Mothra

The most charming and openly anti-colonial of Toho's monster films. A greedy entrepreneur abducts two tiny singing priestesses from an irradiated island, and their guardian, a giant moth, levels a city getting them back. The whole thing is bright, strange and surprisingly pointed about exploitation and empire.

Honda directs it with genuine fairy-tale warmth, the twin fairies' song is unforgettable, and Mothra herself is a gentler kind of kaiju, defending rather than destroying. The colour and design are gorgeous.

The friendliest Toho monster, in the studio's most good-hearted film.