Episode 35 - Rebirth of Mothra (1996)

Godzilla is dead and signed over to Hollywood, but Toho still needs to make money, so they dusted off some old script ideas and set to make Mothra a solo star again. The first of a trilogy aimed much more squarely at kids and families, Rebirth of Mothra is often overlooked but not lacking in charm. Come for Mothra and a goth Ghidorah doing fighting game special moves, stay for an evil camp fairy icon.

We’re joined this week by two guests. First, returning from an earlier episode, Matt Storm from the CPOV network! Secondly, appearing for the first time, Jayson of JaysonDoesMusic! The two of them will be sticking with us for the entire Rebirth of Mothra trilogy, joining us at the altar of Belvera.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Terrifying as shit, this Moth and Mothra their design.
Cute as heck. I want a fairy plush.
My fiance is in the same boat asyou.
She hates moths, but she loves these moths.

(00:24):
Hello everyone, and welcome to Castle Bravo, A Godzilla Verse
retrospective. I'm Derek.
And I'm Charlotte. And we're two siblings here to
examine the history of the Godzilla franchise, one movie at
a time. We're joined today by two guests
first returning from an earlier episode, Matt Storm from the
CPOV Network. Matt, hi.
How's it going, Stormy? I just like that you just bring

(00:46):
me back for all the gayest monster stuff and I'm here for
it. Really.
I. Fully was not prepared to feel
the way that I felt about this movie, so completely by
accident, but I'm. I'm very grateful for it.
And secondly, appearing for the first time on our show Jason of
Jason does music and of so many other noms, Daguerre.

(01:09):
By Hello Yeah, I get around a little bit.
I just like to do things and music.
Yeah, it's it's good to have youon.
You're you're a good dude. And I was really excited at the
idea of doing this. Really.
Like, we originally planned on doing the entire Rebirth of
Mothra trilogy with you because it's this bright, colourful,

(01:30):
weird, like it's I I remember itbeing kind of funny and like
kind of childish but but enjoyable.
And it's like, let's let's inject a little energy in this.
And if of course, Stormy, you wanted to come back and it's
like, oh, I think I've got the perfect, the perfect opportunity
for this. Make those colours loud.
Yeah, God, no kidding. Just a just a bunch of days on a

(01:53):
podcast together talking about rainbow moths.
Let's. Go.
Lisa Franken it up. Oh God.
So how we doing today? Let's start with Stormy.
How you how your day been. This is at the end of a weekday,
which is kind of an unusual timefor us to be Castle Bravo ING.
Yeah, I mean, I'm OK. I work from home today.

(02:14):
Otis and I hung out most of the day, got some work done.
Usually I do a lot of editing onTuesday, but I don't have any to
do. So I kind of just got to, like,
take my lunch break and play a bunch of Resident Evil.
So, you know, nothing to complain about there.
Yeah, I'm feeling pretty good. I'll probably be tired tomorrow
because it's almost already pastmy bedtime, but beyond that I'm

(02:36):
doing great. Jason, how you doing, bud?
Oh, I'm doing great. That's don't at work.
So that's always a positive. Yeah, I mean a.
Positive and a negative. Like, fuck, we've got to work.
But like, at least the bills aregetting paid, right?
Yep, Yep. It's not too bad though,
figuring out bus schedules and all that.

(02:56):
So yeah, not having a bike in the rain, that's the important
part. Charlotte.
Yeah, How you doing? I'm good.
I'm sitting at a new desk and sothe microphone's in a different
spot and. Oh, you have a new desk.
That means you don't have the reminder of me fucking up.
Or was that desk already replaced?

(03:16):
One. That's two desks.
Ago. That's two desks ago.
Yeah. God, time flies.
I've famously just fucking demolished a corner of
Charlotte's desk 2 desks ago. When we were putting it together
you used the screw that was too long to come up through a leg
into the table so it started to crack up and Charlotte was like

(03:36):
stop but aside from aside from new desk which is always
exciting when you get to refreshthe little office space.
Good day. Busy day.
Busy day. It's it's the 5th of the month.
The 5th of the month is always busy for me and I didn't think
about that when I said we shoulddo the 5th of the month.
Why would the 5th specifically? Please enlighten me.

(04:00):
Well, that's rent day for one. No, that tracks.
And then like I just have a bunch of bills, they're due
today. So I have to do those things and
then like, it's Tuesday, so I have to do my estrogen injection
tonight, like, well, I already did it, but anyway.
Well, it just means you're overflowing with girl power for

(04:20):
for this episode. True.
True. Appropriate.
And then trying to think, there's just a lot going on
today. I don't know, like the work was
very, very busy. Yeah, I get that.
I've been good. I've.
I've got new people. I'm training at work because
I've been for for I've I've beenlike all over the place at work.

(04:41):
I've been working days and overnights trying to keep things
covered because I had two peopleleave so.
But I've got new people in theirtraining.
The my my torture is almost at an end.
It will be a Christmas miracle. Yeah.
So I'm but like this. Watching this movie and getting
to talk about it is going to be obviously a highlight of my

(05:04):
week. So Speaking of the movie, let's
kind of get to it. So let's talk a little bit about
where things are at leading up to this movie.
We have just finished up the, hey say, era of Godzilla, which
is the 80s to 90s run of movies.It was sort of a reboot.

(05:25):
They went back to the original movie and said, OK, let's make a
new Godzilla 2 and a bunch of sequels.
Let's ignore everything that came before it other than the
original movie. And broadly speaking, Charlotte
and I really, really enjoyed this particular run of movies.
They had a lot more to say and were a lot more politically and
socially engaged than I rememberthem being.

(05:46):
They were masterpieces of production design for the most
part. But there's been this weird
thing at the tail end where Toho, the company that produces
and and publishes these movies, you know, had sold the rights to
Sony to do an American Godzilla movie.
And that movie famously went through a long like production

(06:09):
hell cycle. So they keep like making a movie
and being like this is it, right?
No, they still need more time. We'll crank another one out.
Well, finally, last movie, they killed Godzilla.
It's over. They ended their series, you
know, Sony and Tristars. Now infamous Godzilla movie is
well under way, but Toho still needs blockbusters.

(06:32):
And they're realizing like, OK, well, we sold them Godzilla, but
they're not doing anything with Mothra.
So what if we finally got off our asses and gave Mothra her
own movie? There were always plans through
the 90s to do like a standalone Mothra movie that's kind of a
famous part of like cancelled and unmade Godzilla movie lore.

(06:52):
As if there's just a bunch of Mothra scripts that got like
reworked and reworked and reworked and and almost never
made, but they ended up digging out the latest version of that
and kind of re polishing it yet again into the movie we're
talking about today, Rebirth of Mothra.

(07:13):
So as far as staff behind the movie, it's a new writer for us,
Masumi Suitani, who would go on to write the entire rebirth of
Mothra trilogy, which I was apprehensive about at first.
But having seen this movie now, I think I'm, I think, I think
I'm, I'm ready for a little moreof that.
The director was Okihiro Yoneda who is a a first time director

(07:37):
for us here on Castle Bravo. But a deed on several hey say
era Godzilla films. So once again kind of a
tradition for the Godzilla series.
They took somebody who'd A deed several times and just bumped
them up to the director's chair.Special effects Koichi Kawakita.
I know I had mentioned in earlier episodes that this dude
did all of the special effects work and in production design

(07:58):
through the Hey Say era. I didn't realize that extended
into the Mothra movies as well. You can tell, dude, still
banging it out. These movies look gorgeous.
We'll talk about some standout scenes as we get to them.
And then the music. I think this is kind of one of
the standout things. The music was composed by
Toshiyuki Watanabe, who would goon to score for Charlotte.

