77% (2) Mothra vs. Godzilla 89 min, Unrated, [Action, Adventure, Fantasy, Sci-Fi] [Ishirô Honda] [17 Sep 1964]Ratings & Reviews: IMDb Reviews: 65%, Rotten Tomatoes: 90%, External Reviews
Awards: 1 nomination.
Actors: Akira Takarada, Hiroshi Koizumi, Yuriko Hoshi, Yû Fujiki
Writer: Shin'ichi Sekizawa
External Links: Wikipedia Rotten Tomatoes IMDb Language: Japanese, Marshallese Country: Japan
Plot: A greedy developer has placed huge machines to suck dry a part of the ocean near Tokyo so he can put luxury condos there. After a storm, a giant egg washes up on the beach nearby and is immediately put on public display. The developer's plans go awry when he disrupts Godzilla's rest and the monster goes stomping through Tokyo again. It's up to the elderly Mothra, and then to its two offspring, to save Tokyo from destruction.
Rotten Tomatoes: In this Japanese sci-fi fantasy, the gigantic lepidopteran Mothra returns after battling it out with King Kong. Now he has become the god of a remote island. He is administered to by the tiny twins, the Peanut Sisters. Trouble ensues when Godzilla appears and the Peanuts attempt to invoke their deity to save the island. The elderly moth attempts to stop the great reptile, but Godzilla and in a blaze of fiery breath, destroys the enormous insect. Later, a giant Mothra egg being exhibited at a traveling circus, hatches and two larval Mothras begin encasing Godzilla in a sticky cocoon to avenge their parent's death.
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70% (2) Mothra 101 min, PASSED, [Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Thriller] [Ishirô Honda] [10 May 1962]Ratings & Reviews: IMDb Reviews: 66%, Rotten Tomatoes: 75%, External Reviews
Awards: 2 nominations.
Actors: Furankî Sakai, Hiroshi Koizumi, Kyôko Kagawa, Yumi Itô
Writer: Shin'ichi Sekizawa (screenplay), Shin'ichirô Nakamura (novel), Takehiko Fukunaga (novel), Yoshie Hotta (novel)
External Links: Rotten Tomatoes IMDb Language: Japanese, English, Indonesian Country: Japan
Plot: Shipwreck survivors are found on Beiru Island (Infanto tô), which was previously used for atomic tests. The interior is amazingly free of radiation effects, and they believe that they were protected by a special juice that was given to them by the island's residents. A joint expedition of Rolisican and Japanese scientists explores Beiru and discovers many curious things, including two women only one foot (30 centimeters) high. Unscrupulous expedition leader Clark Nelson abducts the women and puts them in a vaudeville show. But their sweet singing contains a telepathic cry for help to Mothra, a gigantic moth that is worshiped as a deity by the island people. The giant monster heeds the call of the women and heads to Tokyo, wreaking destruction in its path.
Rotten Tomatoes: Mothra was the third major addition to the Toho Studios' giant-monster stable after Godzilla and Rodan, and the first female beast in the series. The creature begins Ishiro Honda's entertaining film as a giant larva worshipped by island tribesmen and guarded by twin sisters (Emi and Yumi Ito) who stand only a few inches high. Eventually, the larva metamorphoses into a giant female moth and panic ensues as the creature attempts to regain her stolen egg and her tiny protectors. The usual pandemonium and destruction is tempered here by a softer edge which would come to dominate the genre for much of the decade. ~ Robert Firsching, Rovi
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67% (2) Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster 85 min, [Action, Adventure, Fantasy] [Ishirô Honda] [13 Sep 1965]Ratings & Reviews: IMDb Reviews: 67%, Rotten Tomatoes: 67%, External Reviews
Awards: 1 nomination.
Actors: Akiko Wakabayashi, Hiroshi Koizumi, Yuriko Hoshi, Yôsuke Natsuki
Writer: Shin'ichi Sekizawa
External Links: Rotten Tomatoes IMDb Language: Japanese Country: Japan
Plot: A princess from a small Himalayan country becomes possessed by the spirit of a Venusian (a Martian in the American version) and escapes a plane just as it explodes. As this happens a meteorite falls from the sky containing Ghidorah, the monster responsible for her planet's destruction. At the same time, Godzilla and Rodan emerge from hibernation and not only attack Japan, but each other as well. Mothra, along with its twin priestesses, attempt to convince Godzilla and Rodan to stop their fighting each other and to team up to fight the new monster. At the same time, the princess is being hunted by a group of assassins who want to kill her so that her enemies can take over her homeland.
Rotten Tomatoes: When the populace of Tokyo is threatened, Godzilla, Rodan and Mothra go head-to-head-to-head with Ghidrah. Yosuke Natsuki, Yuriko Hoshi.
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66% (1) Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S. 91 min, PG, [Action, Adventure, Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Thriller] [Masaaki Tezuka] [13 Dec 2003]Ratings & Reviews: IMDb Reviews: 66%, External Reviews
Awards: 1 nomination.
