HOME | DD

Description
Here’s the thing: I am a fan of things before my time, like Ninja Turtles, Transformers, Star Wars, the works. But one of my favorite franchises happens to be a show from the 1990’s, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers! Sure, it’s goofy, but that’s why I love it! It’s an American adaptation of the Super Sentai season, Kyoryu Sentai Zyuranger. Of course, any popular franchise needs toys, clothes, board games, video games, and even movies, like the mediocre 2017 reboot! I saw this movie in the Canterlot Theater with my friend, Sophia the Hedgebat, and we expected an awesome flick, but what we got instead was a PG-13 rated, unnecessarily dark, tedious, teenage superhero drama with little to no humor, which is the opposite of what a Power Rangers movie should be. Get out your Power Morphers, because it’s Reviewing Time! This is “Saban’s“ Power Rangers!
We begin our story on Earth during the Cenozoic era, where six Rangers are tasked to protect all life and the Zeo Crystal, but Rita (Elizabeth Banks), the Green Ranger (WHAT?) betrays them and plans to dominate the world. Zordon (played by Bryan Cranston), the Red Ranger (Okay, I’ll admit, that is a good change.), hides the Power Coins and orders Alpha 5, his robotic second-in-command, to kill him and the dinosaurs with a meteor strike, which also sends Rita into the ocean.
We then cut to present day Angel Grove (At least someone understands the source material), where Jason Lee Scott (played by Dacre Montgomery of Stranger Things fame) is fired from the high school football team and placed under house arrest after a prank gone wrong, which I will not explain because I want to keep this review PG. In detention, he meets Kimberly Hart (Naomi Scott), a former cheerleader (A cheerleader named Kim...now why does that sound familiar?), and Billy Cranston (RJ Cyler), an autistic nerd/bully magnet. After Jason protects Billy from a lame substitute for Bulk and Skull, Billy helps him deactivate the monitor on his ankle. Afterwards, Jason leaves to an old gold mine and runs into Kimberly. Billy blows up a rock, not only catching the attention of Jason, Kim, Trini Kwan (Becky G), and Zack Taylor (Ludi Lin), but also revealing the five Power Coins. The teenagers grab them and elude mining security in their car, but they are hit by a train.
Luckily, they’re okay, because they wake up with superhuman powers like strength and high jumping, granted by the Coins. Cool!
Meanwhile, Rita is found on a fishing deck. She awakens and goes on a rampage to find some gold so she can raise Goldar and find the Zeo Crystal. I can’t believe I just said that with a straight face...
(facehoof)
The teens return to the mine and discover an alien spaceship. Inside the ship, they meet Alpha 5 (played by Bill Hader, who’s not even attempting to sound like the original actor) and Zordonsenburg. They tell the teens the story of the original Power Rangers and that Rita must be stopped before she finds the Zeo Crystal and destroys the Earth.
At first, the teens are not interested in the superhero bit, but after Jason convinces them to return to the ship, they do so. They train in the ship, but they cannot freaking morph! Urg! Even when they train with the holographic Putties, they still can’t morph! Okay, the movie’s not even over yet, and already I have no faith in these teens! So to inspire the future Rangers, Alpha reveals the Zords, which look pretty cool. Zack rides one and dang near kills them, thus ticking off Jason, and triggering a fight between the two. While trying to break up the fight, Billy suddenly morphs! About time! But after becoming aware of it, he morphs back. Oh, come on! Infuriated by the lack of progress, Zordon White dismisses the team. Jason returns to Zordon, who reveals that the morphing of the Rangers will open the Morphin Grid and restore him to a physical body. Jason takes it poorly and accuses Zordon for using the team for his own gain.
Later that night, the five camp out and get to know each other better. Trini wants to fit in with other people, and Zack worries about his sick mother. Admittedly, I almost cried at that moment, but I was just too bored to do so.
Later, Rita attacks Trini and tells her to bring the Rangers to the dock for a fight, and she does. But when they fight Rita, she quick defeats them. Rita then forces Billy to reveal the location of the Zeo Crystal (spoiler: Krispy Kreme), then kills him but releases the others.