(08:21):
Little known game franchise. You might know a thing or two
about motherfucking Shenmu. Oh yeah, yeah, so the composer's
movie would go on to compose forShenmue and and other things
too. But the other thing that I
really noted was Space Brothers,which is an anime that I don't
think as many people watched as should have, but I think has is

(08:45):
really elevated by its soundtrack.
But you know this, this isn't somebody who has like, like, I
don't remember the the the composer we had for versus
space, Godzilla who would go on to do like a bunch of Gundam.
Nothing that big, but this is somebody who gets some serious
credits after. Oh, space bro.
OK. Yeah, yeah, yeah, dude.

(09:05):
With the funky Afro. Yeah.
Yeah, I don't think I finished the anime, saw some of it.
And and and not that you couldn't immediately tell
watching this movie but the planwas to aim this at more of a
family demographic because Mothra's popularity with
children and women specifically was a little bit like it's it's

(09:28):
skewed in that direction compared to Godzilla.
So it's like, yeah, let's, let'stone these down and and go for
something that's a little less grim in theory, all of the, you
know, that kind of setting the stage where we're at.
Charlotte, why don't you tell uswhat happens in Rebirth of
Mothra, this absolute trip of a fucking movie.

(09:54):
Well, the movie opens with a very sparkly Mothra.
There's there's going to be a lot of sparkly Mothra in this in
this. Oh yeah.
I I wasn't joking when I said were Lisa Franken it up in this
bitch? Yeah.
We would point at the screen andyell glitter.
And Mothra spawns an egg during the intro and it it looked

(10:15):
entirely painless and also like as big as her, so you know.
We. Should note.
This is not like a birth sequence.
It's magic it. It magic glitters in lights and
then there's an egg that that pops up.
It's. I I thought of it as more like a
reincarnation type bit, but it'snot apparently.
But you know. Yeah, get to that.

(10:37):
Yeah, so the title comes up and the O is that Mothra symbol from
like the last Mothra movie? And I was like, whoa,
continuity. This is not a continuation of
the Hey Say series. This is a new stand alone thing,
which is a thing I guess I made the mistake in my head forever.
I think I remember these following up and they don't so.

(11:01):
Yeah. I mean, yeah, the story has
nothing to do, basically. They're just reusing the
iconography. So then we cut to some
deforestation and I immediately you immediately know where we're
going. With Oh yeah, this is like
Captain Planet villain shit. They're like, Oh yeah, they're
riding, running construction equipment over birds nests and
shit. There's like sad, furry animals

(11:22):
in the forest. Oh.
Yeah, like just like birds and animals.
Like just showing them in the forest as things collapse.
It's really like, OK, I got. It.
We're not going for fucking subtlety.
This is a family movie, guys. No.
So, and I had actually, because the the, the copy of the movie

(11:44):
that we had for this, it defaulted to English for me.
So I watched like 20 minutes in English and then I was like, I
gotta yeah. Yeah, the dub's pretty fucking
campy. Yeah, it was like this.
Pretty bad. We stuck with the dub the entire
time because of that camp. Yeah, it was not the easiest
thing in the world to do. But yeah so the the men at the

(12:08):
at the the office that it's likea landscaping business Hokaku
company the ones doing the deforestation.
The the men are lined up in the office learning about the plan
to to remove the forest and theytalk about the fact that
Malaysia has stopped deforestation because of like
protesting. They're like, that'll be good
for business because now they'reall going to come to us.

(12:31):
Right. Things only villains have ever
said in history. So while while destroying
everything, they discover this artifact in the ground, like
this little medallion in Rock and the boss Goto.
He walks up. He just digs it out with a
screwdriver. Yeah, he's like, hey, give me a
screwdriver and just starts jabbing at it.

(12:52):
I'm like this is go away this end Wells.
So the twins show up now, and I had them written down as the
cosmos for most of this, but I guess they're the Elias.
Yeah, they're the Elias or something.
Now the Elias, they're they're Mona and Laura and I just refer
to them as Mona and Laura from the whole thing.

(13:13):
They're worried about the seal coming up, but this lady with
their hair straight up is extremely happy about the seal
coming up. Hell yeah.
Belvera Fucking famous. She they lesbian.
Let's go. I don't know I related to her so
much. She's like, what the fuck?
Why? So, and I I just want to talk

(13:37):
about this part for a second, because in the dub it's very
different than in in the original voiceover because
there's this child that is desperately trying to make a
basket with like a. Soccer God.
And he misses it twice. And in the English dub he
laughs. And he's like, I did it and he
runs away. No, he didn't.

(13:58):
But I did it. Let's go.
In the original voiceover, he's like and he runs away.
We. Had to pause after that in the
dub because we were laughing around.
It's like, no, he didn't. What did he do?
It's weirdly so much more tragicin English Dub because Oh no,
he's dumb. So we go into the the go to

(14:23):
household and his kids Wakaba and Taiki are fighting over this
book. He calls his wife and she gets
mad because he's at work all thetime, because of course he is
and he's just doing coin flips with this artifact.
Again, just not respecting this artifact at all.

(14:43):
The the Elias go to Mothra and they summon whole tiny fairy
Mothra. It's just named Fairy, but it's
just like this little moth that they're going to ride around for
the whole movie. Yeah, they get a mount, yeah.
Real moths. Terrifying as shit.
This Moth and Mothra. Their design.
Cute as heck. I want a fairy plush.
Like, you're right. Me and my fiance, My fiance is

(15:06):
in the same boat as you. She hates moths, but she loved
these moths. And we also we couldn't figure
out like if they were actually saying fairy.
So we ended up just calling him Gary.
So that's that's that's what thelittle moth is to us is Gary.
See, I got at least that far in the English dub.
And I was like, there's no way they just say fairy.
Yeah, there's just. Capital S scary.

(15:27):
That's the that's the name. But if if if Fairy is Gary, then
that means Garu Garu, who will appear later, has to be Gary.
Gary. Yes.
So Goto does manage to make it home, despite saying he wouldn't
and he he's. Trying not to fumble that
baddie. Yeah, basically he wants to put

(15:47):
the artifact he found on a chainand give it to Wakaba, which, I
mean, you know, that's cool. I.
Guess I feel like nobody in these movies have watched a
movie. How would that ever be a good
idea? Mysterious.
And also you didn't bring anything back for your daughter?
Like like let's give it to my child.
What could possibly happen with this thing that I don't know

(16:08):
what it is? Right.
So yeah, he puts it on a chain, he gives it to her, and then he
just sits there drinking beer atthe foot of her bed.
I was going to say to be clear, this is a man who is definitely
weeks away from getting divorce papers prior to the events of
this movie. He is.
He is about to lose everything he loves because of his

(16:29):
addiction to deforestation. Mona and Laura called called the
artifact the the seal of Elias, and the other woman is named
Belvera and they're like, OK, well, Belvera probably took it,
so they cut back. To love.
There's no they're First off, they're wrong, right?

(16:51):
Because the guy took it. But I love the idea that
something horrible happens. They're just immediately like,
oh, it's that fucking Doctor Pepper chugging bitch.
This damn goth lesbian's up in my shit again.
So the the toys in the kids roomstart acting on their own.
And Wakaba's like, who are you to some entity that's like in

(17:14):
the camera? Like she's Speaking of the
camera and it cuts to the news covering like the location where
they found the seal and it's being covered by by somebody
that like, hates Goto's company as well he should.
And so he's like, ah, this is this sucks I gotta go back to
Hokkaido. But meanwhile Wakaba is using

(17:37):
her newfound psychic powers thatshe just has to like, torment
the crap out of Taiki. She's.
Just levitating in the room and flinging him around full on The
Exorcist. Especially when she throws it
across the desk I. Love everything that .0, man.
It's like the the it's just liketerrorizes him.

(17:58):
Like, oh, you want to pull on mycheeks?
How about I throw you psychically across a room and do
a bookshelf? Yeah, I don't.
That just seemed a little excessive.
Just a little. Bit it's worth noting she's not
possessed, she just has powers right now.
Like she's not, like, evil and possessed by the spirit of an
ancient demon. This is just how brothers and

(18:18):
sisters act when you give them psychic powers now.
Siblings that's just. Siblings about right, Yeah.
Yeah, like, OK, so their mom comes to check on them right
while this is happening. But because Goto's like, I gotta
go to Hokkaido now. She's like, what?
And then, like, leaves the kids.Well, what are them like
floating in the middle of her bedroom?

