| Rebirth of Mothra III | |||||
| Native Name: |
| ||||
| Director: | Okihiro Yoneda | ||||
| Starring: | Megumi Kobayashi Misato Tate Aki Hano Koichi Ueda Atsushi Onita | ||||
| Music: | Toshiyuki Watanabe | ||||
| Cinematography: | Yoshinori Sekiguchi | ||||
| Editing: | Nobuo Ogawa | ||||
| Studio: | Toho Pictures | ||||
| Distributor: | Toho | ||||
| Runtime: | 99 minutes | ||||
| Country: | Japan | ||||
| Language: | Japanese | ||||
| Gross: | ¥850 million (USD$$6,493,258) | ||||
is a 1998 Japanese kaiju film directed by Okihiro Yoneda, written by Masumi Suetani, and produced by Shōgo Tomiyama. Produced and distributed by Toho Studios, it is the final film in the Rebirth of Mothra trilogy, following the previous year's Rebirth of Mothra II.
Rebirth of Mothra III stars Megumi Kobayashi, Misato Tate, Aki Hano, Atsushi Ohnita, and Miyuki Matsuda, and features the giant monster characters Mothra and King Ghidorah. The film was released theatrically in Japan on December 12, 1998, and was released in the United States as a Sci-Fi Channel TV premiere on May 31, 2003. However, despite its predecessors being released on DVD in 2000, the film did not receive a North American home media release until 2014, when all three films were released on a Blu-ray bundle by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment.
The Elias sisters, Moll and Lora, attempt to stop their vengeful sister, Belvera from seeking the secret power of the Elias Triangle, three power units that can transform the sisters' daggers into powerful swords. Belvera succeeds, but is thwarted by her sisters' pet, Fairy, and fails to retrieve the proper unit for her dagger while Moll and Lora end up with one for the former.
The next day, preteen Shota ditches school to investigate a meteor that recently landed in Aoki Forest, while children from across the city mysteriously vanish. Upon examining the meteor's remains, Moll and Lora deduce King Ghidorah, a three-headed space dragon who had invaded Earth and killed the dinosaurs, has returned to capture the children and placed them in an organic dome to feed upon. The pair summon their ally, Mothra, to fight Ghidorah, but after a brief battle, the dragon overpowers Mothra and hypnotizes Lora, forcing her to attack Moll before attempting to drag them both into the dome. Lora falls inside but Moll is rescued by Fairy. Intrigued by Ghidorah's arrival, Belvera investigates, but gets dragged into the dome as well.
While regrouping with Mothra, Moll bebriends Shota, who learned his siblings Shuehei and Tamako were among those captured. Moll tells Shota about Ghidorah's plan to feed on the children's life force. After the two encounter Mothra, Moll and Mothra devise a plan where Mothra travels back in time to confront a younger Ghidorah, with Moll using all of her powers to send Mothra there. Afterward, Moll gives Shota her dagger and asks him to enter the dome to find Lora and convince her to help Mothra battle Ghidorah. After Shota reluctantly agrees, Moll collapses and falls into a state of suspended animation. In the dome, Belvera encounters Lora and informs her of Ghidorah's plans to destroy Earth. Still under the monster's spell, Lora takes Belvera's unit, transforms her dagger, and engages her sister in combat.
Belvera begs Lora to see reason and work with her, but to no avail. Shota, letting himself get sent inside the dome, soon finds Lora and urges her to help Mothra; however, she attacks him. Belvera stops Lora and Shota helps her break free of Ghidorah's spell. As Lora passes out, her dagger combines with Moll's. Realizing the Elias Triangle represents her and her sisters, Belvera uses her dagger and unit to merge with the other swords, transforming into one super sword and uses it in attempts to break the dome.
At Shota's urging, Lora sends her powers to Mothra, allowing her to immobilize Ghidorah, defeating him by dropping him in a volcano, but unaware a severed piece of the dragon's tail burrowed underground. Grievously injured during the fight, Mothra crashes to the ground. However, three Mothra larvae of an ancient species appear and encase Mothra in a silk cocoon, allowing her to rest and recover from her injuries.
In the present, Ghidorah and the dome disappear, freeing the captives. Shota reunites with his siblings and join Belvera and Lora as they stand vigil over Moll. Suddenly, Ghidorah, having regenerated from the severed tail, reemerges and recaptures the children. Belvera and Lora join forces to fight Ghidorah and Mothra emerges from her cocoon as Armor Mothra. Using her new powers, she battles and disintegrates Ghidorah, saving everyone. Afterward, he tells Belvera and Lora to channel their powers through their sword to revive Moll. After they do so, the sword disappears, and Moll revives. After a brief touching reunion of all three Elias sisters, Belvera flies off. As the children are released once more and reunite with their parents, Shota and his family watch as Moll, Lora, Fairy, and Mothra, now Eternal Mothra, fly off into the sunset.
King Ghidorah was played and worn by Tsutomu Kitagawa, who also portrayed Cretaceous King Ghidorah in the film and would go on to play Godzilla in five of the six Millennium films.[2]
The film was released on Blu-ray by Sony, as part of the Toho Godzilla Collection, with all 3 Rebirth of Mothra films in September 2014.[3]