Crazy to think that we've only just now gotten a modern-day adaptation of Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers, the hit kid's show from the early 90's. 1993 saw Haim Saban the footage of Kyoryu Sentai Zyuranger, a Japanese adventure series about five warriors granted the powers of "Guardian Beasts" of the planet Earth, into his own take on the story. From Zyuranger came Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, or basically season one of what has become a worldwide phenomenon.
Now, it goes without saying that I grew up a Power Ranger fan. I watched the show go through its many changes. Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, Power Rangers Zeo, Turbo, In Space, Lost Galaxy... it goes on and on. The last one I watched new was Time Force. After that I slowly felt myself becoming disenchanted with it and once Wild Force and afterwards Ninja Storm were announced, I couldn't be less intrigued and destined to tune-in.
Well, 2017 gave us Saban's Power Rangers, a modern-day adaptation or retelling of what is basically the origin of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. Five ordinary teenagers with attitude are granted superhero powers by an inter-dimensional being known as "Zordon" and his faithful robot assistant, Alpha-5. The movie stayed faithful to the source material and delivered a goofy, yet somehow epic story of five would-be heroes coming together as one, accepting their responsibilities and conquering the evil that has challenged them. But let's get a little more in-depth.
THE GOOD
Obviously, staying true to the source material proved to be an advantage. Something noticeable as changing a character's name or swapping Ranger suits would've soured my response to the film. The biggest upgrade on the characters in the movie as opposed to the show is the fact that these are, without a doubt, "teenagers with attitude". In the original opening to Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, Zordon's words to Alpha-5 are 'recruit a team of teenagers with attitude'. Yet throughout the entire run of the show, not one of these teenagers as been a complete asshole. There was no attitude to be had anywhere. Each teen in the show, that wasn't under some kind of evil spell, was usually a goody-two shoes who always did their homework, never angered or berated someone, and always was willing to take part in community support. This movie took that 'teenagers with attidue' mantra and kicked it into gear. You get Jason, who's bitter about his prank going awry and his knee injury that sidelined him from football. You get Kimberly, angry about the response to her sharing a lewd photo of a girl with her boyfriend...or something. You get Zack, a loner who keeps to himself and has an ailing mother. You get Trini, who's secretly a lesbian and puts up with an incredibly overbearing family. Finally, you get Billy, a nerdy kid with autism who suffers from being humiliated by bullies and the death of his father.
Right away, the kids themselves are given a wide-range of character development. Much farther than the original show could've ever dreamed. In the show, they were just five kids out of Saved by the Bell who became superheroes. This time, they were angry, bitter, or lonesome teenagers looking for ways to be accepted or to express themselves to others. In other words, teenagers. To watch them come together in the third act of the movie and bond and care for each other, despite their differing backgrounds, was truly a strength. The movie showed that something as juvenile and two-dimensional as Power Rangers could be written for adults, with intelligent and loving characters that you can bond with.
Another good thing was Zordon. You got to know more about the Eltarian floating head and his connection to the Rangers. It is not mentioned whether this Zordon hails from Eltar, but we see that 65-million years in the past, Zordon was the original Red Ranger who led a time of Rangers that had a Green Ranger on it, namely Rita Repulsa, who betrayed them. Zordon buries the Power coins in the ground to keep Rita from getting her hands on them. This all takes place on Earth during the age of the dinosaurs, hence the dinosaur-themed Zords. Zordon almost seemed like he, himself, developed a sense of bitterness and hostility due to him losing his life and being confined as a face emanating from a wall. This is where I began to have concerns over whether or not they were going to do Zordon justice. The Zordon in this movie could be a real jerk, especially when Jason learned that he only needed the Rangers to morph once so that he could escape and be re-birthed from the Morphing Grid. However, you soon get the sense of love from Zordon as he sacrifices his chance to be reborn in exchange for saving Billy's life. It is here he becomes the mentor to the Rangers that we know and love. I also like the update of him not being a head in a tube, but a face on a wall that moves around.
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| Look at the original cast, for God's sake. The pose! You're filming a children's show, not delivering the latest museum module to the International Space Station. |
One thing I liked was Rita's backstory update. I think it's an interesting twist making her an original Power Ranger, namely the Green Ranger and having her betray Zordon and kill her teammates. They even made her somewhat creepy. There's a sequence where Zordon lifts each Ranger into the air and they're subjected to startling, nightmarish visions of Rita. Very well done. Nice that she's not a poorly-dubbed older woman with a traffic-cone bra.
