Review of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie (1995) by James A — 05 Dec 2007

On its own, it is a fine movie adaption of the very popular kids show.

Director Bryan Spicer and screenplay/co-story writer Arne Olsen do their absolute best to keep this movie true to the TV series. They stylized this movie even more then what the TV show was to really make it feel different, but when it is all added up, stylizing it really doesn't work as much as i'm sure they wanted it to work.

All of the main actors from the T.V. show are in this movie, originally, Walter Emmanuel Jones, Thuy Thang, and Austin St. John, who were the original Black, Yellow, and Red Rangers were scheduled for the movie but due to contract disputes (surprisingly all three at the same time, which is rare) were let go earlier in the year. One person who no one can say is not funny is Paul Freeman, he was so great as Ivan Ooze and was really funny, my favorite line is "OOH Where's my autograph book". And also being a veteran actor, it gave this kids movie some credibility because he is a great actor.

Like I said before this is too stylized because they changed costumes, set designs and even the actor playing Zordon has changed. But I do like they expanded Angel Grove, that was nice because that was something that was long overdue at the time. The film also ditches the darker and grittier tone that the show had during the beginning of its second season. While the show was starting to appeal to teenagers with its darker tone and the introduction of its most memorable villain Lord Zedd , this film is very much directed towards kids.

The action and special effects are what most critics call Splashy, which means that they are not really great but entertaining. These are definitely not the type of effects we see in movies like Twister or the latest Star Wars movies. They are pretty much cartoonish and fit the tone of the movie. The action is very childish but we all have to remember its a kids movie, so most people and critics let that slide, but the dialogue is beyond repair in some of the fight scenes. However, I will say those stunt people are gutsy, because even though it is a kids movie some of the moves look tough as hell and sometimes dangerous. Plus, this is also the first time that they haven't used the action scenes from the Japanese version of the show, which some thought didn't work but I thought it worked alright, the fights aren't choreographed as well but it still works.

Overall, it is a very high budgeted kids movie that will please some fans but might disappoint most.