worth two drinks/smacks.	I'm gonna go ahead and say bad dinosaur everything.

Monsters Appearing: King Ghidorah, Mothra