(18:41):
That's fine. Kids are supposed to do that.
Yeah, sure, Yeah. So Belvera is was the one that
apparently, like, granted walk up of her powers, but she's not
really, like, actively controlling her, and she flies
around on this little tiny dragon named Garu Garu.
She. Calls it.
Gagaru, by the way. Gaga.
Yeah, it's it sounds like they say Gagaru, but it is it is

(19:05):
romanized as Garu Guru everywhere I looked so.
It is. I saw on some though that it was
like Gagaru's just like the nickname that she has for it,
so. Sure.
Yeah, even though she like. Takes the crack out of crap out
of it every. Time.
Oh yeah, she's beaten on it the way she.
Specs it all that? Yeah, like half of these names
we didn't catch and the other half we caught wrong.

(19:28):
And we couldn't even figure out what the name was for that
thing. So we just called him Toothless.
He reminded us a lot of our cats.
I've got to. I've got to say that the early
moments with angry Goth lesbian and her pet just give me huge
Rita repulsive eyes. Like, yeah.
Oh. The Dairy Mother is insane too.
I love it. They lean into it.

(19:49):
Oh yeah, Big time Monaco laughter and all.
Yeah. Belvera chases Taiki up up a
tree by controlling a dog nearbyand is like.
You hate your sister, so she's mad at you, but I hate my
sisters too. Anyway, Bye and Like laughs and
flies off while he's stuck up inthe tree.

(20:10):
She she just like 6A neighbor dog on him, a German shepherd
that somebody randomly has and it's just like eat this child.
And the Duchess? OK.
Yeah. Yeah.
Wait, my whole fucking life to do this?
Well, meanwhile, Inside Wakaba has tied up her mom, I guess
with her psychic powers and justlike eating snacks and watching

(20:33):
TV. Cramming handfuls of every food
they have into her mouth while watching cartoons.
Yeah. True Saturday morning vibes.
This disaster scene as a grown ass adult gave me the most
anxiety. Oh my God.
Imagine cleaning up after that. No, it's that level of mess.
It was. Like, no, can't.

(20:54):
Too sticky, too messy. Can't do it, no.
So Belvira is like flying aroundinside on Garu Garu while walk
up is watching TV. Opens a can of beer and gets
like blown back by the Kaiser beer coming out of the the can
and like has to wipe the foam off her face again.

(21:14):
She is the moment. She is everything she is.
Everything. So the the news stories on on TV
come up that the they're talkingabout the sill of Elias again on
TV and the Elias twins charge inafter Valvera after she like

(21:35):
watches the TV and he's like, OK, that's where it is and
there's like a dogfight between fairy like the tiny moth and oh.
My God, they like, have a Star Wars dog fight.
Yeah, like that shit. Went on for so long, I was.
I was going to say like it was like a.
Half hour or 20. Minutes of this movie and it's
like and it's. It's, it's.

(21:56):
But it's kind of fun because it's at this like tiny, tiny
scale, so they're like blasted ladies at each other.
And then it'll go like, and you'll get like a shot of it,
just kind of like sizzling. You'll say like something.
Right. Single light bulb explodes.
Yeah. Yeah.
Like as we watched that at the time, it would come to a certain
point that you would think is anactual end point and then

(22:16):
something else would happen and both one of us would be going
wait, it's still going. It had like multiple endpoints.
It's like the multiple endings of Lord of the Rings, like this
fight had stages. It was.
Just really, this is, you reallyget the whole like, Peter
Griffin and the fucking chicken vibes out of these three every
time they see each other. It's just on site for the next

(22:38):
foreseeable future. And like every time they
escalate instead of like you know what you would normally see
in escalation. It's just this scaled down
thing. So it's just OK We've escalated
from the living room to now the living room and the kitchen.
Yeah, man, when the fridge fell,I was like, no, come on, this
poor house, this woman, this family.
How do you explain that like insurance?

(22:59):
And then you'll get like the little zoomed again, like
because you'll be zoomed in at like their scale and it's this
furious, like flying around. And then you'll get like a
zoomed out room view of somebodybumping into a wall and leaving
a little dent in the drywall. This is like thump and it's like
a bug hitting a window. It's, it's it is comedy played
like like they knew again. Like this is what we keep

(23:20):
running into with these movies, right?
Which is they're not funny. By accident, these motherfuckers
know they're making something very funny.
The physics of like how they would bounce with the CG like
versions of it and stuff where it's just like this is some
Windows movie maker shit and I love it.
Oh yeah, the compositing is not great in this movie.
In a lot of these sequences, like a lot of the practical

(23:41):
effects work is pretty good and a lot of the digital like
flashing and pyrotechnics are good.
But a lot of compositing the little, the little people onto,
you know, a like a room in a house is they they don't have
their colors quite right. It's it's pretty obviously like
a bad composite, but it's fun anyway.
Oh yeah. 100%. Yeah, they destroy the whole

(24:03):
living room, but I thought that was funny because they do
destroy like everything in there.
But then like Gagaru shoots Taiki's shoe and they can't even
penetrate the shoe. So I just.
I don't know. Anyway, Taiki manages to carry
Wakaba like towards the exit andunties his mom and he's really

(24:23):
tired of this now. So if he like goes and he grabs
a net and traps Bilvera and Gagaru in the net.
And it gets drag like the net just starts to slowly drag him
away. Yeah.
Like Looney Tunes ass shit. Oh yeah, and like she she flies
away, still in the net like the net gets left on a tree.
Fairy shrivels up Fairy like dehydrates.

(24:46):
Brutal. Mona and Laura apologize for
destroying the house. And you know, Belvera's like, on
her way to Hokkaido now, 'cause that's where Goto is.
That's where the seal was. The there are protesters there
and there are people from like, the news being like, so what's
this? What's this about you all being

(25:07):
Captain Planet villains? But then the rocks around the
seal explode and like this pillar comes up and the twins
start explaining that Descadora,which is like it's just death.
Ghidorah, it's like sucks life from planets and he did it to
Mars 1st. And that's why Mars is like that
by the way and he was sealed inside those rocks with magic

(25:30):
and the the seal itself can channel energy like good or evil
into power. And they, they have to give all
this exposition so you know, like the next half of the movie.
And so that this pillar comes upand go to his family, gets on a
plane to go to Hokkaido, Mona and Laura are being smuggled

(25:53):
through like dress as dolls, just like sitting in this
little. Box.
Which, you know, this is the 90sbecause you're just allowed to
bring a box of dolls on the plane, right?
And and giant stuff like assumedto be stuffed animal of a moth
that I like that when in the English dub when the stewardess

(26:14):
asked what the name of the moth is, he just like goes.
He doesn't respond just and thenshe walks off.
He. Does in the sub two.
Oh yeah. And then they tell him, oh, his
name is Fairy. He's like, oh, OK.
It's just such a weird scene. It's like.
I like, by the way, that for some reason, when Gary got all

(26:36):
dehydrated and shriveled, he actually got bigger too, 'cause
he was the size of, like, the kids pinky when he was flying
around, but when he was all not flying around, he's like the
size of his entire lap. Well, it's like when you when
you like, dehydrate and like like astronaut food and it like
puffs up as you dry it out, It'sthe same deal, yeah.

(26:58):
Same deal. As you vacuum, dry it.
So the family arrives as Goto istrying to like scale this hill
with like a bulldozer strapped with explosives and Gurgaaru
shoots the explosives cracks open this rock pillar.
Yeah, by the way, Gurgaaru, likeagain, fails to even damage a

(27:21):
shoe in the living room, but nowgets to blow up a bulldozer.
Yeah. This is what?
The plot is right, exactly. I also love this the like, this
is the first of like, the reallycool practical effects, this
pillar of rocks and how they're exploding and expanding.
Like it looks legit. It looks really cool.
Oh my God. Well, after how many, Let me

(27:43):
think. It's versus biolontic Dora
Mothra. After like six of these before
now. Like, Kalakita's really got this
shit down to like an art form. And when you think that his
first movie on the series, if I'm right, is versus Biolante,
like, both of you have seen whatBiolante is, right?

