Guilty Pleasures #41 - Saban's Power Rangers

We’re on a kick with Power Rangers, aren’t we? And this is what it’s been building towards.

There’s been an odd trend that of Hollywood trying to make uber-serious versions of otherwise silly franchises. The worst of these was Fant4stic which managed to be dark, boring, completely non-nonsensical and somehow dumber than the movies it was supposed be more serious than.

But the truth is, there’s nothing wrong with a light-hearted tone, as long as the serious moments are taken seriously. A good example of this done effectively is Spider-man Homecoming, which I will probably get to next year. Although most of the Marvel movies are a good example of how to do this right.

Here’s the thing though. Power Rangers, in spite of some serious ideas, is an inherently silly show. Especially during the Mighty Morphin Era which this movie is attempting to re-tell. Whilst I can at least understand the potential of a dark Fantastic 4 (that doesn’t mean I think it’s a good idea) I don’t really see what can be accomplished with doing the same to Power Rangers.

But here we are, and it’s another of 2017’s franchise ‘failures?’, boy there’ve been a few of those this year. It made only $142m on a $100m budget. Factoring in marketing and theatre cuts that’s a net loss for the studio. Fortunately, the one thing Power Rangers is usually good at is selling toys and it’s no exception here, it’s also apparently made a decent amount in DVD sales. I don’t see a sequel as likely but it’s apparently not beyond the realm of plausibility, unlike *cough*Fant4stic*cough*

But that said, Power Rangers struck an interesting chord with me, I actually kinda liked it, and I’m far from alone, this has a 45% Rotten Tomatoes rating which, whilst far from good, indicates at least mixed reception. So here is my take on the movie.

Mini Review - Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie

Here’s the second of the Power Rangers cinematic outings. But unlike the first one, this is canon to the TV show, essentially a cinematic 3-part opener to the new Power Rangers Turbo series, following on from Power Rangers Zeo. At the end of Zeo Lord Zed and Rita Repulsa had destroyed the Machine Empire and promised a comeback, but we’re not getting that here.

So, this movie holds an abysmal 13% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and is hated by fans and critics alike. So, why is this so revered? Here’s my take on the movie.

Mini Review - Power Rangers: The Movie

Owing to a busy week, I haven't had time to form my Editorial on Voltron s3, so here's my review of Power Rangers instead

For all my love of action, I’ve never really gotten into Power Rangers. I was a bit young to get into it during the Mighty Morphin era (I was less than a year old) and whilst I did occasionally see ads for its subsequent, I never really thought about watching it. I’ve since caught a couple of episodes just for research and because I was bored. They’re OK, nothing more than OK.

But the ideas are what intrigue me, incorporating footage from a Japanese show called Super Sentai to drive costs down is a good idea, combined with innovative toy designs has kept Power Rangers afloat for 25 years. But what happens when you take away that element. You get the Power Rangers movies.

I’ll eventually be talking about the 2017 movie, but I felt obligated to do some preliminary reviews so I’ll be doing the first 2 outings first. First off is Power Rangers: The Movie. Released in 1995 on a $15m budget it made back $66m, making it financial success. Critically its reception is more mixed with only a 41% Rotten Tomatoes rating.