Mothra 3 (1998)

When arms can't reach, mind can

The final installment of the Mothra Rebirth trilogy set Mothra on a collision path with King Ghidorah. The Elias-Moll, Lora, and Belvera-played a bigger and more important role while the children’s element was toned down. The Elias discovered that the Elias Triangle of courage, love, and wisdom would compel them to set aside their differences when the world was threatened by King Ghidorah.

An ominous meteor heralded the King of Terror’s return. Ghidorah wasted no time in stealing children and depositing them under a dome in the woods. One teenager was left who worked with Moll and Lora. He wasn’t the focus of the story as the children were in the two previous movies, an upgrade in storytelling for me.

As with the other two Rebirth movies, Mothra 3 was heavy with CGI and lower tech special effects which can look dated to modern eyes. Still, there was enough glitter and rainbows to make it interesting. There was time travel involved as Mothra went back to the Jurassic period in an attempt to stop Ghidorah from becoming so strong. The dinosaurs didn’t come across very well, Stephen Spielberg’s Jurassic Park had no competition from these toylike dinosaurs. It was fun to watch Ghidorah have a T-Rex for an afternoon snack though. Fortunately, there wasn’t a butterfly effect caused from Mothra going back in time as the movie had stated that Ghidorah was what had destroyed the dinosaurs.

The action was close to non-stop, using a variety of settings and timelines. Mothra developed new abilities and was back to being called a female. King Ghidorah is always a formidable and menacing opponent, and they did a good job of making him nearly invincible.

The Elias and the humans displayed courage and sacrifice as they dealt with the Dome of Children and what was required to send Mothra to the past. The Elias also found some closure to their combative relationships with each other.

Of the Mothra Rebirth movies this was probably the strongest as the children’s storyline was not the major emphasis and the childish humor was kept to a minimum. Though still obviously aimed at a younger audience, the stakes were higher, the tone a little darker, and the emotional payoffs greater. There was not the usual environmental message many Mothra movies have. This was a full-scale war against the deadliest of the Kaiju enemies. Mothra acquitted herself well in her battle with Ghidorah something that should make Godzilla think twice about taking on the beautiful Kaiju in the future.

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