TURBO: A POWER RANGERS MOVIE
A film review by Scott Renshaw
Copyright 1997 Scott Renshaw
(20th Century Fox) Starring: Jason David Frank, Adam Yong Bosch, Catherine Sutherland, Nakia Burrise, Blake Foster, Hilary Shepard Turner, Amy Jo Johnson, Austin St. John, Jon Simanton. Screenplay: Shuki Levy and Shell Danielson. Producer: Jonathan Tzachor. Directors: David Winning and Shuki Levy. MPAA Rating: PG (violence, mild profanity) Running Time: 100 minutes. Reviewed by Scott Renshaw.
You've got to hand it to Saban Entertainment, keepers of the Power Rangers franchise. In the notoriously fickle business of children's entertainment and merchandising, the Rangers have survived by changing just enough to keep their young fans interested. Costumes have been updated; new iterations of action figures have filled the shelves. Even characters have been replaced in rejuvenating line-up changes, making the Rangers akin to a super-powered Menudo. Yet the most misguided changes to date have been those in 1995's lifeless MIGHTY MORPHIN POWER RANGERS: THE MOVIE, which substituted high-tech hardware for low-tech charm. TURBO: A POWER RANGERS MOVIE is still dopey kiddie fare, but it's an improvement over MMPR:TM by orders of magnitude, with a couple more changes still up its sleeve.
The Power Rangers are, of course, a team of teen do-gooders from Angel Grove, currently consisting of Tommy (Jason David Frank), Adam (Johnny Yong Bosch), Catherine (Catherine Sutherland), Tanya (Nakia Burrise) and Rocky (Steve Cardenas). The film begins with a karate practice during which Rocky is injured, leaving the Rangers short-handed at a particularly inopportune time. it seems that evil galactic pirate Divatox (Hilary Shepard Turner) has a plan to unleash a demon and gain untold riches, a plan requiring the magic of a benevolent gnome-like wizard named Lerigot (Jon Simanton). When Lerigot flees to earth, Divatox pursues, and the Rangers take on the task of protecting Lerigot and foiling Divatox's nefarious scheme.
It can be a monumental effort for anyone over 12 to make it through Power Rangers material, simply because it is so steadfastly simplistic. The Rangers themselves are distinguishable from one another strictly by their color-coded clothing, making the line-up changes as significant Curly Joe replacing Joe in the Three Stooges. Low-brow comic relief is provided by the dim-witted Bulk and Skulk (Jason Narvy and Paul Schrier) and the incessantly "Ay-yi-yi!"-ing robot side-kick Alpha, and the plots are elemental fantasy tales with an "Afterschool Special" moral usually tacked on somewhere. TURBO adds to the mix a lovable little character who can heal with a touch and can't survive long on earth...no, not E.T., but an incredible simulation in the Muppet-faced Lerigot.
The formula is so unshakeable in its blandness that, within the context of the Rangers universe, the twists TURBO serves up can only be described as ingenious. The smartest is the inclusion of 10-year-old Justin (Blake Foster) filling the Blue Ranger costume of the incapacitated Rocky. When he morphs, Justin instantly becomes a buffed, battling teenager who gets to drive a souped-up truck; it's such an obvious child's fantasy that it's astonishing nobody thought of it sooner. It's also nice to have someone repeating the Rangers' morphing mantra of "Awesome!" who doesn't sound like an immature nit-wit while doing it. Another nice idea brings back Ranger alumni Kimberly (Amy Jo Johnson) and Jason (Austin St. James), who become prisoners of Divatox and eventually transform into evil dopplegangers who battle their former teammates. The appearance is good for a gasp of recognition from long-time Ranger watchers, but it also gives the characters a dose of personality they never had as heroes.
Kimberly and Jason actually spend most of their screen time trying to break out of the cargo hold of Divatox's ship, and those scenes are surprisingly well-crafted and tense. For an action film designed for children, TURBO is actually rather restrained, with more emphasis on suspenseful escapes than special effects-laden free-for-alls. There are only a couple of lengthy fight scenes, and the Rangers in their full costumed glory are saved for the climactic battle. Directors David Winning and Shuki Levy are working with some pretty limp material, but they make the most of it. They also correct the fatal flaw of the first POWER RANGERS feature by dumping the computer-generated Zords and making the final Megazord-vs.-megademon battle what it always should be: a battle of two guys in big rubber suits. TURBO is unquestionably more fun for kids than for adults, but it is put together with some care, and it's a step in the right direction. Who knows...some day the ever-evolving Rangers might morph into a movie franchise worth watching.
On the Renshaw scale of 0 to 10 turbo props: 5.
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