Oh good grief, they get bigger.
Seriously though, this movie is downright delightful. It does have the humans VS nature message right up front which saves us from some of the finger-pointing awkwardness of this sort of movies, and has a surprisingly strong focus on character.
But quite honestly there was a strong sense of…schadenfreude? Is the word? When Mothra is flying around making no distinction between who are heroes and who are villains. In a way they all enabled this to happen. That was an excellent way to combine both subjects.
Definitely check this one out.
And now, if you excuse me, I need to get me a fly swatter. A big one.
The text should roughly translate to "Not so tough now, are you punk?". Sea Breeze is pointing at the bee hive on the tree. I'd like to extend an apology to my Swedish followers, if I botched your language in the process of making this drawing.
I am conflicted about the end result of this piece. On one hand I really like the way that beam of light came out, and the transparency in the wings. But on the other hand I really don't like the overall colour palette and the way Sea Breeze looks with the rest of the piece feels a bit out of place. For me at least. I wasn't sure about this piece at all, though those I showed it to while working on it assured me it was fine and to not worry about. Now it's your turn to judge! How's it looking guys?
"Mothra" is by far one of the best Kaiju movies I've ever seen. I'd like to put that out there right away more to shield myself than anything else, because as a giant monster movie it doesn't do that much different. I'd like to clarify I'm talking about the very first "Mothra" movie, the one that came out in 1961. It's a very simple affair. Evil human person kidnaps two magic fairies and uses them as a fair attraction while the people of the island they were protecting send Mothra off to save them…when worded like that it doesn't sound so simple, actually. It's the classic story of humanity tampering with nature, with all the usual entrapments and clichés you could expect, and in terms of story telling it doesn't do anything new but it sure does a lot of it right. The main bad guy is bad enough to hate him and the good guys are likeable enough to root for them. So the movie gets the basic story-telling elements down. It's the tone and presentation the ones that carry the movie for the most part.
I won't try and embellish it and say that the special effects are great or anything like that. The models are obvious and the dioramas are blatant, and you can see the wires at all times whenever Mothra flies around. But, much like I enjoy seeing the sketchlines on a picture, I also like seeing the process behind the making of the movie while I'm watching said movie. Mothra scratches that particular itch that makes me appreciate how a movie was made and keeps me figuring out how they pulled off several shots. Some of them are downright poetic. The image of a downed radio tower covered in the cocoon thread, or the surprisingly subdued ending with the two fairies going back with Mothra which is almost like something out of mythology, carry the already blatant message about human beings messing up with nature. Yeah, it's very on your nose, but sometimes we need things like that, I'm not gonna lie.
"Mothra" is a delightful romp of a kaiju film that compensates its lack of edge with likeable characters, a good villain, and while the special effects aren't exactly state of the art they are charming enough and well executed enough to leave a positive impact. It's not like you need me to recommend this one, because if you're familiar with Mothra you've already seen this movie. And if you haven't, then I guess I am recommending it. Check it out.
I hope you guys enjoy the picture!