Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: the Movie

Tommy as the green ranger

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, the television show, is something I grew up on. I had action figures, posters, and a red ranger Halloween costume when I was younger. I don't have any of them anymore and that's kind of a shame. I should have at least kept just one item because they probably are worth something now. My favorite power ranger was Tommy back when he was the bad guy green ranger. Later on he would become a good guy and the white ranger. But I thought he was the coolest as the bad green ranger.

So when this movie was made I was so excited and I couldn't wait to see it. My dad took me and my brother to the theater and we watched it. I believe I greatly enjoyed it.

Recently, I decided to watch the movie again for the first time since I was probably ten. I knew it would be cheesy, but I told myself I wouldn't call it a bad movie no matter what. I view this movie as a "legacy movie" in that this movie and the series it is based on is more a part of my childhood and judging it as an adult kind of seems like heresy.

So no, I'm not going to drag this movie into the dirt and make fun of it. Plenty of other people seem willing to do just that.

But I will say that the special effects really jumped out at me because of how bad they were. Sure, the series had some phenomenally bad special effects because all of the giant zords were really just guys in costumes. But in this movie it's CGI (or whatever passed for CGI at the time this movie was made) that make up the zords. As a kid I thought the zords looked so much cooler in the movie, but now I think they probably should have just gone with guys in costumes.

Anyway, I haven't said much about the story so let me get to that now.

Lord Zedd

The evil Lord Zedd (the most killer-looking Power Rangers villain ever) and his companion Rita Repulsa wish to revive Ivan Ooze (portrayed by Paul Freeman) so he can destroy Zordon (portrayed by Nicholas Bell) and the pesky Power Rangers (portrayed by Johnny Yong Bosch, Jason David Frank, Karan Ashley, Steve Cardenas, David Yost, and Amy Jo Johnston). Well, Ivan willingly destroys the home of Zordon and leaves him to die a slow death. The attack leaves the rangers drained of their formidable powers and zords and they are transported elsewhere with the little energy left in Zordon's home with the hope that they can find the mystical "great power." Meanwhile, Ivan Ooze betrays Rita and Zedd and begins to terrorize the world with no one to stop him.

This movie is primarily for the folks who grew up watching the movie or those that used to watch the show with their kids and actually enjoyed it. Others might enjoy it, but I'm not sure many would or why they would.

It's cheesy. Ridiculously cheesy. It makes The Spirit look like an absolute work of art. But... a movie meant for kids should never be judged for what it isn't. There's no sex, violence, or profanity. There are a handful of annoying characters like the pig-looking creature or Alpha 5 that are present for the purposes of  making kids grin. But I don't believe any of them come close to being as annoying as Jar Jar Binks from Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace.

There is a semi-sequel called Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie, but it is not recommended for anyone who has not seen the actual series because Turbo acts as the introduction to the Power Rangers Turbo series whereas Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie is more independent of the series on which it is based and can be viewed without really following the series.