is a 1996 Japanese ''kaiju'' film directed by Okihiro Yoneda, with special effects by

Kōichi Kawakita was a Japanese special effects director, cinematographer, and optical photographer. Filmography Director * '' Monster Planet of Godzilla'' (1994) *'' The God of Clay'' (2011) Special effects director * ''Ultraman Ace'' (1972-1973) * ''Ultr ...

. Produced and distributed by Toho Co., Ltd, the film serves as a

reboot In computing, rebooting is the process by which a running computer system is restarted, either intentionally or unintentionally. Reboots can be either a cold reboot (alternatively known as a hard reboot) in which the power to the system is physi ...

for the fictional giant monster character

Mothra is a fictional monster, or '' kaiju'', which first appeared as the title character in Ishirō Honda's '' 1961 film of the same name'', produced and distributed by Toho. Mothra has appeared in several Toho ''tokusatsu'' films, often as a recur ...

, and is the first installment in the ''Rebirth of Mothra'' trilogy. It was the final kaiju film produced under the supervision of

Tomoyuki Tanaka was a Japanese film producer, best known as the creator of Godzilla. He produced most of the installments in the ''Godzilla'' series, beginning in 1954 with ''Godzilla'' and ending in 1995 with '' Godzilla vs. Destoroyah''. He was one of the mo ...

, who produced such films as the original ''

'', which was released in 1961, as well as every film in the ''Godzilla'' franchise up to this point. He died of a stroke several months after the film's release. ''Rebirth of Mothra'' stars

Sayaka Yamaguchi is a Japanese actress. Appearances Films * '' Rebirth of Mothra'' (1996), Lora * ''Tokimeki Memorial'' (1997), Mishio Yokoyama * '' Rebirth of Mothra II'' (1997), Lora * '' Rebirth of Mothra III'' (1998), narration only * '' Tomie: Replay'' (2 ...

, Megumi Kobayashi, Aki Hano, and Kazuki Futami. It was released theatrically in Japan on December 14, 1996. It was followed in 1997 by '' Rebirth of Mothra II''.

Plot

Millions of years prior, a giant three-headed space dragon called Desghidorah arrives on Earth and battles a species of enormous and highly advanced

moth Moths are a group of insects that includes all members of the order Lepidoptera that are not Butterfly, butterflies. They were previously classified as suborder Heterocera, but the group is Paraphyly, paraphyletic with respect to butterflies (s ...

s who serve as protectors of the "

Elias Elias ( ; ) is the hellenized version for the name of Elijah (; ; , or ), a prophet in the Northern Kingdom of Israel in the 9th century BC, mentioned in several holy books. Due to Elias' role in the scriptures and to many later associated tradit ...

", a race of tiny, humanoid beings. After the battle, Desghidorah is defeated and sealed under the Earth while three Elias, the benevolent Moll and Lora and the vengeful Belvera, and one moth,

, remain. In the present, as Mothra exhausts energy to lay an egg and preserve her species, a logging company uncovers Desghidorah's subterranean prison and inadvertently break the seal containing it. Moll and Lora sensed something was awry and goes to Japan to investigate. One of the workers, Yuichi Goto, takes the seal home and gives it to his young daughter Wakaba as a souvenir. Taking advantage, Belvera, believing humans are the enemy, controls Wakaba, and makes her torture her brother Taiki. Moll, Lora, and a smaller Mothra named Fairy battle Belvera for control of the artifact, though Belvera prevails. Moll and Lora befriend Taiki, Wakaba, and their mom and they all travel to the site containing the seal in hopes of stopping Belvera. But she releases Desghidorah and uses him to help her destroy humanity before they can destroy her race. As the dragon drains the environment's lifeforce, Mothra is summoned to fight it despite her condition. Amidst the battle, Mothra's larva senses her mother's deteriorating strength and hatches prematurely to help her. Though her energized silk seems to turn the tide of battle, Desghidorah bites the larva and drains its energy. Desperate, Mothra airlifts her child to safety and lures the dragon to a dam to distract it. After lowering her child into the sea, Mothra collapses from her age, wounds, and weariness and sinks to her death. The distraught larva attempts to save her mother, but to no avail, and swims away. Moll and Lora are able to take the seal back from Belvera, and give it to Taiki and Wakaba for safekeeping while they search for the larva. Angered, the young moth creates a cocoon and

metamorphose Metamorphosis is a biological process by which an animal physically developmental biology, develops including birth, birth transformation or hatching, involving a conspicuous and relatively abrupt change in the animal's body structure through ...

