Back in 1990, there was an idea for a Mothra stand-alone film title Mothra vs Bagan. The movie would have been about a dragon that wanted revenge on humanity for using up the Earth's resources only to be defeated by Mothra. Kazuki Omori rewrote the screenplay, but was scrapped in the end because he thought it would be too difficult to market overseas unlike Godzilla. Then in 1991, a screenplay for Godzilla vs Gigamoth was presented, which was similar to the screenplay to what would become Godzilla And Mothra: The Battle For Earth. Producer, Shogo Tomiyama, with Tomoyuki Tanaka proposed resurrecting King Ghidorah after proving Godzilla vs King Ghidorah was successful, but the polls called for Mothra instead by popularity with women, which made up the majority of Japan's population and the bulk of movie-going audiences. Ultimately, they decided to combine Mothra vs Bagan and Godzilla vs Gigamoth into one screenplay.
Review:
When an explorer and his ex-wife were hired by the Marutomo corporation to explore a mysterious island, they come across a strange egg that belongs to an ancient deity called Mothra. They find out that Mothra has been protecting the Earth, but the planet created an evil version of Mothra out of spite towards humanity for deforestation.
The story is kind of similar to Mothra vs Godzilla where it involves a corporation that only wanted the giant egg just to make money. Godzilla is more of a third wheel this time and is not entirely too involved in the movie. He only appears just for no reason. When Mothra first hatches out of the egg, her first line of action was bite Godzilla's tail. A cool call back to the 1964 film, but it wasn't as comedic as it was in the 1964 film. The movie mostly focuses on Mothra and Battra finishing off a fight that was once started eons ago. I enjoyed the focus on Mothra and Battra, yet I think this movie would be better as a stand alone Mothra film instead of a Godzilla film. There would not be much of a difference other than Godzilla not being in the movie. It is a decent film if looked at as a stand alone film. Production is a little bit better than Godzilla vs King Ghidorah, however that doesn't say much. The story has not made any progress and the characters are still cardboard characters that I don't care about.
Final Verdict:
Godzilla And Mothra: The Battle For Earth is not a bad film, but Godzilla is just there as a third wheel. The story is still pretty good, but it doesn't do anything to make the story move forward. This is an easy skip.
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