Mothra (Japanese: モスラ, Hepburn: Mosura) is a 1961 Japanese kaiju film directed by Ishirō Honda, and written by Shinichi Sekizawa, with special effects by Eiji Tsuburaya. Produced and distributed by Toho Studios, it is the first film in the Mothra franchise. The film stars Frankie Sakai, Hiroshi Koizumi, Kyōko Kagawa, Jerry Ito, and The Peanuts.
In 1960, producer Tomoyuki Tanaka hired Shin’ichirō Nakamura to write an original story for a new kaiju film. Co-written with Takehiko Fukunaga, and Yoshie Hotta, The Glowing Fairies and Mothra was serialized in a magazine in January 1961. Screenwriter Shinichi Sekizawa later adapted the story into a screenplay, patterning his version after King Kong (1933) and Godzilla (1954).
Mothra was theatrically released in Japan on July 30, 1961. An edited, English dubbed version was released theatrically in the United States on May 10, 1962 by Columbia Pictures. The titular monster, Mothra, would become Toho’s second most popular kaiju character after Godzilla, appearing in eleven Godzilla films and her own trilogy in the 1990s.
via Wikipedia
While reading the Wiki page after watching the movie again, everything starts to make a little more sense as to why Mothra feels a lot like King Kong. The basic premise for the movie is an uninhabited island is found to be inhabited, and some of the natives are kidnapped and put on stage.
Unlike King Kong, the natives do not escape and cause mayhem, they call their island’s guardian, Mothra, who causes mayhem. It makes for a very interesting blend of Godzilla and King Kong so I think the screenwriter did a good job with that.
The movie lays out the introduction of Mothra, it’s life cycle (sort of), and why she behaves as she does (which is actually pretty cool if you’re into that sort of thing). The human dynamic that complicates things does add to the story, though the human villian is pretty generic and could have been a little more creative.
I do like Mothra as a kaiju monster, she’s not inherently evil, which is a nice change from Godzilla.
My Ranking: ★ ★ ★ ★
Fellowship of Filming(s) 
2 thoughts on “Mothra (1961)”