When I had this review in mind I was going into this review with the mentality of saying that "No matter how bad the new Power Rangers Movie sucks it still won't be as bad as this". That was before I saw the first official Trailer for the 2017 Power Rangers movie. Which showed me there is hope for this movie and this movie will in no way be Ow the Edge Grim and Gritty BUT INSTEAD WILL actually be awesome. So yeah this ruined my intro I add all planned out.
So Back in 1995 Power Rangers was at that point the biggest thing ever and a movie planned because of how successful the show was. When you watch this show as a kid (like me) this movie was epic. Until you became an adult and realize this movie doesn't hold up... AT ALL! It probably didn't help either that this movie was being planned when Jason, Trini, and Zack left the show and kids really gravitated to worse the season 1 cast. But probably the biggest blundering to this movie was this movie was made by Fox.
Since it aired on Fox Kids it would make sense that 20th century Fox to make the movie, BUT this FOX were talking about and well, how's that X-men Cinematic Universe going Fox? I joke but some of the stuff Fox wanted was just plain dumb, like replace all the actors or the infamous no mouth covers and visors look for the suits! If you want to know more what happened behind the scenes then click here. Because Fox owns the movie rights for the movie the Power Rangers show can not reference anything from the movie itself. Which also explains why Shout Factory can’t release The Power Rangers Movie or Turbo A Power Rangers Movie on DVD, so enough backstory time for the review.
The movie begins with a text crawl to explain what Power Rangers is the people that are not aware of what Power Rangers is. The Movie itself begins with the Rangers Skydiving (which feels like forever then it actually is) and the reason the Rangers are doing this in the first place that they are once again raising money for YOU GUESSED IT Charity. Like seriously much Charity work did the MMPR team do? Fun Fact JDF is a pro skydiver and even broke a Guinness World Record for skydiving in 2013.
After that, the Rangers spend time rollerblading (which AGAIN it feels like forever then it actually is) at the same time both Bulk and Skull land at a construction yard which is where this giant purple egg is shown. Zordon tells them that inside that egg is a great and powerful evil from long ago. Speaking of Zordon everyone got a movie update, Zordon, The Command Center, and Alpha 5. Even the villains got a movie update to them too. Lord Zed (with a Christian Bale Voice) Rita, Goldar, Pudgy Pig, WAIT... THAT'S NOT PUDGY PIG! WHO IS THIS GUY!?
When I saw this as a kid I assumed that it was Pudgy Pig, but NOPE it's just a 1 off movie henchmen monster (apparently his name is Mordant). Like you have to see where I am coming from, I did not begin with MMPR, I began in the Post-Zordon Era. And after seeing this movie I saw MMPR and assumed that he was Pudgy Pig, and even more confusing for my kid was that Pudgy Pig was just a 1 off monster the whole time. This was very confusing to me as a kid.
OH WAIT! Before I continue there is also this kid charter in the movie named Fred who is not awful I can say that for sure. But I can sum up all he does is used for the climax with the parents controlled by Ivan Ooze. And Also for shadows with Halley's Comet in the climax of the movie.
Speaking of Ivan Ooze, he is the movie exclusive villain and he's OK. Actor Paul Freeman hams it up in the movie but it’s also a deterrent because he is actually quite powerful and evil. He takes out the command center with ease, summons minions and destroys said minions for screw up, traps Zedd and Rita. And most evil of all when he no longer has any use for the parents he just let them all just jump off a cliff. He sounds like a real and powerful threat, but the problem is because of him joking around with him spouting out many references. so frantically it's hard to take him as serious as he should be, I love in an interview that JDF said that Ivan Ooze is the worst villain ever (possibly meaning 2 things).
The Rangers go after Ivan Ooze but Ivan Ooze has already escaped when they arrive and creates some minions from his own slim to fight the Rangers. The Rangers can't handle Ooze's minion's so they decided to Morph. The Morpheus used in the movie are the normal Morphs but buckle holder and lighting bolts color coded to each individual Ranger (and for whatever reason the morph itself is upside down). The Morph sequences are just lazy just them holding their Morpher and then the coin goes forward and then the suite, LAZY!
The rangers suits themselves they look neat. This time the suits have a more armor padded look to the, and the coin on the chest I also like. Well, they are neat until you find out these suits can break pretty easily, just look at yellow's suite in the whole movie. The helmet is always opened in places and in the climax fight of the movie the coin on the chest falls off.
When the Rangers finish off Ooze’s minions there powers start to disappear, why is that? Well while the Rangers were fighting Ivan Ooze’s minions, Ooze went to the Command Centre to get revenge on Zordon by destroying everything Zordon and the Rangers have. In doing that Ooze has also destroyed Zordon’s Time Warp making him slowly die. The Rangers are now questioning how will they defeat Ivan Ooze? Alpha says that there are powers on a distant planet but all who have tried have failed. But the Rangers are willing to try anything at this point if it means rescuing Zordon. Ivan Ooze here the Rangers are going to rescue Zordon too and sends his Tengu Warriors. NOW since Fox owns the rigs to this movie they own the name Tengu Warriors while in Season 3 of MMPR they are called the Tenga Warriors so complete difference there. YES, I WENT INTO DETAIL ABOUT THAT LET's MOVIE ON SHALE WE? the Rangers arrive on this distant planets and the Tengu warriors that till.