(28:05):
Yeah, I mean, like that's that'sthat motherfucker's first
Godzilla movie, right? And he's making props that
detailed and complicated. So it does not surprise me that
the practical effects work is incredible in this movie.
Yeah, yeah. So Taiki has the twins ride on a
kite, like up to Belvera. Like he's just controlling a

(28:26):
kite for them. And Belvera's like, and I don't
know how it went on the dub, butshe's like, how did you get
here? And he goes what?
Never heard of airplanes? No, that's exactly how it was.
On the dub too. The Twins managed to get the
seal back, but Belvera commands Descadora to to rise and the

(28:47):
pillar like erupts. Make my monster grow, basically.
Basically, yeah, Goto's wife, like, starts climbing up to try
to grab him. The twins rehydrate the fairy
and ask the kids to come with them, 'cause it is too dangerous
here now. Like Descadora is here, you need
to leave, and Descadora is now like draining energy from the

(29:09):
Earth to regenerate, and eventually it'll be able to fly
again. Can we talk about designs that
go hard? Like, holy shit.
Yeah, Descadora. Like the red, the glowing red
eyes. The like kind of brownish rocky
scales. Like.
The like bone like protrusions. It's, yeah, it's a.
Really impressive. Like this is nightmare fuel.

(29:30):
Like this is the kind of kids movie that would have scared the
crap out of me as a child in thetheater.
Congratulations. Here's a fucking hell dragon.
Hope your moth is good enough tostop it.
But also why elephants out? That's a good question.
It is that took. Me out a little bit.
Yeah, and I mean seeing it because it is so scary.

(29:51):
Taiki was like, does that thing eat people?
And the swings are like no, you don't have very much energy
'cause you die too fast, twit. What the fuck?
And so nonchalantly too, like. Don't worry, you're you're
insignificantly fine. Yeah, it it'll devour the.
Trees live hundreds of years. It's far more life energy to.
It's gonna suck your planet dry,but don't worry, you're fine.

(30:14):
You'll be You'll get to live on this lifeless husk.
The Twins entrust walkabout withthe seal again, which at the
time I was like, why? Why would you do that?
Your kids haven't done anything but cause chaos, except for, you
know, the son who netted them once and that was about it.
Right. So they, the twins are heading

(30:36):
back to to go save their mother.Mona says they're going to to
call on Mothra again, like to tocome save everybody.
But Laura's like Mothra is old and she live in peace and if you
call her here, she will die. Don't leave that on the table
for a minute. Yeah, like so the the twins find

(31:00):
the parents. You clear bomb coughing, baby.
Kind of scenario here. Yeah, little bit.
Yeah, but Mona does eventually convince Laura that they they
have to summon Mothra. Like, what else are they gonna
do? This is, I guess Godzilla isn't
isn't real right now. Mothra's what they've got.
Yeah, so. So they sing Mothra's little
song and Mothra, like launches. I'm so glad that in the English

(31:24):
dub this is still it. Like this is not dubbed at all.
It's not a different song, it's the actual original song I
would. Have been, and that's something
that we pointed out too. Like, thank God they didn't try
to dub the song. Too multiple big, like musical
moments that they would have to like.
Do 3 there's like 3. Big.
Yeah, like musical, like stop everybody.
We have to sing a song. Pay attention to the twins.

(31:47):
Now it's their turn. Yeah, we got these pop idols,
presumably. I don't know the actresses, but
that's that's historically what they've done with the Mothra,
like fairies as they've always been like some pair of pop
idols, so. Yeah, so the the kids are still
walking away from from Descadoraand Wakaba is like, I don't want

(32:11):
to walk anymore. I'm tired and she like sits down
and like, screams at Taiki when he tries to keep going and Taiki
just looks at her like, are you serious?
Bitch, do you see the Hell Dragon?
The parents, meanwhile, they're are searching for them and they
see Mothra fly in Mothra, wasteszero time, just immediately

(32:34):
starts firing at Descadora and like sidewinds it with energy,
Just like keeps keeps zapping it.
Descadora like splits the earth.Oh my God, What a fucking shot
too. Yeah, is did they use that same
shot a couple of times? They might have like they use
that same one to be worth. Oh, it's a great shot, 'cause
that's it's, it wasn't even a. Complaint work how the earth

(32:57):
like splits open and crumbles inon it and it's all practical.
It's it's exactly yeah. They get to reuse that shot.
Oh yeah. All the effects in this fight
are awesome. Also, the music is incredible.
We get this like heroic, like thrust until the battle starts
to turn and then it gets kind ofmore demonic.

(33:17):
But like the music is really great here.
But also the both monsters look awesome and like the
animatronics for that are used for Mothra for like her face and
her her head, the the eyes lighting up and the antenna like
all of that looks great and the puppeteering too looks really
good. Like, it's just this is my
favorite thing about Kaiju movies is when this stuff looks
like real as shit. It's the best.

(33:39):
It's like Gari Gari, Gari Gari looks incredible in the little
close-ups we get of his his Elena Tronic face.
I also love that Mothra and Desky Dora are just doing like
fighting game special attacks ateach other.
Yes, that's the whole movie. Every fight that happens in this
movie, it's just like chart beamattacks from like a Dragon Ball
Z game. Desky Dora does like a fucking

(34:00):
down forward down forward 2 punches and it creates like a
like a a wave of of energy spikes that shoot forward for a
while like. Yeah.
Yeah, Belvera tells Descadora. Sega enthusiasts, yeah?
She's like, hey, Mothra is near death already, You should you

(34:21):
can just kill her. Just finish her.
Just finish her off. And so Descadora's like OK and
clamps down on Mothra's wings, right, Like launches it into the
heel side, the hillside, if I could talk.
I'm not stopping him. Words are hard.
They are. And like, Mothra's like laying

(34:42):
there wounded. I was like, fuck yeah.
Yeah, the the music here also islike, so solemn.
Like what? What this film does really well
for kids movie, and it's typicalfor a good kids movie is like
it. The music manipulates your
emotions. Like just based on the movie
alone, I don't know that I wouldtear up at any moment, but like
when Mothra is down, like it's really upsetting and the music

(35:03):
backs that up and a good kids movie kind of does that, gives
you that 1-2 punch. And they do this here several
times really well, and this is kind of the first one.
Also like there's a lot more blood and like violence in this
kids movie than I expected. We're going to get some more
later with the larva, but like. Run around a bit before.
Like that was. Before getting flung into the
mountain is very like, oh right,bugs aren't supposed to be able

(35:27):
to go through that. It's like with how much blood
that was for a kids movie and it's still alive.
Yeah, so just just because all this is happening like the
larval Mothra in its egg back home wakes up and like through
the through sheer force of will like is born Deskadora keeps

(35:49):
keeps attacking Mothra and the larva is just like, you know
what, No, I'm going and just starts crawling off the island.
One of my favorite shots is justanytime that little larva is
doing its little scoot thing. I don't know why I.
Dislike How wet the larva is, though.
Oh yes, I hated it, but I loved it at the same time.

(36:10):
I was like, why does it sound sosquishy?
Yeah, why is it so wet? Like the larva is Also this is
grothros like. Baby Mothras have always looked
that way, but they've never beenthat rubbed down with KY Jelly.
So it's it's. Definitely.
Very like. Also the sunken eyes, like it
looked awesome. It was so well weighed.

