is a 1964 Japanese kaiju film directed by Ishirō Honda, with special effects by Eiji Tsuburaya. Produced and distributed by Toho Co., Ltd., it is the fourth film in the Godzilla franchise. The film stars Akira Takarada, Yuriko Hoshi, Hiroshi Koizumi, Kenji Sahara, and Emi and Yumi Itō, with Haruo Nakajima and Katsumi Tezuka as Godzilla. In the film, humans beseech the aid of the insect god Mothra to stop Godzilla from destroying Japan.
Due to the success of Mothra (1961) and King Kong vs. Godzilla (1962), Toho chose to pair Godzilla against Mothra for the following film. The film was intended for children as well as adults, as a way to compete with television's growing popularity in Japan. A new Godzilla suit and Mothra prop were built although the 1962 Godzilla suit was used for water scenes. At Tsuburaya's insistence, Toho purchased an Oxberry 1900 optical printer to remove damages in composite photography shots. It is the final film in the franchise's Shōwa era to depict Godzilla as the antagonist.
Mothra vs. Godzilla was released theatrically in Japan on April 29, 1964. An edited version titled Godzilla vs. the Thing was released by American International Pictures in the United States on August 26, 1964. The film received generally positive reviews from early and contemporary American critics. American film historians have praised the film's themes of unity, greed, and Honda's depiction of Godzilla as a "specter of nuclear annihilation" and a symbol of moral judgement.
The film was followed by the fifth film in the Godzilla franchise Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster, released on December 20, 1964.
Plot
Kurata Beach is stricken by a typhoon. The following morning, reporter Ichiro Saki and his photographer Junko Nakanishi find a strange blue-gray object amongst the wreckage. Later, a giant egg is found floating near Nishi Beach in Shizunoura. Professor Miura attempts to investigate the egg, only to be pestered with questions by Saki. They soon learn that the villagers had sold the egg to businessman Kumayama for exploitation purposes for his firm Happy Enterprises. At a local hotel, Saki, Junko, and Miura discuss how to legally counter Kumayama's plans, and find him at the lobby. Kumayama meets with his financial backer Jiro Torahata, who reveals his plans to build the Shizunoura Happy Center around the egg. They are visited by the Shobijin, tiny twin fairies, who attempt to convince them to return the egg but have to escape when the businessmen try to capture them. The Shobijin run into Saki, Junko, and Miura, and reveal to them that the egg belongs to the colossal insect god Mothra, the recent typhoon caused it to wash up on Japanese waters, and destruction will follow when the larva emerges. The trio agree to help them retrieve the egg, and try to plead with Kumayama and Torahata but are met with resistance. The Shobijin eventually return home to Infant Island without the egg.
Later, Saki writes scathing articles about Happy Enterprises' insensitivity towards the Shobijin. However, the firm dismisses the articles as slander and open the Shizunoura Happy Center to the public. Kumayama is confronted by the villagers for not paying in full for the egg and renting from their land. Torahata agrees to loan Kumayama additional funds in exchange for putting the egg up as collateral. Kumayama reluctantly accepts and begins incubating the egg. Miura decontaminates Saki and Junko after touching the object they found in the wreckage, revealing it to be highly radioactive. The trio return to Kurata beach to investigate further, but the giant reptilian monster Godzilla emerges from the buried mud. Citizens evacuate as Godzilla wrecks havoc on Yokkaichi and Nagoya. The Japan Self-Defense Forces (JSDF) are deployed to lead Godzilla to the coast to minimize casualties.
At the suggestion from a colleague, the trio travel to Infant Island to appeal with the Shobijin for Mothra's help. When they arrive, they are horrified by the desolation left behind by past nuclear tests. They are captured by the natives and reveal their intentions to ask for Mothra's help against Godzilla. The Shobijin and natives refuse, seeing it as divine retribution on outsiders for ravaging their island with nuclear tests, and not returning the egg. Junko and Saki plead that the innocent are also in danger, that they have no right to decide which lives deserve salvation, and that civilization is flawed, but is trying hard to make the world better. Mothra agrees to help, but the Shobijin warn that she is on her deathbed.