Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie - D+

Quick Hit: A wonderful trip down nostalgia lane for me, but a good movie it is not.  

As a kid, I feel like I was scared of everything, but I consistently found myself drawn back into horror type things. I open with that only because I was terrified of this movie as a kid. I mean, obviously the Power Rangers were awesome, but Ivan Ooze haunted my dreams for a while.

Anyways, on with the show. Welcome to Remake week here at DFP. We are opening with a movie that isn’t a strict remake, but instead is more of a reboot. The Power Rangers have appeared in over twenty series, all based on the Japanese Super Sentai. It’s interesting when you compare the movies side by side, but I’m getting ahead of myself. Let’s talk about Mighty Morphin.

The movie is pretty much a joke. There’s a lame opening, followed by a ridiculous set up. You can tell the movie was written by adults that were attempting to appeal to the younger minds of the demographic, and it’s terrible. All the jokes fall so very, very, very flat, and the effects have aged horribly. However, one nice thing is that there is no origin story here. We are joining a bunch of experienced Rangers, and their comradery, such as it is, shows.

The movie doesn’t really hit its stride until Ivan Ooze shows up in the flesh(?). He’s played by Paul Freeman, who obviously feels like he has better places to be. In fact, all the adults who aren’t Rangers seem to be either A) actors who are new to acting or B) actors who are wondering how they ended up in Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie.

However, the effects in this movie show the age of the nineties heavily. That’s not necessarily a bad thing though, because a lot of the costumes are done with practical effects. CGI was still relatively new – and shows up in Ivan’s infamous ooze – but it’s the costumes that stand out, at least in the beginning. I even really enjoyed the scenes on the ship, which are so clanky and clunky that you can feel every engineer groaning. And don’t even get me started on the whole spirit animal thing, along with the spirit animal Zords. Yikes!

Remember that CGI... Ahhhh.

But, I can’t help but feel some heart that is in this movie. As hurtful as the dialogue is, the Ranger actors are really trying hard. It must be tough to be idolized that much and have to deliver dialogue like “Have a nice trip, see you next fall”.

Overall, if you watched this movie as a child, you can watch it and it’ll be enjoyable. Just don’t expect a bunch of cinematic greatness. I’m giving it a very, very generous D+.

For more on this movie check out IMDB.