(36:30):
But the sunken eyes were like, eyes don't go that way, they go
the other way. Well, the first, the first.
Mothra flies away. Now wounded, Belvera shows up
just to harass the kid and like manages to swipe the seal away.
And for a second I was like, whydid you give it to them?
Look what happened. But Mothra shows up and like

(36:53):
shoots it out of Belvera's hand.Like immediately.
Wakaba's like. We should use the power of the
seal to give Mothra more power. He was like, well, that's OK I
guess. And then like hold hands and
they do it and it works. And meanwhile the the larva is
just swimming across the whole ocean to Hokkaido.

(37:16):
The the, the timeline. So I just say the timelines in
this whole movie are wacky. The airplane flight to get to
their dad. The swimming across.
You know, like it doesn't take time to get anywhere,
apparently. Because there is no.
That larva better be hauling assbecause.
I mean, you saw some of those shots, how fast he was
schmooing? Well, so the the scene where

(37:38):
they're holding up the the medallion and giving Moth their
power is a night shot. And then when they turn around,
because the larva has made landfall, it's daytime.
Like suddenly it's wild like. He's in the same pose too, so
he's like he held that pose all night.
I don't know. It's not actually night time
where Duskadora is, it's just that spooky and scary.

(38:00):
Right, exactly. Yeah, that makes sense.
So the larva makes it to Descadora and just starts
spraying. You know the magical silk at it.
This time the magical silk has, like lightning rainbow lightning
energy to it. This is somebody's OC.
Do not steal Mothra Larva. It really is, yeah.
Yeah, the the, the glit. Something extra gay about the

(38:23):
white silk glittery. It's just, it's just I want it
wasn't. Just a glitter.
It was a rainbow. Oh yes, it was.
OK well my my Mothra larva is going to have fucking rainbow
glitter, Electric magic web, andalso a belly laser.
And it can turn invisible like. Well, my spider, Sona.

(38:49):
Yeah, well, Descadora takes it for a minute, but then it's
like, no, actually, I'm homophobic.
It just like. Evaporates all the silk.
And then like shoots back at thelarva and then the larva starts
trying to to wiggle away and it steps on the larva's tail and
bites down on it. And this is where there's the
most. Oh my God, yeah.
Like with with two heads, just clamping down on it, flinging it

(39:11):
around. There's blood everywhere.
I was like, I guess the larva dies in this movie.
Right. I was like it it's that was
yeah. I was like it's bothra's gonna
be so upset. Bothra.
'S gonna go fucking Last of Us on That's what the same trilogy
is. So the parents do finally spot
the kids across the ravine. Mothra flies in trying to save

(39:35):
this larva. Belvera's like, listen, you need
to focus on the larva because the larva has a longer lifespan
than Mothra who is near death, even though like Mothra's still
fighting. But you know, Mothra ends up
landing like on Descadora's backand then like does this
explosion attack underneath it and?

(39:57):
It's it's another special move. I don't know.
That one's fucking forward, down, down, forward kick.
Yeah, yeah. But like the the, the explosion
also launches Mothra up into theair onto the ground, and then
Descadora just kind of stomps onher.
Moth's famous and not very resilient to stepping on.
That's true. So Mothra keeps trying to fly

(40:21):
away. Descadora manages to keep Mothra
grounded with laser attacks, right?
And also keeping the larva at Bay.
So the Mothras are like, all right, this isn't working.
They retreat. The larva turns invisible to get
away. And I I don't remember if it was
Walkabout or Tyke, but they're just like, Oh yeah, moths do

(40:42):
that. No they don't, Mom.
I'm like moths. Do that.
Moths famously do not do that. But yeah, so Descadora drives
the larva back out from being invisible by just burning
everything like that. That's that's a that's a
solution. Yeah.
Yeah. That's the parents.

(41:04):
Flamethrower is famously not a precision weapon, though.
So the parents help the kids outof the ravine and then everybody
helps Goto up. He's like on fire.
Oh my God, shoes are literally on fire.
He's like, this would have scarred me like Dante's Peak did
if if I'd seen this as a child. Cause like, yeah, his shoes are

(41:25):
like on fire and the rocks are sizzling where they grab on and
dad's like lifting the children up.
Jesus Christ. Yeah, so Mothra lands again and
and and at first I was like, OK,well this is Mothra, is like
losing this fight, but it was intentional.

(41:46):
Mothra drew Descadora over to the dam so the next time it
would fire, it would it would like take off.
Descadora would miss and the damwould explode, which it does and
it causes this huge flood and itsweeps Descadora away.
And I was like, all right cool. Belvera's very upset about this
because she did not see this coming.

(42:09):
Mothra picks up the larva, carries it over the ocean and
just can't go on anymore. Just does not have the energy to
keep going on. Falls into the into the ocean
and they like have this little conversation with each other
through old, through old chirps.And then Mothra was.
Hard to watch Mothra yeah sinks into the ocean as as extremely

(42:31):
sad music is playing and they like linger on the mother this
is some land before. Time shit, dude.
Right. Yeah.
Both are drowning, went on for so long, so long like is there
going to be a twist here then? Because why is it still showing
or? Sick.
We got to make sure children arereally traumatized.
Yeah. Maybe it made it out.

(42:53):
No. Watch it drown.
The funniest thing about the sequence though, that took the
wind out of it being sad at the end, was as it got deeper in the
water, I realized that none of the bubbles were coming from its
mouth. All of them were coming from the
seams in the. Animatronic like you just.
Saw the air escaping this thing like they were all above it and
behind it, not really in front of it.

(43:15):
And I was like, Oh yeah, I mean,you're sinking a giant, actual
mechanical thing. That's where the bubbles are
gonna come out. I saw that, but I was like, ah,
it's because moths breathe through their skin, right?
Yes, of course Kojima did not write this movie.
Well, mothra's not in a bikini either.
Mothra's not scantily clad, so we're good.

(43:39):
So it it's mother having died, the larva swims away.
The twins are like, all right, yeah, Larva's gonna go transform
into a new Mothra. And just for the sake of my
notes going forward, this new Mothra is a boy.
And I didn't know that at first.I thought it was like a straight
up reincarnation. But this is Mothra Leo we're
about to see. And it's like, it's a boy Mothra

(44:02):
Taiki's like, OK, will this Willthis new Mothra be able to beat
Descadora? And the twins are like, I don't
know, Yeah. But like like there is no hope
here. Yeah, but they they also tell
Waka Butter just keep holding onto the seal because they're
probably gonna need you. Meanwhile, like while all this

(44:23):
is happening, there's these clouds appearing over Hokkaido.
Descadora is draining life from the area and according to this
news report, like he's draining the oxygen out of the air.
And at at this point, like Descadora has its wings back and
takes off. The family goes into this
hospital because they're they'rebeat up now and just because of

(44:47):
all the oxygen that's been lost in the air, like all the all the
elderly people are in this hospital and and oxygen masks
now, which I thought was kind ofa cool touch, 'cause I I don't
know, I didn't expect to actually see like the the
results of that. Right, 'cause they're talking
about how, you know, made the oxygen gradually lower and
lower, the way he's stuck in allthe life.
So it was a cool detail. I like that.

(45:09):
Yeah, it was interesting also, like, there's this shot, like,
while they're in the hospital and the news report is going on,
the two kids are filling up cupsof water from the fish tank.
And at first I thought they weregoing to bring the cups of water
to their parents, right? It was like.
Same here. It's like, no, don't drink from
the fish tank. Oh, OK.
But no, they. But it was actually a really

(45:30):
nice touch. Like they were sweetly like
trying to save the plant that was dying in the hospital with
the water from the fish tank andit wasn't doing anything, but I
but I did for a split second think they would give those cups
of water to mom and Dad and I was like, Oh no.
I thought so too. The the news states that the
larva has now landed on an island in Kakashima and it's an

(45:52):
island with like the oldest known trees, like they're 10,000
years old and and one of the guys that's very angry about
Kocho's company and what they'vedone shows up and it's like by
the way, this is all your fault.I mean.
Just correct like I mean it is his fault.
Yeah. You did in fact personally free

(46:16):
like you specifically. Yeah.
Whatever weird trance you were in.
Doesn't matter. That was you, Yeah.
So the twins accompany the larvaas it forms this cocoon, right?
And there's a very, very long cocoon sequence.
Oh God, it's it's, it could havebeen cut down a little bit.

