"Mothra Takes To The Skies To Save The Planet!"	Year of Release: 1997 Directed by: Kunio Miyoshi Running Time: Approx. 100 minutes Rating: Not Rated Listing on the A.K.A. Page: YES! Click Here! A Second Opinion: Doug Pratt's DVD Review Buy it with Rebirth of Mothra on DVD at: Amazon.com or Movies Unlimited.com. My Rating:

Shiori- Not sure how to spell her name (or any one else's for that matter). Young girl who helps the twin Cosmos to find the lost treasure of "Hinai Kinai." She also becomes too emotionally attached to Ghogo before he "dies."

Yoji- Big chubby kid who decides to help Shiori, even after she gets him in trouble at school. Like must chubby kids he can tumble very well. He suffers from "delayed reaction syndrome."

Kobe- Or was his name Kohe? The scrawniest and nerdiest kid I think I've ever seen in my life. Goes along with the others to find the treasure. He too suffers from "delayed reaction syndrome."

Two Guys- Who are they? What do they want? Where did they come from? They work for Belvera and try to get the treasure for their very own. They switch sides so often that you'd think they were double agents or something!

Ghogo- Called "Gorgo" throughout the whole film. A small Furbyish creature with magic powers not to mention, super healing urine. He also happens to be the treasure everyone's been looking for. Gives up his life to give Mothra the strength to defeat Daghara.

Lara and Moll- The twin Ailenas and protectors of the Earth. They call upon Mothra to save the day, and yes they sing their famous song in this flick too.

Belvera- The Ailenas' evil sister. She also searches for the treasure but fails to get it. At one point, she saves everyone and quickly flies away. Could it be that there is some good in her after all?

Barem- Large ill tempered mutant starfish that are created within Daghara's body. Not only are they a nuisance but a threat.

Mothra- Still in rainbow form since the first movie. With the help of Ghogo, Mothra becomes "Aqua Mothra!" With her new found powers, Mothra easily defeats...

Daghara- A.K.A. Dagharla. One of the coolest monsters who I've ever laid eyes upon. It gains new powers on a half-hourly basis too, most of which aren't shown until the final battle. He gets blasted into an unconscious state and then sent dropping a few thousand feet onto the ancient "Hinai Kinai" temple, thus rendering him dead.

Originally I had intended to give this movie Two Radioactive Symbols. The first time that I sat and watched this, I lost interest and actually forced myself to view every minute of, what seemed like, a horribly inane movie. This time around I watched the movie and kept reminding myself that this was a kid's movie, and to tell you the truth, it didn't seem all that bad then. The movie begins with introducing our cast of child actors. Yoji and Kobe try to stick a caterpillar into Shiori's hair during class. She notices and swats it away, right into Kobe's open mouth. Kobe spits the caterpillar across the classroom, and it lands down their teacher's blouse! Thanks to Shiori, Yoji and Kobe are in trouble. Meanwhile two fishermen are attacked by a mutant starfish monster.
Soon it's discovered that the ocean is full of the vicious little critters. Moll and Lora realize that Daghara has awakened, and that explains the "red tide" of mutant starfish. At this point, Ghogo has been discovered by Shiori. With a little help from Yoji and Kobe, they steal a boat and are led to the sacred underwater temple of Hinai Kinai by Ghogo. Not far behind lurk Belvera and her two newly found henchmen. Just as the kids find the temple, Ghogo hops overboard and sinks into a hole, thus causing the temple to rise out of the ocean. Inside the kids explore the vast corridors in search of the sacred treasure while being chased by the Two Guys. Moments later, Daghara rises from the depths and attacks the temple but leaves after getting blasted by the temple's patented security system. As Daghara makes his way to dry land, Moll and Lora call upon Mothra for help.
Daghara destroys a city and then begins to make his way back to the temple, only to run into Mothra. Things seem to be going well for the giant moth until she gets sucked into a tornado, created by Daghara. Mothra barely escapes and flies back to the temple because she is too weak to continue fighting. Meanwhile inside the temple, everyone finds what they think is the treasure. As the Two Guys grab stuff from the walls the only door to the room shuts, and a woman suddenly appears before them all. She tells them that Ghogo is the sacred treasure of the Hinai Kinai, and that he'll create a miracle if he has the heart to... and he does. The little magic Furby is taken outside to Mothra.
Ghogo floats up into the sky and explodes, causing a ton of glitter to cover Mothra. This revitalizes the fallen insect deity and allows her to take the fight to Daghara. With her new found powers, Mothra becomes Aqua Mothra and soundly defeats Daghara. Everyone in the temple runs through the parted sea (Mothra must've learned this trick from Moses) to the shore of a nearby island. Good thing because the temple crumbled and sank into the ocean. After all that we're treated to the obligatory happy ending. Everyone's ok, the Two Guys are reformed now, and the kids are all friends....and oh yeah the Earth and all it's oceans are safe. The most confusing thing to me though was the ending. Why did the pearl in Shiori's hand turn into the Earth? Is that to insinuate that the Earth is really a pearl? Or are we to assume that the Earth is as valuable as a pearl? Or am I just reading into it too much? Probably the latter of the three.

Police Officer: "Look we're just the police, not some kind of starfish SWAT team, ok?"
Fisherman: "Hey, I pay your salary, now do something!"