MIGHTY MORPHIN' POWER RANGERS
A film review by Chris Meadows
Copyright 1995 Chris Meadows
Rating: 6.5/10
Capsule: See it if you or the kiddies are a Power Rangers fan, but catch the matinee or discount show; it maybe be worth $3 or $4, but not $7 or $8 (unless you're *really* into it). Take the kiddies again and again when/if it comes to the $1-$2 discount theater in your location. A definite renter when it comes to video.
Go, go, Power Rangers, you Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers...
All the reviews I've seen of MMPR:TM tend to be rather harsh. I can understand this, coming from film critics. However, I have to say that I disagree with the ratings I've seen--for instance, the "one eye out of five" rating that On Screen gave it. They're rating it from their perspective, and I'm rating it from mine.
These critics, you see, are not MMPR fans. In fact, they probably don't even tolerate the show. Now, while I'm no big fan of it myself, I am a fan of the giant transforming robots (especially Japanese) and martial arts (esp. Japanese) genres, and I'm also a fan of high production values. And I've seen a couple episodes of the Rangers. Even if the plot could be better, I'm still willing to give the movie a chance. And I did.
The plot is standard Power Rangers fare, meaning it's rather campy, and you could probably quote the major plot elements almost verbatim without even walking into the theater. Which is to be expected, really. But, it's standard Power Rangers fare stretched out to an hour and a half, with extremely high production values and a soundtrack composed partly of old favorites and partly of new tracks.
And besides, if there's one thing I've learned in the last few years, it's not to watch Power Rangers for the plot.
The story deals with cosmic villain Ivan Ooze (Paul Freeman) who has been trapped in what appears to be a giant purple easter egg for the last 6,000 years. Construction workers unwittingly unearth the egg, then Rita and Lord Zedd release him. He proceeds to trash the Power Rangers HQ, and the Power Rangers have to seek out a new power source or else Zordon will die and Ivan Ooze will take over the universe.
As you'd expect, the Rangers meet various challenges, do a lot of fancy martial arts moves (including quite a few special-effects-simulated ones which come off as rather fakey-looking, but the kiddies won't mind), and get new costumes and Zords. And then it's a wonderfully computer-animated Zord battle to the finish. (Gee, I wonder who's going to win this one?)
(By the way, stay in your seat after the credits start rolling. About two minutes in is a little "gotcha" which you'll miss unless you're watching for it.)
From start to finish, this film is obviously designed to catch and hold the kiddies' attention. It starts out with a nicely choreographed skydiving sequence (with the Ranger-secret- identity-kids wearing color-coded jump suits, and Bulk and Skull along for comic relief), then almost without pause segues into the color-coded-clothed kids rollerblading along the sidewalks (and doing some fancy acrobatics while they're at it). Before you know it, the evil easter egg is unearthed, and the action gets started.
The production values are quite high, and that (along with the soundtrack) may prove to be this film's saving grace. The computer-animated robots are a joy to behold, even if they only appear in the film's last few minutes. The henchmen that the Rangers fight in place of Putties, being made of either purple goo or stone, either explode or shatter most picturesquely, and squish quite nicely too. And Zordon actually has *lips*!
Ironically, it might also prove rather detrimental to the TV show--the production values of this movie are going to be a hard act for the show to follow next season.
If you don't let your kiddies watch Power Rangers, then you're obviously not going to take them to this movie. However, if they're morph-o-maniacs, it's certainly no worse than your average episode of the TV show, and if anything, the computer animation makes it more worthwhile to sit through.
I would say that it's *definitely* worth $1-2 at a discount theater, and worth maybe $3-4 to see now (if you're a big fan, or your kids are worrying about being left out of the crowd who has already seen it). I think I would hesitate at paying anything more if I were you, unless you have a lot more money than I do or (have kids who) are *really* into the show. And it's a definite rental (though I'd be hesitant about buying it unless it was priced *really* cheap) when it comes out on video.
In summary, I gave it a 6.5 out of 10 because I thought it really wasn't that bad for what it was. Of course, keep in mind that a 65% on a paper is still a D; hardly a passing grade. This was a clear case of "The production values are willing, but the plot is weak."
And yet, when I was coming out of this movie, which I spent $3.25 on, I didn't have the "cheated" feeling I had when coming out of Passenger 57, which I only spent $1 on, so they had to have done something right. I don't know that I'll go and see it again, at least not until it comes to the $1 theater, but I'm not sorry I did this time.
Oh, and I think we can probably take for granted that this movie is going to do really well in spite of all the bad reviews it's getting, and there's going to be a second Power Rangers movie. The REAL power of the Power Rangers is the power to sell a *lot* of toys, videotapes, and undoubtedly movie tickets.
** This review is copyright 1995 by Chris Meadows. All rights reserved. Permission is granted for distribution over these newsgroups and associated archival, and for e-mail forwarding, as long as it is not for profit and this notice remains intact. CD-ROM distribution is forbidden without author's permission, though. Permission is also granted for storage in the WWW movies database. -- Chris Meadows CMEADOWS @NYX.CS.DU.EDU @NYX10.CS.DU.EDU
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