Saturday, February 9, 2019

MOTHRA REBORN! Toho SFX Alums Gather to Celebrate Mothra's 1990s Rebirth!

Suit actor Mizuho Yoshida (right) poses with Death Ghidorah (a.k.a. Desghidorah) next to assistant SFX director Yoshiaki Kondo. Photo by Brett Homenick.

Today, I was pleased to take in a screening of a 35mm print of Rebirth of Mothra (1996). I was never that much a fan of the movie, and I don't believe I'd seen it in its entirety since the late '90s. Other than catching bits and pieces of it on the Sci-Fi Channel in the early 2000s, it'd probably been at least 15 years since I'd seen so much as a frame of it. 

Mizuho Yoshida. Photo by Brett Homenick.

Despite not having seen it in such a long time, there were a few specific scenes I remembered quite well (which surprised me). But after about the first 30 minutes, I pretty much had no memory of anything that happened. Overall, I can't say the movie was all that bad, but I found the action repetitive the story line (to the extent there is one) paper-thin. I've seen worse, but I've seen much, much better.


The guest of honor for the screening was suit actor Mizuho Yoshida. Yoshida-san portrays Zeiram in both Zeiram (1991) and Zeiram 2 (1994), Legion in Gamera 2 (1996), Death Ghidorah (a.k.a. Desghidorah) in Rebirth of Mothra, Dagahra in Rebirth of Mothra 2 (1997), and Godzilla in GMK: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack (2001), among other suit-acting roles.

Yoshiaki Kondo worked as an assistant director on Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah (1991), Godzilla vs. Mothra (1992), Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II (1993), Orochi the Eight-Headed Dragon (1994), Godzilla vs. Space Godzilla (1994), Godzilla vs. Destoroyah (1995), Rebirth of Mothra, and Godzilla 2000 (1999).

It was nice to see Rebirth of Mothra again after so many years (even if the film itself isn't so hot), and it was a blast meeting Yoshida-san for the first time. He's incredibly friendly and loves mugging for the camera. His Godzilla might be among the meanest, but the suit actor is among the nicest!

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