Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie

This article is about the 1995 film. For the 2017 film, see Power Rangers (film). For other franchise films, see Power Rangers.
Mighty Morphin Power Rangers:
The Movie

Theatrical release poster
Directed by Bryan Spicer
Produced by Haim Saban
Shuki Levy
Suzanne Todd
Screenplay by Arne Olsen
Story by John Kamps
Arne Olsen
Starring Karan Ashley
Johnny Yong Bosch
Steve Cardenas
Jason David Frank
Amy Jo Johnson
David Yost
Jason Narvy
Paul Schrier
Paul Freeman
Music by Graeme Revell
Cinematography Paul Murphy
Edited by Wayne Wahrman
Production
company
Distributed by 20th Century Fox
Release dates
  • June 30, 1995 (1995-06-30)
Running time
 95 minutes[1]
Country United States
Language English
Budget $15 million
Box office $66.4 million[2]

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie (also known as Power Rangers: The Movie) is a 1995 American superhero film based on the television series Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. It stars the regular television cast of Karan Ashley, Johnny Yong Bosch, Steve Cardenas, Jason David Frank, Amy Jo Johnson, and David Yost. The allies and villains are Australian and English actors. It was produced by Saban Entertainment and Toei Company. Filming took place in both Sydney and Queensland, Australia, and it was released by 20th Century Fox on June 30, 1995. Much like the television season that followed the release, it used concepts from the Japanese Super Sentai Series Ninja Sentai Kakuranger.

The film received a mixed reaction from critics, and grossed $38,187,431 theatrically in the U.S. and $66,433,194 worldwide.[2]

Plot

The Power Rangers Rocky, Adam, Billy, Aisha, Kimberly and Tommy participate with Bulk and Skull in a charity sky dive for the Angel Grove observatory in anticipation of Ryan's Comet, which will pass by in two days. Having waited too long to jump, Bulk and Skull accidentally land in a construction site, where a giant egg is unearthed from a chamber underground. The evil energy alerts Zordon, an interdimensional wizard and the Rangers' mentor, who warns them of Ivan Ooze: a morphological being bent on the conquest of Earth. Zordon sends the Rangers to return the egg to its chamber, unaware that Lord Zedd and Rita Repulsa have already freed Ivan Ooze and ordered him to destroy Zordon. Ivan leaves the Rangers to face his Ooze men while he lays siege to their Command Center and incapacitates Zordon. Meanwhile, the Rangers morph and dispatch the Ooze men before suddenly losing their powers. Making their way to the Command Center, they find it destroyed and Zordon outside of his time warp, now dying from rapid aging.

Zordon's robotic assistant Alpha 5 sends the Rangers to the planet Phaedos in hopes of obtaining the Great Power in order to save Zordon. Ivan usurps Rita and Zedd and traps them in a snowglobe, offering their minions Goldar and Mordant the choice to join him or suffer the same fate. They agree to serve him. Ivan sends a squadron of bird-like Tengu warriors to Phaedos while he hatches a plan to unearth his Ectomorphicon Titans: two massive machines he had constructed for his conquest that were buried near his chamber. He puts his ooze into mass production and, after disguising himself as a carnival wizard, he gives out free jars of it to the city's children, including the Rangers' friend, Fred Kelman. When their parents come into contact with the ooze, it hypnotizes them into becoming Ivan's work force. After Fred discovers his father missing, he finds him and the other parents at the construction site and discovers Ivan's plans.

The Rangers arrive on Phaedos and are almost killed by the Tengu until they are rescued by Dulcea, Phaedos' Master Warrior, who initially tells the Rangers to go back home. When she hears of Zordon's plight, however, she agrees to help them and takes them to a ruined temple. Once there she gives them the power of the Ninjetti, showing them their animal spirits: Rocky is the ape, Adam is the frog, Billy is the wolf, Aisha is the bear, Kimberly is the crane and Tommy is the falcon. She shows them where the monolith housing the Great Power resides, but tells them that their journey has to be without her because if she went beyond the temple, she would age as rapidly as Zordon. As the Rangers quest through the jungle, they encounter an animate dinosaur-like skeleton, which Tommy defeats before they find their way to the temple. Working together, they defeat its four guardians, unlocking the Great Power within to restore their powers.

