Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie (1995)

Movie Info

Zordon, you’ve looked better

When an ancient evil is unearthed in Angel Grove, Aisha (Karan Ashley), Adam (Johnny Yong Bosch), Rocky (Steve Cardenas), Kimberly (Amy Jo Johnson), Billy (David Yost), and Tommy (Jason David Frank) find themselves powerless and with Zordon near death.  The Power Rangers will have to voyage to a distant world, learn new powers, and gain new Zords if they hope to save Zordon (Nicholas Bell) and defeat the terror of Ivan Ooze (Paul Freeman) and his army of helpless slaves.

Directed by Bryan Spicer, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers:  The Movie is an action-adventure film that spun-off the popular children’s show Mighty Morphin Power Rangers.  The film received mixed reviews but a strong box office return.

Oh, Ivan…you are a ham

I was already aged out of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers when it started airing.  I saw a few episodes and my only interest in the show was my love of Godzilla and the fact that the series adopted (or just took) that style of series.  The plots were goofy, the villains were stupid, and the main characters where uninspired…Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie really isn’t any different than the series, which is either a plus or a minus.

For me, the movie was rather tedious, but I wasn’t the target audience.  I suppose if you were a fan of the series, a bigger, longer adventure of the characters might be exciting.  While this might be true, I can actually remember the buzz surrounding the reveal of the “White Ranger” (aka Tommy) and it feels like that was more buzz-worthy and significant than the events of the film.  The characters lose their powers get new powers and Zords (aka something new to market and sell to kids), and defeat the new villain…it just felt like a really, really long episode (or a week’s worth of episodes tied together).

Yes…this is…better?

Part of my problem with the series is the cast.  I realize that it is targeted at kids, and I realize getting “serious actors” for a show about fighting robots and monsters is probably difficult, but the actors are really bad The main cast always feels like they are just delivering lines (and I always like how they wear their Ranger colors in everyday life…way to keep a low profile).  The “fun” of the series is supposed to be the over-the-top nature of the characters (like Rita Repulsa) and I will admit that Paul Freeman’s Ivan Ooze is all over the place which is kind of fun…but it is better in small doses (if at all).

The visuals for the movie are pretty much in line with the series.  There might be a bit more computer animated sequences involving the forming of the Zords (which is pretty bad since it is low budget and 1995), but the big monsters fighting is always kind of fun for a while.

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers:  The Movie has some nostalgia for some, I’m sure, but it doesn’t do much for me.  It is relatively short and harmless which would be its good points, but if you weren’t a fan of the series, this won’t win you over…Go, go Power Rangers…please…just go.

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