(46:38):
Yeah, yeah. But I mean, some of the effects
are really cool. There's like the rainbow
butterflies coming out of it, which I guess they're supposed
to be moths, but. Yeah, I like this like rainbow.
Like, so the cocoon opens in this like like thousands of
thousands of moths fly out and like they fly around and flitter
around the tree until they like fly into the formation of a
moth. And then they transform into

(46:59):
Mothra Leo, which will be important for like an attack
move later, like an ultimate attack, but like but like it was
just a really cool effect. It was like, and then like
Mothra Leo's design is really awesome.
Like just sharp and bright. You know, kind of a little more
electric than old Mothra's look.I really really dig the design.

(47:20):
Yeah, he's got like Leo has kindof a more angular face, right,
where there's like a little bit more fringe you know, so it's
got more. It's not just like round head
and I like the the the more likesharp like greens that are in
the wing pattern that aren't there in the other Mothra.
Yeah, yeah. So Mothra Leo emerges from his

(47:43):
cocoon and immediately starts flying towards Tescadora.
Everyone at the hospital is like, I don't know if that's
going to work. And Taiki's like, don't
underestimate Mothra Leo. More people die from bees than
snakes every year. Yeah, I don't know where that
comparison came from. This is like a kid who watched
too much National Geographic, where Steve Irwin is just

(48:05):
spouting facts with her did. You doesn't lie in mating
patterns. Are we Are we really here to
make fun of autistic children right now?
Because. No, I mean, I can't speak for
anyone else, but I'm going to make fun of me.
I was. Going to say like that's a lot
of fingers getting pointed back at us, but.
I was. I was versus a kid.
It's. OK, I was waiting.

(48:26):
You should have heard me about Godzilla facts.
Like yeah, that's true. I remember that Belvera seems
really worried about Leo, as sheshould be as it as it meets
Descadora like in the air as they fly towards each other and
they like clash in the air and the twins fly after Belvera, so

(48:48):
there's all this dog fighting going on.
Belvera gets hit by a laser and then falls to the ground.
She does it as extra as she can,obviously.
A true queen. Yeah, and then there's a lot.
There's a lot of energy, swarms and bean columns and fighting
game special moves. And then Descadora is knocked
down. Yeah, it's wild.

(49:09):
The different like effects they use here.
Like there's also like a wing attack where like Leo, like
sideswipes descadora and like you hear like a yeah as you like
it's. Very Cintai.
Yeah, super, super. Yeah, so Belvera gets up next to
Gargaru, and Gargaru is a machine.

(49:31):
Gargaru is fucked up. I did not see the gargaru was a
machine twist coming like there was no reason.
He's like, no reason to believe it.
Part machine, but it's like thishorrible.
You can see his meat wrapped around his metal and it's all
blown open. And it's it's incredibly this is
like, damn near Takashi Mikkei shit in a children's movie.

(49:57):
Can I just say that I feel like a lot of the animosity between
the the twins and Belvera probably comes with the fact
that like she's the older sister.
She has a a meet Cyborg dragon to fly around on and her sisters
are Mothra's guardians. They get like a cute little
moth, right? And like, probably have a ton of
prestige. It does.

(50:18):
So this is a thing that's not going to get addressed.
And I assume it has something todo with the fact that this was
like one of those scripts that went through eight different
versions before it became what it is.
But like, Belvera clearly was meant to be like Batra's fairy
at one point, right? Like, I like, I feel like if you

(50:39):
look back at Batra, you know from only a few years earlier,
you see like, oh shit, I get it.This is, this is goth Mothra and
this is goth Mothra. Fairy sisters, sister, you get
it. So.
But like, there might have been a version of this script
originally back before they madeGodzilla versus Mothra that had

(51:01):
Batcher in it, that had Belvera or something like her in it, and
just everything diverged the waythat it did.
Yeah, no, I see it. Totally.
Because you see a lot of bachelor design elements in both
Garu Garu and in Descadora as well.
Yeah, yeah, well, the twins saveher.

(51:23):
They they save Belvera because there's like fire everywhere and
she's like 4 inches tall. So.
So they go and they save her. And dodging fire from Descadora
Leo like flies upward, creates like this light pillar, like
light and dust, and then makes this big ring of dust.
It summons a huge lightning boltdown on the deskador and I

(51:43):
thought that was really cool. Straight up anime super move.
Yeah, 100%. All of the special effects were
bright and shiny. Oh, pretty colors.
Like it was just fun to. Watch This is fucking shown in
battle anime now like. Yeah, pretty much.
Leo circles a couple times just to be like dead is Deskador

(52:07):
dead? And then flies off.
Taiki throws the seal up to the twins and Descadora's like
resealed back into the earth. Finally defeated, Belvera
manages to slink away while while the kids are distracted by
the fact that their parents are OK, but they catch up to her and
Belvera's like sisters. The humans are going to kill you

(52:30):
someday. You need to stop trusting them.
She's not wrong. Yeah, she's not wrong.
Humans suck. The twins.
That's when the twins were like,yeah, she's our elder sister and
we love her. And Wakaba, I know you love your
brother too. You know, I guess that's the
theme they were there to represent.

(52:51):
Sure. Yeah, the kids get to go for a
ride on Mothra's back, but. You have to.
You can't have the kids movie with the They don't get to ride
Mothra. Come on now, it's gonna happen.
Right. Yeah.
At that point, the parents have seen some wild shit.
This is the normal thing that's happened all day.

(53:11):
I love, by the way, circling back just a tiny bit when the
wife is looking for the kids andthey come up on Gary there and
just like go this way, she's like, OK, And meanwhile the
Deuces kind of like, dude, what did you just see that?
Did you just see that moth and the mom is like?
Like the moth I was talking to, We got to go.
We have. Been living this a day and and

(53:32):
and you still have suspension ofdisbelief like.
Welcome to the day I've been having already.
Now let's get on with it. Did you see the Hell Dragon in
the background? Just his face was.
That's my favorite part. I think of the entire movie was
just his face of disbelief. Like what?
Yeah. The actor playing the dad does a
great job at being what I thought was uniquely American

(53:56):
brand of dip shit dab. But you know.
Clearly not. Well at this point Goto and his
wife and I only have her writtendown like this is basically the
last time that she's mentioned. I they never like say her name
in the script that I had the thetranscript at the bottom just
called her Mrs. Goto. Yep.

(54:17):
So Goto and his wife talk about how how much of the earth
they've ruined with all their deforestation and they lament
they didn't protect the environment better.
But then Mothra just reverses all that instantly and is like,
here you go, everything's green again.
It's cool, bro. I fixed climate change.
Don't worry about it, yeah. Yeah, it's so weird, 'cause like

(54:38):
that's a it's a really heavy moment where it gets really
somber for a SEC and they're reflecting and like talking
about how hard they'll have to work.
And like, this is the kind of ham fisted message we expected,
right? Like I knew this line of but it
is at least a good. Message of like hey, damage
caused like is lasting and you have to work to to build it
back. But don't worry, Mopper's going
to fix it. Yeah, like they they we knew we

(55:01):
were going to get this kind of dialogue and then Martha just
undoes all of it. And so it's like, yeah, don't
worry about it, I got it. I'll fix it.
Right. And that's something that we
pointed out too. It's just like you just
invalidated the entire message that she was saying, why are you
doing this, Martha? Don't.
Worry about climate change. Amazon's and Microsoft and their
green initiatives are going to fix everything for you.
Like, here's some carbon credits, kiddos.

(55:24):
Yeah, like in in any Honda or Honda like inspired film, they
would have been like we have a lot of work ahead of us and then
that would have been it. Would have caught, right?
There they needed to this movie had like a regular ass movie
ending instead of an Ishiro Honda ending.
Like in that it it doesn't just end abruptly in roll credits,
but it it probably should. Have.

