The year is 1995 and one Tokusatsu show rules North America. The Power Rangers. Rangermania didn’t last long (it was eventually usurped but for a few years), but the show was so incredibly popular that shows like Big Bad Beetleborgs, Superhuman Samurai Syber-Squad, and Tattooed Teenage Alien Fighters from Beverly Hills were made. All of these shows, aside from Tattooed Teenage Alien Fighters from Beverly Hills featured Japanese tokusatsu action mixed in with new footage filmed with a cast of American kids. Weirdly enough when The Power Rangers finally hit the big screen the finished product has much more in common with Tattooed Teenage Alien Fighters from Beverly Hills than it does with the trend it started. That’s because Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie was made entirely without any involvement from Toei. Instead, this entire movie was made in Australia and features entirely new designs for the titular Power Rangers.
The film is more useful as a historical landmark than it is as a film. Despite still going on to this day, The Power Rangers would never again have this level of cultural cache. This movie is peak ’90s. A ridiculous movie soundtrack, CG effects that hurt your eyes, extreme sports, and a surprisingly great SNES game.
As an actual film, it will surprise no one to find out that this leaves a lot to be desired. No character has a compelling arc and even as an action film you’re left cold. All that being said it’s hard to not have a great time watching. The main plot is as such: A new villain shows up who is bigger and badder than even Lord Zedd. Named Ivan Ooze he initiates a plot to take over the world and it’s up to the Power Rangers to stop him. During his rampage, he nearly kills Zordon. As such the Rangers need to travel to an alien planet to gain new powers and Zords. Did you know Power Rangers has a cannon? Well, it does and this film doesn’t fit within it. In the show, the Rangers would eventually transition to their new Zords but it has nothing to do with Ivan Ooze. A few years after this movie Saban tried to recapture the glory of this film with the truly awful Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie which was canon to the TV series.
Ivan Ooze is the reason this movie works. Paul Freeman speaks very highly of the film and he clearly had a great time on set. The makeup took 4 hours a day to put on and Freeman had an extremely heavy costume. There’s a story he tells in a behind the scenes documentary by Electronic Nostalgia where he fell in the suit and sprained his ankle. As such Freeman had to be brought to the hospital in the Ivan Ooze makeup which puts him right up there with Hedorah actor Kenpachiro Satsuma who had to have surgery whilst inside of the Hedorah suit. Despite the grueling makeup process and the injuries Freeman really gives it his all. In every scene, Ivan Ooze spouts out the truly ridiculous dialog but he does it with undeniable charm. Somehow this purple Ooze man decrying that he missed the evil that was The Brady Bunch reunion still manages to feel like a threat when he takes over the parents of Angel Grove. It would have been so easy to just phone his performance in. This is a kids movie that no one will take seriously. Despite this Freeman gave it his all and that must be commended. Paul Freeman would have been a great Batman villain if he were ever given the chance.
The biggest issue the film faces is the action set pieces. The sequences where they battle in the construction sites work well, however, the film really spoils the final act by having truly hideous CG Zords. Coming from the television series which had the benefit of Japanese Tokusatsu scenes these sequences just can’t compare. There are a lot of behind the scenes footage featuring some impressive wire work and the actors themselves clearly gave it their all in their fight scenes, so it’s just a shame the finale is such a dud. That being said it’s hard not to laugh at the sequence where the Megazord has a button solely devoted to kicking monsters in the junk and despite being a malleable Ooze monster Ivan still has genitalia that can be affected by said kick.
The other element holding the film back is the redesigns. They state in behind the scenes interviews that the new suits were designed to look like armor but as such, they aren’t able to be fluid and flexible as they were in the tv series. There’s a reason Japan designs their Sentai suits the way they do. Despite being shot and designed in Australia the film feels American. The weird culture clash of clearly Japanese monster designs with the Saved by the Bell tone you get in the original series is lost here. The creatures and suits that do appear are executed well and are fun to see in action but you never get anything quite at the level of a rapping pumpkin or an evil lipstick monster. The Power Rangers are inherently goofy and that’s the fun, which is a little lost in the big screen adaptation. Still, it’s better than what we almost got. The studio originally wanted the Rangers to have their faces visible under the helmet and remove their trademark visors all together. The production designer Colin Gibson, who recently won an academy award for Mad Max: Fury Road, worked on creating some of the effects for the film.
Director Bryan Spicer has mainly worked in TV since directing the film and like the rest of the cast, he speaks highly about his time making the film. When you get a glimpse at how they did some of the stunts, keeping the budget in mind, he deserves props for his directing here. He specifically points out some of the ways he managed to frame his large cast as something he is proud of and if you rewatch the movie paying attention to that he is spot on.
The home media releases of the film are pretty barebones as far as extras go which is unfortunate. However, it is pretty easy to find behind the scenes info for the film on YouTube with documentaries made during the time of production and a new documentary by a Youtube channel named Electronic Nostalgia. If you’re a fan of the film and want to learn more about its production history this is essential viewing as it gathers interviews with the entire cast, including those in the production department. It’s unfortunate that studios don’t shell out money for comprehensive behind the scenes documentaries these days but it is nice to see independent creators taking the reins curating the documentaries themselves.
Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie is a staple of the era in which it was made. It is over the top, however, it is clear there was some love and care put into it behind the scenes. This is what happens when Japanese Tokusatsu is fully remade through a North American lens. A flawed but highly entertaining experience.