s while Desghidorah goes on a rampage. While Taiki and Wakaba are witnessing the destruction left in the wake of the monster, Moll and Lora encourage them not to lose hope. Soon after, the new Mothra emerges in her imago form and battles Desghidorah. Drawing upon an ancient legacy, Mothra eventually renews the seal that originally bound the dragon, defeating him, and saving Earth. Belvera then escapes, vowing for revenge. After restoring a blasted region he had destroyed, Mothra travels to her ancestral home as Moll and Lora thank the children for helping them and return home to Infant Island with Fairy.

Cast

as * Megumi Kobayashi as * Aki Hano as * Kazuki Futami as * Maya Fujisawa as * Kenjiro Nashimoto as * Hitomi Takahashi as *

Mizuho Yoshida (born September 12, 1965 in Kanagawa Prefecture) is a Japanese actor. He is best known for playing Legion Queen in 1996 Gamera film '' Gamera 2: Attack of Legion'', Desghidorah in 1996 Mothra film '' Rebirth of Mothra'', Dagahra in 1997 Mothra ...

as A photograph of

Ishirō Honda was a Japanese filmmaker who directed 46 feature films in a career spanning five decades. He is acknowledged as the most internationally successful Japanese filmmaker prior to Hayao Miyazaki and one of the founders of modern disaster film, wit ...

appears in the Goto home.

Release

''Rebirth of Mothra'' was released in Japan on December 14, 1996 where it was distributed by

Toho is a Japanese entertainment company that primarily engages in producing and distributing films and exhibiting stage plays. It is headquartered in Chiyoda, Tokyo, and is one of the core companies of the Osaka-based Hankyu Hanshin Toho Group. ...

. It was followed up with a sequel the following year, '' Rebirth of Mothra II''.

Box office

By January 1997, ''Rebirth of Mothra'' earned a distribution income (rentals) of in Japan. By the end of 1997, the film grossed a total box office revenue of in Japan.

Home media

''Rebirth of Mothra'' was released directly to video in the United States. It was released with an English dub by

Columbia TriStar Home Video Sony Pictures Home Entertainment Inc. (abbreviated as SPHE) is the home entertainment distribution division of Sony Pictures Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony. Background SPHE is responsible for the distribution of the Sony Pictures library ...

on August 3, 1999. It was released on DVD on February 1, 2000 as a double feature with '' Rebirth of Mothra II''. Both films were only available with an English-dub. A triple feature of all three ''Rebirth of Mothra'' films was released on

Blu-ray Blu-ray (Blu-ray Disc or BD) is a digital optical disc data storage format designed to supersede the DVD format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released worldwide on June 20, 2006, capable of storing several hours of high-defin ...

by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment on September 9, 2014 with both the Japanese and English voice tracks. In November 2017, Toho released the ''Rebirth of Mothra'' trilogy on Blu-ray in Japan.

References

Bibliography

* * *

External links

*
Rebirth of Mothra
at the

Japanese Movie Database The , more commonly known as simply JMDb, is an online database of information about Japanese movies, actors, and production crew personnel. It is similar to the Internet Movie Database but lists only those films initially released in Japan. Y. ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rebirth Of Mothra 1996 films 1990s monster movies 1990s children's fantasy films 1996 fantasy films Japanese science fantasy films Environmental films Films about dragons Films directed by Okihiro Yoneda Films set in 1997 Films set in Hokkaido Films set in Kagoshima Prefecture Films set on fictional islands Giant monster films 1990s Japanese-language films Japanese children's fantasy films Kaiju films Mothra films TriStar Pictures films Films scored by Toshiyuki Watanabe Films about mother–son relationships 1990s Japanese films 1996 science fiction films