Rebirth of Mothra (1996)

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Mothra Films
Mothra
Rebirth of Mothra
Rebirth of Mothra II
Rebirth of Mothra
Japanese poster for Rebirth of Mothra
Alternate titles
Flagicon Japan.png Mothra (1996)
See alternate titles
Directed by Okihiro Yoneda
Producer Hiroaki Kitayama
Shogo Tomiyama
Written by Masumi Suetani
Tomoyuki Tanaka
Music by Toshiyuki Watanabe
Distributor TohoJP
TriStar PicturesUS
Rating Unrated
Box office $10,000,000
Running time 104 minutesJP
(1 hour, 44 minutes)
103 minutesUS
(1 hour, 43 minutes)
Aspect ratio 1.85:1

Rebirth of Mothra (モスラ,   Mosura, lit. Mothra) is a 1996 tokusatsu kaiju film produced by Toho, and the first entry in the Rebirth of Mothra trilogy. The film was released to Japanese theaters on December 14, 1996.

Plot

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Millions of years ago, a titanic terror from another realm arrived to destroy the planet Earth. Named Desghidorah, this three-headed dragon was forced to deal with resistance in the form of a species of highly advanced, enormous moths. These monsters were the protectors of the Elias, a race of tiny, human-like, beings who inhabited the planet. After the ensuing battle, Desghidorah was defeated and sealed within the Earth, although a great deal of life on the planet Earth was lost. Three Elias: Moll, Lora, and Belvera, were all who were left of their once prosperous civilization. Though the benevolence of Moll and Lora was undeterred, Belvera became twisted and vengeful due to the mass extinction of her race. These tiny fairies, along with one final guardian named Mothra, lingered on for thousands of millennia.

In order to preserve her species, Mothra gave birth to an egg in 1997; however, she became physically exhausted from the ordeal. Shortly thereafter, a logging company uncovered the subterranean prison of the demonic hydra that had ravaged the Earth so long ago. When the seal that had bound the creature was removed from the area by Yuichi Goto. Meanwhile Moll and Lora summon Fairy and fought Belvera for control of the artifact, with Taiki and his mother unsuccessfully trying to intervene and Wakaba knocked out cold during the entire battle. Belvera prevailed and managed to release Desghidorah from its rocky tomb, in order to exact her warped plans for destruction. Mothra was summoned to halt the detestable dragon, which was absorbing the life out of the environment. She fought a long and difficult battle to repel her ancient adversary, and in response to her declining strength, her young son, Mothra Leo, hatched in order to assist his mother. Though his energized silk seemed to turn the tide of battle in the favor of the protectors, Desghidorah sank the teeth of two of his heads deep into Leo and Mothra became desperate. She quickly airlifted her son to safety, and in order to keep Desghidorah at bay, she lured the beast into a dam. With Desghidorah distracted by a wall of raging water, Mothra carried her son to safety. Unfortunately, Mothra's wounds, age, and exhaustion were ultimately too much. Her strength failed, and she plummeted into the sea below. The crestfallen larva attempted to save his beloved mother, but she sank in the ocean, to no avail. Angered, the young moth swam to a remote island where he created a cocoon around a 10,000 year old tree and began to change into his adult form. Desghidorah had to be defeated; his mother's death couldn't be in vain.

Leo emerged into his adult form as a swarm of multi-colored butterflies. As the butterflies coalesced into one massive insect, Leo took to the air and headed back towards Desghidorah, righteous fury burning in his wake. Arriving in a hail of energy beams, Leo relentlessly blasted his mother's murderer, throwing wave upon wave of searing beams and energy blasts at Desghidorah, who could only feebly attempt to defend himself against this, the most powerful Mothra of all time. Drawing upon an ancient legacy, Leo relentlessly assaulted Desghidorah, eventually renewing the seal that bound the world destroyer beneath the soil of the earth.

Taiki and Wakaba ride upon Leo while their parents lament over having killed the environment. Their guilt and mistake, however, are undone by Leo restoring balance into the blasted region deforested by the assault of Desghidorah. His work done for the time being, Leo went to his ancestral home and planet Earth was finally safe from Desghidorah.

Staff

Staff role on the left, staff member's name on the right.

Cast

Actor's name on the left, character played on the right.

  • Sayaka Yamaguchi   as   Lora
  • Megumi Kobayashi   as   Mona
  • Aki Hano   as   Belvera
  • Kazuki Futami   as   Taiki Goto
  • Maya Fujisawa   as   Wakaba Goto
  • Hitomi Takahashi   as   Makiko Goto
  • Kenjiro Nashimoto   as   Yuichi Goto
  • Nagare Hagiwara   as   Yoshinori Tagawa
  • Hiroko Tanaka   as   Madoka Shiraishi
  • Kyokei Arakawa   as   Masayuki Kichijoji
  • Akira Terao   as   Doctor
  • Sudo Mariko   as   Stewardess

Appearances

Monsters

Weapons, Vehicles, and Races

Gallery

Main article: Rebirth of Mothra/Gallery.

Soundtrack

Main article: Rebirth of Mothra (Soundtrack).

Alternate Titles

  • Mothra (Mosura; Literal Japanese Title)
  • Mothra: The Queen of Monsters (Japanese VHS and Laserdisc title)
  • Mothra: The Seal of the Elias (Mothra: Das Siegel der Elias; Germany)

Theatrical Releases

  • Japan - December 14, 1996

U.S. Release

Rebirth of Mothra was released on DVD by TriStar Pictures in 2000, packaged with Rebirth of Mothra II. It premiered on the Sci-Fi Channel on May 31, 2003, the same day as the other two films in the trilogy. All three films were included in a 2014 Sony Blu-ray set, which finally made the Japanese language track available in the U.S.

Box Office

The film grossed approximately $10,000,000 at the box office.

Reception

This film is widely praised by both Godzilla and Mothra fans alike.

Video Releases

Tristar DVD (2000)

  • Region: 1
  • Discs: 1
  • Audio: English (2.0 Mono)
  • Subtitles: English, Spanish, French
  • Special Features: None
  • Notes: Packaged with Rebirth of Mothra II.

Toho DVD (2006, 2013, 2015)

  • Region: 2
  • Discs: 1
  • Audio: Japanese
  • Subtitles: Japanese
  • Special Features: Audio commentary by director Okihiro Yoneda and cinematographer Yoshinori Sekiguchi, scans of the theatrical pamphlet, making-of featurette, trailers and TV spots, booklet

Sony Pictures Blu-ray + Digital HD (2014)

  • Region: A/1
  • Discs: 2
  • Audio: Japanese (DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0), English (DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0)
  • Subtitles: English, French
  • Special Features: Four trailers for Rebirth of Mothra, four trailers for Rebirth of Mothra II, three trailers for Rebirth of Mothra III
  • Notes: Packaged with Rebirth of Mothra II and Rebirth of Mothra III.

Toho Blu-ray (2017)

  • Region: A/1
  • Discs: 3
  • Audio: Japanese
  • Subtitles: Japanese
  • Special Features: Audio commentary by director Okihiro Yoneda and cinematographer Yoshinori Sekiguchi, scans of the theatrical pamphlet, making-of featurette, trailers and TV spots, booklet, image gallery
  • Notes: Packaged with Rebirth of Mothra II and Rebirth of Mothra III.

Videos

Trailers

Rebirth of Mothra Early Newsflash/Special Announcement
Rebirth of Mothra Japanese Trailer

Trivia

References

This is a list of references for Rebirth of Mothra. These citations are used to identify the reliable sources on which this article is based. These references appear inside articles in the form of superscript numbers, which look like this: [1]

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Movie
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