The four carry Billy back to the spaceship and beg Zordon to revive him. They concur with Zordon that they would do anything for each other and try to defeat Rita, even if it cost them their lives. Their promise causes the Morphin Grid to open, and Zordon revives Billy, thus giving up his “physical body” dream. Finally, the Rangers morph, but not before Jason says, “It’s Morphin Time!” Why did they not say it earlier? It would have saved time!
Rita uses the gold pieces she found to create Goldar (who looks nothing like he did in the show), along with an army of Putty Patrollers, and rampages through Angel Grove to find the Zeo Crystal. While fighting the Putties, the Rangers ride to Angel Grove while the Power Rangers theme song plays! Man, I just love that song! When the Rangers arrive, they fight the remaining Putties and defeat them. Boy, there’s a lot of destruction going on in the fight. Even poor Bumblebee is getting trashed.
“Goldar” throws the Zords into a fiery pit, but the Rangers are able to combine their Zords to form Megazord and emerge from the pit! When Rita merges with not-Goldar, the two titans fight. Ultimately, “Goldar” is destroyed, but Rita will not surrender. She tells the Rangers that more monsters will come for the Crystal, and then she jumps at the Megazord, only to get slapped into space. Thus, the Rangers have saved the day, and are praised for their heroic deeds. Oh, look! Amy Jo Johnson and Jason David Frank are part of the crowd! Cue the end credits with funky music to make up for the boring story! Oh, but wait! There is also a mid-credits scene that implies that the Green Ranger is going to be in the sequel. Sorry, not interested.
So that was Power Rangers, and overall, I didn’t like it. The acting was good, the music kicked butt, the costumes looked pretty cool, and the special effects weren’t half bad, but the story was boring, made no sense, and had almost nothing to do with Power Rangers! It takes the campy fun of the show and just throws it away, and replaces it with all this teenage superhero drama crap that would be better off in other superhero movies! I understand and appreciate what the filmmakers were trying to do with the new story, but it just didn’t feel like a true Power Rangers movie. If you don’t know or even like the original Power Rangers, you might enjoy this movie. If you love Power Rangers and want to see a reimagining of it, this might be right up your alley. But if you’re a diehard Power Rangers fan who enjoys its goofy action, just stick to the show.

Description
Here’s the thing: I am a fan of things before my time, like Ninja Turtles, Transformers, Star Wars, the works. But one of my favorite franchises happens to be a show from the 1990’s, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers! Sure, it’s goofy, but that’s why I love it! It’s an American adaptation of the Super Sentai season, Kyoryu Sentai Zyuranger. Of course, any popular franchise needs toys, clothes, board games, video games, and even movies, like the mediocre 2017 reboot! I saw this movie in the Canterlot Theater with my friend, Sophia the Hedgebat, and we expected an awesome flick, but what we got instead was a PG-13 rated, unnecessarily dark, tedious, teenage superhero drama with little to no humor, which is the opposite of what a Power Rangers movie should be. Get out your Power Morphers, because it’s Reviewing Time! This is “Saban’s“ Power Rangers!
We begin our story on Earth during the Cenozoic era, where six Rangers are tasked to protect all life and the Zeo Crystal, but Rita (Elizabeth Banks), the Green Ranger (WHAT?) betrays them and plans to dominate the world. Zordon (played by Bryan Cranston), the Red Ranger (Okay, I’ll admit, that is a good change.), hides the Power Coins and orders Alpha 5, his robotic second-in-command, to kill him and the dinosaurs with a meteor strike, which also sends Rita into the ocean.
We then cut to present day Angel Grove (At least someone understands the source material), where Jason Lee Scott (played by Dacre Montgomery of Stranger Things fame) is fired from the high school football team and placed under house arrest after a prank gone wrong, which I will not explain because I want to keep this review PG. In detention, he meets Kimberly Hart (Naomi Scott), a former cheerleader (A cheerleader named Kim...now why does that sound familiar?), and Billy Cranston (RJ Cyler), an autistic nerd/bully magnet. After Jason protects Billy from a lame substitute for Bulk and Skull, Billy helps him deactivate the monitor on his ankle. Afterwards, Jason leaves to an old gold mine and runs into Kimberly. Billy blows up a rock, not only catching the attention of Jason, Kim, Trini Kwan (Becky G), and Zack Taylor (Ludi Lin), but also revealing the five Power Coins. The teenagers grab them and elude mining security in their car, but they are hit by a train.
