Oh boo, hiss, yes I know! "Don't mess with my childhood," I hear so many of you ape in unison like teenage fans at a rock concert. When was the last time you actually watched Mighty Morphin Power Rangers? When was the last time you actually tried to understand the group dynamics, the intricacies of the plot and the villain's head-scratching plot for world domination?
The movie begins with a prolonged skydiving sequence (which granted was cool when you were six but looks silly now). After slapstick bulwarks Bulk (Paul Schrier) and Skull (Jason Narvy) land in a construction site, they discover an alien looking egg which alerts Power Rangers leader Zordon (Nicholas Bell). The Rangers are dispatched to recover the egg but perennial villain Repulsa (Julia Cortez) gets to it first and unleashes Ivan Ooze (Paul Freeman), a powerful inter-dimensional wizard capable of usurping untold amounts of energy. He neutralizes the Rangers, forcing them to travel to a far-away planet to find more power I guess. Meanwhile Ivan dolls out his ooze to the masses gaining control of a hypnotized slave workforce to recover his Titan robots. The Rangers return in time for the ultimate battle, suiting up in snazzy new costumes and inexplicably appropriately themed mega-robots.
Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie upon repeated viewings feels like an overt cash grab, complete with brand-spanking-new animal themed robots meant to sell toys. Everything from the acting to the story is so flaccid, boring and phoned-in that it's borderline insulting watching it as an adult. And lest we forget, even if you forgive all it's faults, there's still the cheap special-effects. While as a young child such ineptitude was forgivable, today the Power Rangers' chintzy miniatures and vapid monster v robot setup conjures memories of Post- Mothra Godzilla (1954) movies.
The movie begins with a prolonged skydiving sequence (which granted was cool when you were six but looks silly now). After slapstick bulwarks Bulk (Paul Schrier) and Skull (Jason Narvy) land in a construction site, they discover an alien looking egg which alerts Power Rangers leader Zordon (Nicholas Bell). The Rangers are dispatched to recover the egg but perennial villain Repulsa (Julia Cortez) gets to it first and unleashes Ivan Ooze (Paul Freeman), a powerful inter-dimensional wizard capable of usurping untold amounts of energy. He neutralizes the Rangers, forcing them to travel to a far-away planet to find more power I guess. Meanwhile Ivan dolls out his ooze to the masses gaining control of a hypnotized slave workforce to recover his Titan robots. The Rangers return in time for the ultimate battle, suiting up in snazzy new costumes and inexplicably appropriately themed mega-robots.
Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie upon repeated viewings feels like an overt cash grab, complete with brand-spanking-new animal themed robots meant to sell toys. Everything from the acting to the story is so flaccid, boring and phoned-in that it's borderline insulting watching it as an adult. And lest we forget, even if you forgive all it's faults, there's still the cheap special-effects. While as a young child such ineptitude was forgivable, today the Power Rangers' chintzy miniatures and vapid monster v robot setup conjures memories of Post- Mothra Godzilla (1954) movies.