Mothra returned from the Toho break with Godzilla and Mothra: The Battle for Earth. The film made a lot of money and there was a lot of new demands for Mothra. In 1996 a new trilogy started staring Mothra and titled 'Rebirth of Mothra.' The trilogy has no connection to the Heisei Godzilla series and implimented a lot of changes. For example, the fairies are non-identical sisters with their own personalities called Moll and Lora and they have a third sister of malevolent nature called Belvera. The star is a male Mothra called Leo, who has a lot of powers and goes through New Powers as the Plot Demands. This film introduces an environmental message and a focus on children. While these aren't bad concepts in and of themselves, people weren't expecting them in Mothra and this film wasn't well received as a result. Nevertheless, it did well enough at the box office to produce two more films.
In Monbetsu County of Hokkaido, the logging company Hokoku Corporation comes across a ancient monument, where a senior official takes out the Sacred Seal of Elias. Mr. Yuichi Goto takes it home to his family in Tokyo as a gift to his daughter, Wakaba, but trouble soon follows. The malevolent Belvera and Garugaru use the seal to brainwash Wakaba, tie up Mrs. Goto, and chase the brother up a tree with a dog. Taiki gets rescued by the Elias siblings. A property-destroying battle takes place between the siblings' mounts, Fairy and Garugaru. Belvera gets away with the Seal, but Fairy is injured and the Elias enlist the Goto family to get them to Hokkaido to stop the revivial of the dreaded Death Ghidorah. But they are too late and Death Ghidorah emerges from his prison. With the forest being burned and drained, the Elias have no choice but to summon Mothra, who is old and had been weakened by forming her egg. Things don't look good for Mothra until her offspring comes to her rescue. Can the mother and son pair defeat Death Ghidorah? Will the Sacred Seal of Elias end up in the right hands? Before the battle ends, someone is going to die...
Followed by Rebirth of Mothra 2 and Rebirth of Mothra 3.
Tropes used in the films include
- Adaptational Badass: The Fairies. In most Mothra films, the only real abilities they're shown to have are to summon Mothra and communicate telepathically. In this film and its sequels, they're not only capable of magic on their own but have Fairy Mothra to help them out.
- Animal Gender-Bender; Averted, Mothra Leo (who is male) has the characteristic feather-like antennae of male moths, unlike the smaller, clubbed antennae of his mother.
- Cain and Abel: Moll and Lora are good while Belvera is evil.
- Confiscated Phone: After Desghidorah has restored its wings and a number of people are in the hospital, one of the men present, a reporter, is trying to talk to someone on his phone for his work. Much to his distress, a nurse and other staff members promptly wrestle it away from him because cell phones aren't allowed in the hospital.
- Does This Remind You of Anything?: Mothra's roars and sounds when she's laying her egg are reminiscent of a woman screaming during childbirth.
- Expy: Death Ghidorah a.k.a DesGhidorah is basically a wholesale adaptation of the scrapped 1990 incarnation of Bagan from the unmade Mothra vs. Bagan in terms of both role and function.
- Dark Is Evil: Contrasting with the Moll and Lora and the fluffy Mothra, Belvera wears a black getup, and commands the Dragon/Hydra-like Death Ghidorah.
- Distressed Dude: Mr. Goto. His wife has to come and rescue him.
- Dragon Rider: Belvera to Garugaru.
- Dub Name Change: Death Ghidorah to its Japanese pronounciation, DesGhidorah. This is strange since the dub had no problem using words like "die" or "kill."
- Heroic Sacrifice: Mothra for her son, Leo.
- Horse of a Different Color: Moll and Lora ride a fairy-sized version of the original Mothra called... Fairy.
- Improbable Aiming Skills: Mothra, a massive kaiju, manages to target Belvera, a tiny human whose height is measured in inches, with an energy whip to separate her from the Seal of Elias without harming Belvera or the seal.
- Improbable Piloting Skills: The kid who duels Belvera and Garugaru with a kite.
- Lighter and Softer: Compared to the Heisei Godzilla films.
- Mid-Season Upgrade: Pretty much the most defining thing of Mothra Leo.
- Our Dragons Are Different: Death Ghidorah, a relative of King Ghidorah but a quadruped who breathes fire instead of gravity waves and sucks life energy out of the environment instead of outright destroying things and eating people.
- Robotic Reveal: Garugaru is revealed to be a robot after a firestorm forces him and Belvera to crash. It's never explained how he was built.
- Sealed Evil in a Can: Death Ghidorah, sealed by the ancestors of the Elias. Leo throws him back into the can.
- Sibling Rivalry: Taiki and Wakaba. Moll, Lora, and Belvera are a more violent version.
- Toy Disguise: The human family of the film smuggles the Elias and Fairy Mothra onto a plane using this trope.
- World Tree: Leo goes through metamorphosis using the power of a 10,000 year old tree.
