POWER RANGERS – A Review by John Strange
Power Rangers is a reboot of the successful Saban Entertainment television show, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, that ran from 1993 until 1999. The story centers around a group of teens from Angel Grove who discover colored crystal tokens in a working gold mine outside their town. The group, all high school students, don't know each other well.
With the tokens or "coins" they find they have abilities they never had before. They can run faster, jump farther, and their strength has increase enormously! Then the kids find the buried ship. It is the ship who brought a team of power rangers to our planet millions of years ago. The team who were aboard the ship lost their lives stopping their arch enemy, Rita Repulsa (Elizabeth Banks), from destroying the world.
Inside the ship we meet Alpha 5 (voiced by Bill Hader), a small odd-looking robot who serves Zordon (Bryan Cranston) the soul (for lack of a better word) of the last Red Ranger who has waited in the ship over the millions of years until the next team of rangers are chosen by the coins.
The new team are Jason the Red Ranger (Dacre Montgomery), Kimberly the Pink Ranger (Naomi Scott), Billy the Blue Ranger (RJ Cyler), Zack the Black Ranger (Ludi Lin), and Trini the Yellow Ranger (Becky G.). Each is unique in their own way. Jason is the jock, Billy is autistic, Kimberly is the disgraced cheerleader, Zack is the loner who is the caretaker of his dying mother, and Trini is a girl who prefers anonymity.
Before they can save the world they first have to figure out how to be Power Rangers. Their struggles are worsened when they find out that Rita Repulsa did not die all of those years ago. The action of this film grows from these loners finding out how to be a team.
The CGI used in the film is very well done. The screenwriter and the writers did a great job of remaining true to the history and storyline that the Power Rangers are based upon. As I watched the film, the young man to my left (and his dad) reacted well as each new aspect of the story appeared on the screen. Sadly, I also had to listen to the two ladies to my right who discussed many of the aspects of the film, way too loudly.
The action is good. The interactions between Zordon and the team (and the team amongst themselves) are well written and realistic. The humor melds well with the story. Bottom line, this film is a fun watch for Power Ranger fans and for those of us who aren't.
Directed by: Dean Israelite
Cast: Dacre Montgomery, Naomi Scott, RJ Cyler, Ludi Lin, Becky G., Elizabeth Banks, Bryan Cranston, Bill Hader, Matt Shively, Cody Kearsley, David Denman, Robert Moloney, Anjali Jay, Sarah Grey, Morgan Taylor Campbell
MPAA Rating: PG-13 (for sequences of sci-fi violence, action and destruction, language, and for some crude humor)
Selig Rating: A
Runtime: 124 Min.
Movie Site: http://www.powerrangers.movie/
The Selig Rating Scale:
A – Excellent movie, well worth the price.
B – Good movie
C – OK movie
D – No need to rush. Save it for a rainy day.
F – Good that I saw it on the big screen but wish I hadn't paid for it.
