A familiar Godzilla film, but no less entertaining for it. In fact this seems to have more action and sheer enjoyment than the preceding ones in the series. Following straight on from the last, this sees Mechagodzilla revived to fight against a marauding Godzilla once more, with the (always a pleasure) return of Mothra adding to the mix. The human story is very basic but otherwise this is chock full of (good quality) special effects, destruction and incessant monster action. Great to see Mothra taking such a leading role too!

One year after the fight between Godzilla and Mechagodzilla, the two monsters along with Mothra face off in a conclusive battle royale.

While it is is great to see Hiroshi Koizumi return as Dr. Shin'ichi Chûjô more than forty years after he appeared in "Mothra", it inadvertently raises the pesky continuity issue. The same actor appeared in "Godzilla Raids Again", "Godzilla Vs. Mechagodzilla", "Godzilla 1985", "Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster" and "Mothra vs. Godzilla" as other characters... why?

Not sure if I like this Millennium Series... it feels more like a SyFy movie than a Godzilla film at times, too polished and without the heart. The Mothra Twins were nice to see return, but they looked wrong (most notably because they did not look like twins).

Two tiny twin fairies advise wise old scientist Dr. Sinichi Chujo (nicely played by Hiroshi Koizuma) to stop the repairs on the severely damaged MechaGodzilla. Their warning goes unheeded. Godzilla wakes up in one of his usual grouchy moods and heads towards Japan with the specific intent of trashing Tokyo. Mothra comes to mankind's rescue, but proves to be no match for the Big G. It's ultimately up to MechaGodzilla to defeat the brutish behemoth. Director Masaaki Tezuka relates the story at a constant brisk pace, maintains a refreshingly serious tone throughout, and stages the plentiful exciting action sequences with rip-roaring flair (the long and protracted mondo destructo monster fight scenes totally smoke). Better still, there's a mean'n'lean straightforward quality to the narrative, with very few lulls and a huge amount of wild'n'rousing action (Mothra's newly born larvae even join in on the battle against Godzilla!). The human characters are genuinely engaging and well acted, with especially winning performances by Noboru Kaneko as eager beaver young mechanic Yoshito Chujo, Miho Yoshioka as feisty pilot Azusa Kisaragi, Mitsuki Koga as the cocky Kyosuke Akiba, and Masami Nagasawa and Chihiro Otsuka as the adorable psychic singing twin fairies. Kudos are also in order for Michiru Oshima's stirring, majestic score, Yoshinori Sekiguchi's glossy widescreen cinematography, and Eiichi Asada's often stunning special effects (Mothra in particular is a strikingly graceful and beautiful giant creature). An excellent movie.