R Movies

Rebirth of Mothra

Kaiju fans were given plenty of warning that Rebirth of Mothra was made for kids. Yet still they bitched and moaned when the rainbow-winged moth monster was given a Wizard of Oz makeover, with children in the lead roles. Also returning with Mothra are those damnably perky Cosmos twins, or whatever kind of twins they're callin' 'em this time around.

The story is an environmentalist tale of an ancient monster who wants to destroy everything in nature. He's called Death Ghidorah and he comes with a fairy of his own, apparently a sister to the twins. Good thing Mothra and the kids are around to put a stop to her nefarious plans.

Yes, there's some giant monster action going on here and the Technicolor visuals will light up your cathode ray tube, but we'll warn you a second time: silly fanboy, Mothra's for kids.

Rebirth of Mothra II

Recipe for Rebirth of Mothra II: Take one part Godzilla, one part Raiders of the Lost Ark, and one part Pokemon. Combine and shake liberally. Serve to your children.

That's right, the twins are back for more Mothra action in this hot-on-the-heels sequel to Rebirth of Mothra, and once again this is a film that shouldn't be taken seriously. The standard "save the environment" message is wrapped in an adventure story involving a submerged city, a pesky fluffball of a sidekick, and a coupla giant monsters who are destined to rumble. Standard-kaiju fans might have a bit more fun with this installment, as the secret-city sequences are intriguing and the final fight is actually pretty kick-ass. Enduring the treacly dialogue, however, might well inspire the stuffier Godzilla fans to run screaming.

Rebirth of Mothra III

King Ghidorah comes to Earth and kidnaps a bunch of children. Only Mothra can come to the rescue, and go back in time and fight King Ghidorah as he kills off all the dinosaurs. (Stupid palentologists, always miss the obvious stuff!) While the first two movies in the Rebirth of Mothra trilogy have been released on DVD in the U.S., Rebirth of Mothra III has not. It appears on the Sci Fi Channel occasionally.

Reign of Fire

Dragons are released from a mine near London and destroy most of humanity. Decades later a few British holdouts live in a castle, eking out a pitiful existence. they are visited by an American military unit, the leader of which thinks he has plan to kill off the dragons once and for all. Not the all-out action movie you might expect, but the few dragon scenes are reasonably exciting. It's a shame they didn't work on a more unique and memorable dragon design.

Reptilian

Filmed in English with largely American actors, Reptilian (loosely based on Yongary, Monster from the Deep) may be (for Westerners) the most accessible Asian monster film ever made. The production company that made it was so set on selling it overseas that they barely released it in Korea. However, the movie only got a DVD release over here, due to shoddy effects and American actors who aren't exactly well known in their native country. The plot deals mainly with the excavation of a giant dinosaur and his subsequent resurrection by aliens, but even if you can't pay that much attention, try to make it to the later portions of the film, wherein the monster Yonggary throws down with another giant monster named Cyker.

Reptilicus

Just when Denmark must have been feeling left out of the giant monster movie craze, notorious entrepreneur and b-movie producer Sid Pink came along and lifted the country from its obscurity with Reptilicus. Set initially in Lapland and later Copenhagen, the film follows the frozen tail of a dinosaur as it is discovered by a group of oil prospectors and later entrusted to a scientist whose theories of regeneration will come back to bite him in the ass -- literally. You'll remember your mother's warnings against leaving the fridge door open as a series of mistakes results in a fully-developed dinosaur who proceeds to kick the crap out of the city. The film was originally shot in English, but the sing-song dialect of the Danish actors prompted the film's distributors (American International Pictures, under the direction of Samuel Z. Arkoff) to insist that every line in the film be re-dubbed.

Versions: The American version cut some footage revealing that Reptilicus could fly, while adding his spitting ability. A shot from the flying footage showed up as stock footage in some Three Stooges shorts.

Return of Daimajin

Three kids travel over a mountain range to get Daimajin to help their village. The last film in the series adds the somewhat unwelcome element of kids to the Daimajin mix, but it's still suitably downbeat.

Rodan

Honda's followup to Godzilla, King of the Monsters was filmed in color and has even better special effects. A miner finds a giant flying dinosaur deep underground. The creature reaches the surface and begins eating people. Then the first animal's mate shows up and the two monsters destroy a city before the Japanese military figures out how to destroy them.