The best character of the movie, in my opinion, was Billy. Billy was re-envisioned as a boy with autism struggling to fit in with his classmates. There's a scene where he's hastily trying to arrange colored pencils in order of the rainbow and a bully snaps a couple of them. You come to find out the reason Billy was in detention in the first place was because his lunch-box exploded in his locker, which is a humorous story. You can tell this movie got some of its love from The Breakfast Club. Billy had all the best comedy one-liners, and even humorously referred to the Megazord as a "Momma zord", which made me laugh. Billy's even the first one to morph, though he can't recall how in the time of need. There's even a scene where Rita ambushes and overpowers the Rangers at the harbor and kills Billy, drowning him in the water. It is here that I mentioned earlier that the Morphing Grid opens due to the Rangers' new found love for one another, but Zordon skips his chance to return to the world of the living in favor of resurrecting Billy.
The Rangers' suits got a well-deserved update. I read somewhere during the making of the movie that the movie was going to have a theme of 'minerals'. This is where we see that very theme come to light. We, thankfully, don't get simple spandex onesies. We get phenomenal-looking armor that resembles quartz growths. When they were first unveiled in May of last year, many people complained they looked too much like Iron Man armor. I'll agree with that, but once you finally got to see footage of them in action and you saw how they moved and how they looked, and how they form from the minerals of the Earth, made them pretty great.
The Putties were also done much better. Instead of being spandex suits, they are formed in this movie as whatever mineral they can be. You see asphalt Putties formed from roads, gravel putties formed from Mountainsides, and even gold Putties formed from Goldar. I like the idea of them taking on the texture of whatever mineral they're formed out of. Gives the filmmakers a creative edge to demonstrate the power of CGI technology.
Alpha-5 was a decent update. I'm glad he wasn't Richard Horvitz dusting off his high-pitched vocal chords for another round of burying us under "aye aye aye, Zordon!" over and over and over again. That part of nostalgia I can do without. Bill Hader brought a loving charm to the character, even though when you watch interviews with him, you get the sense he doesn't even know what Power Rangers is or even how it came to be integrated into American pop culture so well.
The use of the "Go Go Power Rangers" song from the original 1995 movie also gave me goosebumps when it was played, even if it was for that brief few seconds. Listening to that cut of the song took me back to watching the original film, something I did all too much of in preparing for this one.
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| Our fallen heroes. Where were they? |
Of course, the sprinkling of the fan-service lines did me just fine. Jason uttering "It's morphin' time" as they try and morph for the final time (the time that succeeds), Rita waving her staff and saying "make my monster grow!" and especially the up-angle shot as Goldar stretches high into the sky, the old Japanese filmmaking technique to make-believe an increase in size.
The cameo at the end by the original Pink Ranger Amy Jo Johnson and the original Green Ranger Jason David Frank tugged at my heartstrings a bit. It was great to see them, and the theater I was in felt so too.
THE BAD
The Zords were okay. They weren't anything special, to say the least. Aesthetically, they lacked the vibrant colors of their respective rangers and looked like they were pulled straight out of Michael Bay's Transformers movies.. While the color was there, they needed more of it. I'm used to the entire Zord being the color of its Ranger, but that's more of a nostalgic personal gripe as opposed to a general complaint. The Megazord could've used work and a second going-over. As little color as their was on the individual Zords, the Megazord had even less and was far more humanoid that you'd expect. Gone is the blocky costume of the 90's Japanese show. Plus, the Megazord has no face, but a blue surface tha resembles each of the Rangers's chests on their outfits. Plus it has wings...for some reason. It doesn't even assemble in plain sight. Each of the Zords are pushed into a volcanic crack in the ground by "Goldar". Their Zords assemble in a shroud of smoke and fire and only after emerging do you already see the completed Megazord. The key to every Power Ranger episode was the sequence where you watched the Zords combine to form the Megazord. Having a similar sequence in this film would've touched upon the nostalgic nerves of most fans once again, but they chose to ignore it.