DAMN! Her name is Dulcea and outside of her looking hot and rescuing the Rangers, she has no purpose. Yeah, She gives the rangers their new ninja outfits but they still have to go on this quest? It would have had made sense if she was the one to give them their powers and judging the from afar but instead, all she does is just gives them footy pajamas. Also, Adams Line of "I'm a Frog" classic.
On their quest to get the Ninjetti Powers The Rangers first fight this really awesome looking animatronic bone dinosaurs which still looks nice this day (Practical > CGI). After that, they fight these rock warriors fight which is not that impressive, but nice shot with Tommy doing a V3 style spin kick, kicking that monster to that Stone Gate. Kicking said monster into that stone Gate unlock the door which housed there Ninjetti Powers giving the rangers their new powers. It's just their original suits but just this time with different animals chest coins but with this new power up they go Back to stop Ooze.
Back on earth, Ivan Ooze is giving kids some of his Ivan ooze (WOW THAT CAME OUT SO HORRIBLE). When the kid parents get a hold on some of the Oozes they are now mind controlled and work for Ivan Ooze. He tells them to dig out his old mechas that he had 6000 years ago to ruled the earth once again. When Ooze's Machines are active again they just look awful, just awful as sin itself. The CGI in the movie is just garbage, it makes Beast Wars Look like Avatar in comparison. Jurassic Park, made in 1993 still has good CGI to this day and Hell I dare say it's still better looking than that load of crap Jurassic World movie (JURASSIC WORLD SUCK, AND IS THE MOST OVERRATED MOVIE I EVER SEEN IN MY LIFE)!
It's also the same for the Rangers Zords, I mean Just Look!
The Rangers destroy one of Ooze's Machines but Ooze fuses with his remaining machine which that too is ugly. The Rangers decided to from the Ninja Mega Falcon Megazord and it even looks WORSE THAN ALL THE OTHER ZORDS COMBINED... WAIT! This absolutely looks nothing like the Ninja Falcon Megazord/ Kakure Daishogun! This Megazord also doesn't have hands so why does it have hands then? And also using the Shogun Megazord Sword (which brakes in no time?). The face on the Crane Zord is elongated and doesn't even match the original face of the Show. Now you have to know where I came from I saw this before seeing MMPR Season 3. SO when I saw the Ninja Falcon Megazord face for the show for the first time and it looked like the movie Ninja Falcon Megazord, my mind was blown (like this)!
The fight with Ooze goes into space where the Climax of the film is NOT fist fight, or with lasers but instead The Ninja Falcon Megazord Kneeing Ivan Ooze in the NUTS, into Halley's Comet. OK... THAT'S A... UNIQUE way a monster has ever been killed in the whole franchise.
When Ooze is killed and the Parents snapped out of Ooze's mind control, the rangers head back for the command center. However, when they arrive back to help Zordon it's already too late. In a last ditch effort, the Rangers revive Zordon with their new Powers which this scene right here is by far the best scene in the whole movie. It Feels like a Power Rangers moment. Although how this also fixes up the command center is another question all tougher. So the movie ends with Angel Grove thanking the Power Rangers for all they did, with Fireworks.
Overall it's a 2/5 it's not that good, but I don't hate it.
I am by no means saying that this is a good movie at all, (I truly do mean it). As a Hard Core PR fan maybe some enjoyment out of it. But casual SKIP IT! But I enjoyed this movie because mostly Nostalgia really.
Well, that's not entirely true, I like that moment at the end with the Rangers reviving Zordon, a bit cheese but still a good moment. The Fighting is pretty solid, I really love the Soundtrack of this movie remix of Go Go Power Rangers being one of my favorite ( But the best one that there is to this date is the one done by Masaaki Endou). But Story and characters, that is what brings down this movie.
Ooze for as much as his actor hams it up could not be taken seriously at all despite how powerful he is. The Girls are is trouble frequently in the movie and scream really loud a lot of the damn time. Story yeah it's pretty bad.
Now this also Brings up another thing too I have to say I would also put this on the same level of, yes because this also follows a formula as well, a new big bad 1 off movie villain, curve stomps the Rangers, the Rangers get new Powers/ new toys to sell and win. like it does have a feeling of a Super Sentai and even Rider movie too, and I ust wanted to bring that up and that's all.
Again although I do not recommend it to anyone unless you're curious and if you're a big PR fan, starting out, but even then this movie is not cannon to the show which is ever more reason to skip this movie. Stay Tuned for next week we will be talking about the New PR movie so let see how that goes (PLEASE BE GOOD, PLEASE BE GOOD)!
this movie is known for outdated CGI
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