Mothra1961

82/100 This is the one that turned the genre on its head, that dared to take sympathy for the monster one step further and spare the monster, and it's easy to see why it took off. The first act of this movie had me thinking it wasn't going to be as good as I remembered. Don't get me wrong, it was still good, but the pacing was slow enough that my attention began to wander. However, the human characters themselves already showcased their greatest strength: they're very entertaining. This movie has a colourful cast of entertaining characters, and all of them are good enough to the point I'd say this is one of the best human casts would get in the Showa era. One highlight here is the reporter Fukuda, who acts goofy but is terrifyingly competent under strain, rescuing babies from Mothra and, in one memorable occasion, beating four men at once. However, my favourite character here was the villain, Clark Nelson. This might be one of the best human antagonists in these films, as you can clearly see Jerry Ito having fun playing this character dripping with evil to the point where you start to have fun with him. Yumi and Emi Ito also do good as the Shobjin here, injecting some sympathy into a role with relatively minimal dialogue. They also do great with the songs, both when singing "Mothra's Song", with their performance helping make it iconic, and the underrated "Daughters of Infant Island." The music here in general is all great, with Yuji Koseki doing great here. In all technical aspects, this film is great, with some more great direction by Honda and Tsuburaya as usual. Just like in Rodan, the colours are utilized well to make every scene appear really good. The special effects are also great, with some really elaborate model sets as well as good suit design for Mothra. As for Mothra herself, she is done great here. She manages to feel both near invincible as she shrugs off every assault of the JSDF, only growing stronger each time, as well as sympathetic, with it being easy to understand her motivation and even root for her, which makes it all the more satisfying when she survives and leaves with the Shobjin. This is another turning point for the genre, and the introduction of possibly the most iconic monster other than Godzilla, and it's no wonder why, as it's entertaining, iconic and great overall.