Goldar sucked. They took one of the most memorable characters from the show and pretty much changed how the character...is. When Rita's brought back to life, she utters and mutters about how much she likes "gold". She even begins eating jewelry at a jewelry shop and eventually reveals to the audience that she's planning to resurrect her monster 'Goldar'. Goldar in Mighty Morphin Power Rangers was the infamous gryphon monster second-in-command of Rita, who always spoke in a growly voice that is often imitated today comedically. In this movie, Goldar is a mute, walking mass of sludgy-gold mineral that blindly swipes at buildings and later, the Power Rangers. He doesn't growl, nor does he even refer to Rita as "My Empress". Kind of a let down, considering Goldar was supposed to be a force to be reckoned with.
The Rangers don't morph until the third act. You don't get to see this cool, new armor until there's about twenty minutes left in the movie. They don't even stay in the traditional masks for very long. After a minute or two of fighting Putties, they remove the facial features of their masks and walk around like Robert Downey Jr's Iron Man helmet having its face open. They don't even resume covering their faces inside the Zords. I get that you need to show more emotion that way, but the original show got a way with conveying emotion with an emotionless mask on. This is a big-budget Hollywood movie, you're telling me the actors' faces absolutely had to be shown at the sacrifice of making the point of the masks totally mute or even coming remotely close to following the source material? Bullshit, I say!
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| Left: Goldar, Right: Your mom's lemon-scented candle when you leave it in the car |
I'm disappointed not many more of the original 90's characters were incorporated more. We were missing "Ernie's Juice Bar" and its proprietor, Ernie. We were missing fucking Bulk & Skull, the pinnacle characters of the original show, the "bullies" who turned out to be two of the most lovable characters in the show's history, who lasted all the way through Turbo. In terms of Rita's gang, only her and a poorly-constructed carbon-copy of Goldar made it into the new movie. Finster, Rita's monster maker, is entirely absent. The comedy-relief sidekicks Squatt & Baboo are also noticelably omitted, but probably for good reason. The movie could've certainly built a stronger nostalgic connection by bringing in familiar characters, no matter how dumb. They managed to make Rita badass when she was just a poorly-dubbed squawking old woman in the original show, so I figured they could at least do Finster justice.
The mid-credits scene, while a nice treat and a decent tease for the sequel, was entirely predictable. You knew that if there was going to be a sequel, it would definitely center around Tommy as the Green Ranger, or Lord Zedd, or both. Tommy Oliver was teased in the mid-credits scene, right before his tease is derailed by another locker explosion caused by Billy for laughs. Like I said, predictable, and I could've called it a mile away, but satisfying nonetheless.
THE VERDICT
In conclusion, Power Rangers is still pretty great. My personal complaints were mostly because of nostalgic shortcomings as opposed to things that were actually wrong with the movie. While I felt the movie didn't really feel Mighty Morphin enough, it really didn't need to. There's funny scenes, there's charming scenes, there's even a sad scene or two, and you really do build relationships with each of the Rangers and feel for them as they struggle with their hardships and eventual success as superheroes.
The movie can feel at times like it's become trapped in the reigns, like it has to be a run-of-the-mill Marvel movie with manufactured action scenes, but the writers of the movie clearly knew everything about the source material as they still found a way to make it light-hearted and goofy and stray from what's popular nowadays. Power Rangers is not something meant to be adapted as a gritty, two-and-a-half hour, R-rated, adult-oriented, violent-beatdown-fest in order to "modernize" or "market" it better for the movie-going public. Power Rangers was a child-friendly show built to show the advantages of teamwork and making friends with those you'd normally not socialize with. To see past your initial judgment of others and come together despite your doubts. The movie takes the "Saturday morning cartoon" feeling of the show and instead of changing it to feel different, takes that feeling and cranks it up to eleven. This feels just like an episode you'd watch on Saturday morning.
FINAL RATING: 8 out of 10 - Power Rangers may feel weak at times, and may not be quite as nostalgically filling as someone my age would be hoping for, but its mix of family-friendly humor and action make it a good two-hour romp. It salutes the fanbase built by Mighty Morphin Power Rangers back in the day, as well as showcases some new stuff for the fans of today's Rangers. Some lore updates are well-needed, others left you wondering why they went the route they did. All-in-all, it's definitely worth the one-word description of "Morphenomenal".