Luckily, they’re okay, because they wake up with superhuman powers like strength and high jumping, granted by the Coins. Cool!
Meanwhile, Rita is found on a fishing deck. She awakens and goes on a rampage to find some gold so she can raise Goldar and find the Zeo Crystal. I can’t believe I just said that with a straight face...
(facehoof)
The teens return to the mine and discover an alien spaceship. Inside the ship, they meet Alpha 5 (played by Bill Hader, who’s not even attempting to sound like the original actor) and Zordonsenburg. They tell the teens the story of the original Power Rangers and that Rita must be stopped before she finds the Zeo Crystal and destroys the Earth.
At first, the teens are not interested in the superhero bit, but after Jason convinces them to return to the ship, they do so. They train in the ship, but they cannot freaking morph! Urg! Even when they train with the holographic Putties, they still can’t morph! Okay, the movie’s not even over yet, and already I have no faith in these teens! So to inspire the future Rangers, Alpha reveals the Zords, which look pretty cool. Zack rides one and dang near kills them, thus ticking off Jason, and triggering a fight between the two. While trying to break up the fight, Billy suddenly morphs! About time! But after becoming aware of it, he morphs back. Oh, come on! Infuriated by the lack of progress, Zordon White dismisses the team. Jason returns to Zordon, who reveals that the morphing of the Rangers will open the Morphin Grid and restore him to a physical body. Jason takes it poorly and accuses Zordon for using the team for his own gain.
Later that night, the five camp out and get to know each other better. Trini wants to fit in with other people, and Zack worries about his sick mother. Admittedly, I almost cried at that moment, but I was just too bored to do so.
Later, Rita attacks Trini and tells her to bring the Rangers to the dock for a fight, and she does. But when they fight Rita, she quick defeats them. Rita then forces Billy to reveal the location of the Zeo Crystal (spoiler: Krispy Kreme), then kills him but releases the others.
The four carry Billy back to the spaceship and beg Zordon to revive him. They concur with Zordon that they would do anything for each other and try to defeat Rita, even if it cost them their lives. Their promise causes the Morphin Grid to open, and Zordon revives Billy, thus giving up his “physical body” dream. Finally, the Rangers morph, but not before Jason says, “It’s Morphin Time!” Why did they not say it earlier? It would have saved time!
Rita uses the gold pieces she found to create Goldar (who looks nothing like he did in the show), along with an army of Putty Patrollers, and rampages through Angel Grove to find the Zeo Crystal. While fighting the Putties, the Rangers ride to Angel Grove while the Power Rangers theme song plays! Man, I just love that song! When the Rangers arrive, they fight the remaining Putties and defeat them. Boy, there’s a lot of destruction going on in the fight. Even poor Bumblebee is getting trashed.
“Goldar” throws the Zords into a fiery pit, but the Rangers are able to combine their Zords to form Megazord and emerge from the pit! When Rita merges with not-Goldar, the two titans fight. Ultimately, “Goldar” is destroyed, but Rita will not surrender. She tells the Rangers that more monsters will come for the Crystal, and then she jumps at the Megazord, only to get slapped into space. Thus, the Rangers have saved the day, and are praised for their heroic deeds. Oh, look! Amy Jo Johnson and Jason David Frank are part of the crowd! Cue the end credits with funky music to make up for the boring story! Oh, but wait! There is also a mid-credits scene that implies that the Green Ranger is going to be in the sequel. Sorry, not interested.
So that was Power Rangers, and overall, I didn’t like it. The acting was good, the music kicked butt, the costumes looked pretty cool, and the special effects weren’t half bad, but the story was boring, made no sense, and had almost nothing to do with Power Rangers! It takes the campy fun of the show and just throws it away, and replaces it with all this teenage superhero drama crap that would be better off in other superhero movies! I understand and appreciate what the filmmakers were trying to do with the new story, but it just didn’t feel like a true Power Rangers movie. If you don’t know or even like the original Power Rangers, you might enjoy this movie. If you love Power Rangers and want to see a reimagining of it, this might be right up your alley. But if you’re a diehard Power Rangers fan who enjoys its goofy action, just stick to the show.