Actors: Hiroshi Koizumi, Mickey Koga, Miho Yoshioka, Noboru Kaneko
Writer: Masaaki Tezuka (screenplay), Masahiro Yokotani (screenplay)
External Links: Wikipedia Rotten Tomatoes IMDb Language: Japanese, English Country: Japan
Plot: Forty-two years after her first visit in Tokyo, Mothra returns to warn mankind that they must return Mechagodzilla, along with Godzilla's bones, to the sea, for the dead must not be disturbed. If not, dire consequences will follow. However, Godzilla is once again on the rampage, and Mechagodzilla is Japan's only defense.
Rotten Tomatoes: Fifty years after he first attacked Tokyo, Godzilla is back on the rampage in this monster opus from Toho Studios. After numerous rounds of combat with Japan's most furious monsters, the robotic beast Mechagodzilla is in for some much needed repairs when a handful of sprites appear before the scientists putting the machine back in fighting shape. The enchanted ones warn the scientists that their actions could have grave consequences, but it isn't long before Godzilla, the most fearsome of all monsters, returns to the scene to prove his might once and for all. What's more, Godzilla is joined by Mothra for a reign of terror that threatens to devastate the island. With few alternatives, Japan's leaders pit the repaired Mechagodzilla against Godzilla and Mothra, but it quickly becomes unclear if the robot will obey its human creators or join forces with the flesh-and-blood monsters. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
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66% (1) Matango 89 min, Unrated, [Drama, Horror, Mystery, Sci-Fi, Thriller] [Ishirô Honda] [11 Aug 1963]Ratings & Reviews: IMDb Reviews: 66%, External Reviews
Actors: Akira Kubo, Hiroshi Koizumi, Kenji Sahara, Kumi Mizuno
Writer: Takeshi Kimura (screenplay), Shin'ichi Hoshi (adaptation), Masami Fukushima (adaptation), William Hope Hodgson (story "The Voice in the Night")
External Links: Wikipedia Rotten Tomatoes IMDb Language: Japanese Country: Japan
Plot: A group of pleasure-seeking young people are stranded on a mysterious island when their boat crashes. One by one they succumb to the lure of the deadly mushrooms.
Rotten Tomatoes: This twisted, surreal monster story is related in flashback by an asylum inmate, who tells of his horrific experiences as one of several castaways on a mist-shrouded tropical island. While the crew affect repairs to their yacht, the stranded passengers take refuge in a derelict ship overgrown with a strange variety of mushroom -- which seems to be the only available source of food on the island. When their own rations are depleted, they begin to develop an eerie, uncontrollable craving for the mushrooms, and for a time only the narrator and his girlfriend manage to resist the urge to chow down as well. As expected, everyone who partakes of the fungus begins to transform into a giant, lumbering mushroom-monster, and eventually even the two holdouts find themselves tucking in to the tempting toadstools. Naturally, the narrator's tale is pooh-poohed as the ravings of a madman, until he suddenly begins to develop a severe complexion problem... This is something of a wacky diversion for the Godzilla gang (director Inoshiro Honda, monster-maker Eiji Tsuburaya and others), and is available under a wide assortment of titles, including Matango, Curse of the Mushroom People, and Fungus of Terror. ~ Cavett Binion, Rovi
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59% (1) Dogora 83 min, [Crime, Sci-Fi] [Ishirô Honda] [11 Aug 1964]Ratings & Reviews: IMDb Reviews: 59%, External Reviews
Actors: Hiroshi Koizumi, Nobuo Nakamura, Yôko Fujiyama, Yôsuke Natsuki
Writer: Jôjirô Okami (story "Space Mons"), Shin'ichi Sekizawa
External Links: Wikipedia IMDb Language: Japanese Country: Japan
Plot: Several satellites have been destroyed without explanation. A few days later, a group of diamond thieves are thwarted when the gems they are after suddenly disappear. Strangely enough, the two incidents are connected when scientists discover that a giant jellyfish like creature, which was mutated due to a high amount of radiation hovering over Japan, is drawing up all carbon based matter, including coal and diamonds. Soon the creature is also attacking bridges and ships. Can anything be done to destroy the creature before he begins drawing up all mankind?
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59% (1) Godzilla Raids Again 78 min, Approved, [Action, Adventure, Family, Horror, Sci-Fi] [Motoyoshi Oda] [21 May 1959]Ratings & Reviews: IMDb Reviews: 59%, External Reviews
Awards: 1 nomination.
Actors: Hiroshi Koizumi, Minoru Chiaki, Setsuko Wakayama, Takashi Shimura
Writer: Takeo Murata, Shigeaki Hidaka, Shigeru Kayama (story), Ib Melchior (original story), Ed Watson (original story)
External Links: IMDb Language: Japanese Country: Japan
Plot: Koji Kobayashi, a spotter for a Japanese fishing fleet crash lands his plane on a barren island. His best friend, Shoichi Tsukioka, manages to find him and lands his plane next to his so he can be rescued. The two pilots are shocked when they see two giant monsters waging war before falling into the ocean. The two pilots race back to Japan to inform the government what they saw. Soon the world comes to the realization, that a monster closely related to the original Godzilla is on the loose as well as a new monster named Angilas. Soon, the two monsters arrive in Osaka where they resume their battle. Will the two monsters destroy Osaka before they ultimately destroy each other?
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