Back on Earth, construction is completed on the machines and Ivan orders the parents to return to the construction site and leap to their dooms. Fred rushes to the rest of the kids and Bulk and Skull, partying at Ernie's, and tells them of the situation. Together they board the city's monorail and head to the construction site to save their parents. The Rangers return and call on their new Zords. They defeat one of the titans, which enrages Ivan and leads him to merge with the other machine. The Rangers form the Ninja Megazord while Tommy saves the train, whose track was damaged by Ivan. Outmatched, the Ninja Megazord is damaged; Tommy combines his Zord, creating the Ninja Falcon Megazord to fight Ivan. Billy plots a course to outer space intending to lead Ivan into Ryan's Comet. Ivan pins them down, but Aisha causes him to lose his grip and they fly out of the path of destruction. Ivan's destruction breaks his spell on the parents, who come to their senses as their kids, Bulk and Skull keep them from stepping over the cliff as Fred reunites with his father. Returning to the Command Center, the Rangers learn to their sadness that Zordon has died. Using what they learned – that all things are possible – they use the Great Power to restore the Command Center and resurrect Zordon, reuniting with him.

During the following fireworks celebration, the Rangers congratulate Fred for his bravery. When a message thanking the Rangers is lit, Bulk and Skull are offended, although they had a legitimately large part in saving lives.

In a mid-credits scene, Goldar sits on Zedd's throne and calls himself "King Goldar, the ruler of the universe" before Zedd and Rita enter, growling at their turncoat behavior. Goldar and Mordant look at each other and nervously proclaim "Uh-oh!" before the credits continue.

Cast

Music

Adaptations in other media

Release

In its opening weekend, the film earned $13,104,788, coming in fourth behind Apollo 13 and holdovers Pocahontas and Batman Forever.[4] It ultimately grossed $66,433,194 against a $15 million budget, making it a financial success.[2]

Critical reception

The film holds a 50% "Rotten" rating based on 22 reviews on the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, though there is no summarized consensus given for it.[5] Kevin Thomas of the Los Angeles Times thought it was characterized by "a barrage of spectacular special effects, a slew of fantastic monsters, a ferociously funny villain — and, most important, a refreshing lack of pretentiousness." Thomas lauded director Bryan Spicer for raising the quality of production values for a feature film adaptation of the TV series while maintaining a likable "comic-book look and sense of wonder" and wholesome high school characters parents would approve of.[6]

Caryn James of The New York Times thought that story-wise, it resembles multiple episodes of the television series stringed together with slightly better special effects, and that the result was loud, headache-inducing and boring for adults but that children would enjoy it. James further stated that too much of its running time is spent showing the Rangers without their powers.[7] Roger Ebert gave it only half a star out of a possible four stars, saying that it is "as close as you can get to absolute nothing and still have a product to project on the screen," comparing it to synthetic foods in brightly marketed packaging with no nutritional content. He felt that the characters, with the exception of Ivan Ooze, lacked personalities, and that the scenes of monsters rampaging through the city hearkened back to the worst Japanese monster films.[8] Mick LaSalle of the San Francisco Chronicle found the fights "only adequately choreographed," called the battle in the climax "a complete disaster" and stating that it made no sense in timing, that protagonists were not very intelligent, and the actors playing them unremarkable.[9]

Home media

The film was released on VHS and LaserDisc in late 1995 and then on DVD in 2003 by 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment. Bonus features included a theatrical trailer and a "Making Of" featurette. It is sometimes bundled with 1997's Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie as a double feature.

The film, along with Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie, was re-released with different packaging on DVD in 2011.

References

External links

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