(55:46):
It probably should have rolled credits about two minutes
earlier than it did and just chopped off the last bit.
Yeah, because they had that conversation.
I was like, all right, roll credits, right?
No fairy is is thanking Tyki. The family thinks the twins and
twins are like, well, we have togo now until we're needed again.
And then they have a tearful goodbye.

(56:06):
Mothra flies off, makes a rainbow, and then everybody's
like, thanks Mothra. And then it rolls credits.
Yeah, also that goodbye sequence.
They all look so like somber, like not sad, but like like they
just like, blankly stare at likeit.
Was very. It was called PTSD.
Yeah, that was they're starting to process trauma.

(56:32):
This family will not be returning in future movies like,
well, they know no. This.
Is the last we see this family. We're going to follow Leo around
from movie to movie, but it's going to be new, new bunches of
kids, every movie, as I recall. So, new, new unfortunate

(56:53):
victims. Yeah.
Oh, getting Miss Frizzled all over the fucking place.
I shouldn't see. I say that.
But actually, as if as I recall,the next movie is going to get
so fucking Magic School Bus on us.
And you will understand what I mean when we get there, 'cause

(57:16):
we're in it for the long haul with this trilogy.
So probably because the rebirth of Mothra Trilogy's not as like
it's it's just not as popular asthe Godzilla movies right.
As it's aimed younger it doesn'thave Godzilla in it.
Like there's just a little bit of stigma and fandom.
So there's just not as much behind the scenes stuff that's

(57:37):
been translated into English andmade available.
Like I'd I try to dig as much asI can to find out what I can
about like fun kind of shit thathappened during the making of
the movie and there's this is nonobody's translating interviews
and and you know behind the scenes documentaries and shit in
the English for this one I'm assuming it's going to be that

(57:59):
way for the whole trilogy. There also aren't any good
titles I like one of the things I've been loving is finding the
ridiculous like Indonesian you know titles or whatever some of
these movies like God damn what was what was the one for the
last one, Godzilla versus Destroyer.

(58:20):
Do you remember Charlotte? There was one that we lost our
minds at I. Don't know.
I'm trying to think 'cause I know a lot of them are just like
dinosaur. King Yeah, exactly.
They'll just have incredible fucking names.
Dinosaur Empire was, was, was, was one for for Godzilla versus
Destroyer, which like, I just love when there's ridiculous,

(58:42):
but like, there's not even any of that.
It's just like Mothra, you know,Mothra is reborn.
Like it's just you know rewordings of the same title.
The only real thing of note is this is long like long time
producer Tomoyuki Tanaka who's been producing the series since
the original film. This is the final film he

(59:05):
produced before he passed. Presumably he didn't have a lot
of input on the movie because hewas pretty sick towards the end.
So I think this is a an example of a producer just like putting
money into something and and nota lot of creative input which to
be fair like that's a lot of howHollywood and and the movie
industry works anyway. And as as we've heard from Akira

(59:27):
Ifakube, like anytime Tanaka gotinvolved it was to the detriment
of of the movie and the franchise.
Although maybe that's just ifakube being grumpy, who knows.
So it's just not a lot of like behind the scenes on this, but
like Despite that, I find myselfso much more interested in this

(59:50):
movie than I thought I would be.I think in a in a lot of ways
because it's a kids movie, right?
It's a family movie and they they have to not be settled.
They have to like be very directabout the emotions they're
trying to communicate and the themes that they want to
communicate. In a lot of ways, I think that
forces them to actually include these elements in the first

(01:00:13):
place. Because, like I think a lot of
movies, this hasn't been so mucha problem with Godzilla.
But a lot of movies are very sloppy.
I don't really have a good word for what I'm trying to get AT.
But like a lot of, a lot of general Hollywood blockbuster

(01:00:35):
media does not really try to be about anything, right?
So it's like, it's kind of refreshing.
Even though this is like a kids movie and it's a kids movie,
it's something that knows that it needs to set an emotional
tone for each scene, right? When Mothra dies and sinks into
the sea, that needs to be sad and the orchestra needs to go
fucking ham, right? And like, OK, maybe we maybe we

(01:00:59):
hang on the sequence a little too long.
Maybe they could have edited a solid 15 minutes out of this
movie. But like they knew what they
were doing and what they're trying to communicate and they
fucking went with it. And it's also just high camp
Fucking love. I I deemed all of you Belvera
shit because I'm just like my queen.
I'm so happy to tell you that she does come back in every

(01:01:20):
movie and and she only gets Wilder.
She is full Maleficent by the 3rd movie.
Like, I I love this this this ridiculous 4 inch tall goth
bitch. You know, it's it's kind of
exciting to get to have the samecrew here for all three of these
movies, because is that like they're only going to get

(01:01:43):
weirder? I love that.
I mean, it's funny. I think watching this with the
English dub improved it in the sense that it only made it
campier, as campy as I'm sure itwas.
The English dubs are always often campier.
And also like I would agree likethis movie needed to be 20

(01:02:03):
minutes shorter that like livingroom sequence could have been
cut. Yeah, we could have cut a lot of
the like Mothra fighting Dusky Dora for the first time down the
the Cocoon sequence could have been cut down right a little
bit. Like, my biggest complaint is
that it ran long and dragged in places.
But like, I I really like the cast.

(01:02:24):
I really love the effects. And like, I think it's
ultimately a fairly heartwarmingstory, you know, especially
about Mothra and Rebirth and stuff.
I think that, like, I I want them to get weirder.
Like I love when when Kaiju movies get weird.
And this definitely went in the right direction.
You know, I could have let livedwith a little less moth

(01:02:46):
drowning, but beyond that? Like, I think slightly less moth
drowning in my day. Please.
But like, I really did have fun with it.
Like at first I like the first like half hours like oh, this is
going to drag, isn't it? And then I just got wrapped up
and then nonsense of it all. And sometimes kids movies are
the most fun when you can kind of brain off enjoy the pretty
colors. And I think it does help that,

(01:03:07):
Like, you're right. Like after they do the the work
of of laying down the setup, it does just get so goddamn Looney
Tunes for so long. It's Looney Tunes for a good
long time and then it becomes a Kaiju disaster movie for a while
and it kind of never lets up. This is probably the longest
stretch of monsters are doing shit that we've seen in any of

(01:03:31):
these movies so far, am I right,Charlotte?
Like, it definitely feels like it's up there.
Yeah. No, you're right.
So. Yeah, cuz my fiance was pointing
out like 45 minutes in when we first started to see Ghidorah
and she's like finally it's only45 minutes.
I was like, that's nothing for aKaiju movie, it's fine.
And then from there on it was nothing.
But I always love when people are like, there's not enough

(01:03:53):
monster in these movies and you gotta cut the dumb people plots
out. And like, First off that has
always been a thing that I, I like.
I go Joker mode. When people say it's like, just
tell me you've never watched a Godzilla movie, right?
Like, what do you, how do you think filmmaking works?
Do you think you're just going to have an hour and a half of
Godzilla lumbering around? Like what's your fucking point.

(01:04:14):
But also me and Charlotte just got back from seeing Godzilla -1
last Thursday and like perfect, like it's going to be a a
goddamn year before we get around to covering that movie.
But like perfect example of like, hey, it's better to have a
good human story, you know, and and not a ton of monster than a
ton of monster and no human. Which does make it real

(01:04:37):
interesting that like we do havesuch just an extended chunk of
the movie that is just, yeah man, Descadora and Motha are
still out there doing the thing.They've been at it for like 40
minutes now. So then you can usually tell how
a Kaiju movie is gonna be handled when like you see how it
handles specifically its human characters, their story.
Yeah, yeah. I mean, I think those are the

(01:05:01):
same Neanderthals who can play. While I'll admit that the human
stories in the Transformers films were not great, like if
you complain about humans being a Transformers, you've never
watched the 80s cartoon, you've never watched anything else.
Like Beast. Beast Wars I think is the only
cartoon that has no humans. Every other one had had humans
in some way, shape or form that were part of the plot.
And so like, same with Godzilla.Humans are key and king to these

(01:05:24):
plots and have to be involved because that's how you make
these monsters feel monstrous from the human perspective.
Like it'd be exactly one thing like, again, talk about like
Transformers, right. If you were doing something,
this is like just on Cybertron, but it's like if you're if
you're doing a story on Earth where people are impacted by
this, like we're gonna connect through the people and through

(01:05:44):
how it affects them. Well, and I think that just kind
of goes to more deep, you know, goes more deeply with just the
general people don't know how to.
Yeah, media literacy is an all time low.
Exactly. Yeah.
And and it's not like and I don't think these people realize

(01:06:04):
that they don't even want the human stories gone.
They just want better human stories.
And that's fine. You can make that argument.
That's fine. But to say that it should be
gone altogether, that's stupid like.
That's why it's gonna be really interesting to get to the the
Gareth Edwards 2014 Godzilla, which is something I haven't
movie, I haven't seen in ages but I seem to recall being a lot
stronger on than most people whowatched it.

(01:06:25):
So it's it's going to be interesting to go back to cause
also, just like I am, I am here to defend Gareth Edwards to my
last breath. So please watch the creator,
but. I need to.
I really need to good. I hear very good that man can do
on on that low of a budget. Like once again, just like
Godzilla -1, right? It's proof that like a somebody

(01:06:49):
who has an actual eye for cinematography and special
effects is going to deliver. So yeah, this like I I normally
make this, this part of the notes where it's like, you know,
hey, does the movie have any interesting thematic element?
The fucking it's a movie about climate change and
deforestation, folks. I don't.

(01:07:10):
I don't know what. To tell the.
Main rivalry. Literally main plot point.
They're destroying trees within 5 minutes of the opening.
Movie so like and and I like I. That's the thing I like when
Godzilla is straightforward about what the fuck it's trying
to be about, right? I got a lot of shit to say about

(01:07:30):
Godzilla versus the Smog monster, right?
But like, in the end, that's a movie that motherfuking knows.
It's about pollution, you know? You know, That's why.
Like Godzilla versus King Ghidorah so fascinating because,
like, it's about Japanese nationalism.
That's just what it's about. It's it's A and it's the the
Just be bold, be about shit, even if it's on, like a childish

(01:07:52):
level. That's so much more interesting
to me than just making a boring blockbuster where men in suits
wrestle, you know? Right.
So yeah, I. Thought the the interesting,
like the most interesting part was like, there it it seemed a
lot more focused on, like, just the sibling dynamic in general.
Yeah, than any other Godzilla movie I've seen, 'cause it

(01:08:13):
wasn't just the kids, it was also the I always blank on the
name of the twins and lesbian Goth.
Or fucking Queen. Oh, I'm I'm like, it's just
incredible, 'cause we get to theend of this.
And like, obviously Rebirth of Mothra does good enough to do 2
sequels, which will be our next two episodes of the show, and

(01:08:34):
all four of us will be back for each of those movies.
Yeah, and like, it's only gonna get weirder, but like, I just.
I find myself, I'm excited to see if the second and third
movie ramp up the crazy as much as I remember them getting to.
Because this if if my memory is right, this is this is mundane

(01:09:00):
by comparison to what we're getting into.
So it's going to go full fucking.
We're going full Naruto by Movie2.
You know what I mean? Oh, hell yeah.
Beyoncé will be excited. I'm making her, you know, watch
these through with me. So it's.
A fun time, at the very least. Well, I do.

(01:09:21):
Does anybody here have anything to add about this movie?
Any final notes and thoughts? Music, music.
I want that. So fucking good that Vinyl looks
sick now. Yeah, I was Googling photos for
my little tweet that I do when Icomplete a movie.
I've been doing a thread this year.
Well, I was doing a thread then I lost my Twitter and then I got

(01:09:42):
it back and. Then apartheid, I'd fucking
banned you for nothing. Eat shit, Musk.
God, I can't wait till Blue Sky has video and I can just nuke my
Twitter. Can't wait for the banks to
repossess Twitter for Musk. It's fucking.
Coming, It's coming. But when I was when I was
looking for a photo to post withmy my tweet and my blue sky

(01:10:05):
post, I found that vinyl and I was like, oh, I have to share
this in the group chat. It's and like it doesn't take
much for me to buy a vinyl thesedays like and and and the music.
But you're right, like the the movie, movies music absolutely
slaps. It's some of the most memorable
music I think in a Kaiju film ina long time for me.
Just it really everything, the heroic themes, the villain

(01:10:26):
themes, all of it. Like, really.
Built on. Another thing about all the
music was like even the dour stuff, all of it was very
whimsical. Like that was the word that came
to my head. It was.
Very like instrument choice for the orchestra.
Really, like, played into kind of the tone that they were
setting and like that full spectrum, 100% of emotion they

(01:10:47):
were trying to convey. Yeah, just what if, like again,
is it a deep movie? No.
But from a production design standpoint, looking at like how
much work went into scoring the movie, how much work went into
like the production design and the special effects work.
Even at it's not a deep movie. It was just a movie that was

(01:11:07):
deep. That's a fucking great way to
put it. Like this is a movie that
Craftsman worked on and artists worked on, you know?
And I I just deeply appreciate that it's been my favorite thing
about coming back to these movies is realizing how much art
goes into movies that that people often write off as B
movies. So this is not AB movie.

(01:11:28):
It's a moth. So yeah, on that awful, awful
note, that is a wrap on this episode.
Thank you all so much for joining us on our journey so
far. Stormy.
Got anything you feel like plugging for our listeners?
Sure. I mean if you enjoy
conversations about movies and TVI would recommend checking out

(01:11:52):
my podcast Screensnark that I dowith the incredible Rachel
quirky Shank. Both Charlotte and Derek were on
an episode together. They, I think you talked about
the, I think Charlotte talked about your Space Jellyfish movie
way before that episode aired, which was fun 'cause then I got
to listen to you guys describe that movie after hearing
Charlotte's like truncated description of it and just made

(01:12:13):
it trippier. But it's a great conversation.
We bring a guest on every episode, we talk about the most
recent thing we've watched and we can actually talk about TV
and movie again because for about a six month stretch we
were talking about video the strike.
So we're talking about video games and books and live events
and just trying to keep the showgoing while we stood with those
striking to get better everything.

(01:12:35):
And yeah, so I recommend that ifyou want to find me, I'm on DJ
Under Score Storm again on Twitter.
For now, as long as it lasts, I'm DJ Stormageddon with no
under score on Blue Sky. And DJ stormageddon.com is where
you can find all the other nonsense that I do.
Jason, what about you, bud? I currently have 3 singles out

(01:12:55):
under Jason Does Music and all of your streaming platforms,
your spotifies, your Apple Music, all that.
I've actually got a concept album coming out on the 15th of
December here that's kind of like you know what if this was a
video game soundtrack. But it's obvious I have no video
game to soundtrack. So it's just you know a
soundtrack album with nothing tosoundtrack.
But so that's called This Isn't a Game, but it Could be and

(01:13:20):
it'll also be on all the platforms here on the 15th.
And other than that I'm. I'm on Twitter as Jason does
music. Blue Sky just does music.net or
you can find my link tree to find me everywhere, all my
artist accounts and all that. Just Jason does music.net and
it's Jason with a Yeah. Folks, if you've enjoyed this
episode of Castle Bravo, please consider rating and reviewing us

(01:13:41):
on your podcast app of choice and recommend the show to your
friends and cohorts to help us beat the whims of the almighty
algorithms. That's all we've got this week.
We'll see you next whenever and take care, everyone.
Castle Bravo is a production of Derek Van Dyke and Charlotte
Landale. All editing is performed by
Derek Van Dyke. Special thanks to Kirie Lamont

(01:14:03):
for our art assets and to David Van Dyke for our theme song
Pools of Memory.