3/26/17

As a kid, I've always loved the Power Rangers. I remember watching the series on TV after eating dinner every night on the local channel. It's the story of five teenagers who battle different villains out to destroy the world and cause chaos.

I remember when the first movie came out in 1995, I was too young to watch the movie based on the PG-13 rating so my parents had to make me lie just so I could enter the movie theaters.

It's now 2017 and a new movie was recently released introducing these classic characters to the audience once more. The production of this movie was announced beforehand and it had a nostalgic hit on me which made me anticipate for the movie to come out. As updates and developments about casting and storylines came out, I got more excited. 

I made sure to watch it on the first week of its release as I didn't want anyone to spoil it for me. Prior to watching the movie, I tried to avoid reading reviews, but I did hear that it received generally mixed reviews.

The movie opens right away with some brief background of the original Power Rangers and its villain, the famous Rita Repulsa, who is known to be their number one enemy even in the original series. Played by Elizabeth Banks, I could already tell that Rita was going to be a real sinister this time around.

We're introduced to the main cast who will make up the Power Rangers. Jason, the Red Ranger who will become the leader of the Rangers, is portrayed as a typical careless jock who gets in trouble with the police right away. Kimberly, the Pink Ranger, is a hot young lady who is shown to have conflict with her circle of friends regarding her love life and keeps a dark secret. Unlike the original series, Billy, the Blue Ranger, is a black guy, but he is also a nerd and has a knack for discovering new things and being a bit OC. Meanwhile, Zack, the black Ranger, is an Asian teenager who is shown as a happy-go-lucky teenager who is also serious at home as he takes care of his sick mother. Trini, the Yellow Ranger, is a mysterious new girl in school and is a tough chick who is later revealed to be a member of the LGBT.

Upon getting involved in an incident and being chosen as the new set of Power Rangers, together, they must make a stand and fight the evil forces lead by Rita Repulsa who came back to regain power.

These changes in casting is an obvious attempt to show diversity to the modern movie audience and it works. However, some storylines and plot twists make this movie less impressive than I would hope for. Some scenes were not delivered convincingly, probably due to lack of acting experience for the majority of the cast. I appreciate the attempt to give each Ranger a backstory even if some of them were not believable and some of the storylines weren't followed through. For one, Jason was supposed to be under house arrest for an early mischief he caused. Billy was able to tweak his device which alarms if Jason isn't at home at a certain time and allowed Jason to be away from his house without notifying authorities. It's believable at first but not that much if he could do it everyday without anyone from home being able to notice that he is away. Kimberly's secret reveal wasn't as dark as they portrayed it to be. 

Fans will certainly love the nostalgia factor upon seeing the zords which were incorporated in the movie as well as the original theme song which was also used, albeit being in low audio quality.

There were also some changes made to the character of Goldar, originally Rita Repulsa's sidekick in the original series, which may surprise the fans. It is also great to see some of the old characters such as Zordon and Alpha. 

Despite some plot holes, the fighting scenes and character development is certainly something to watch out for in this movie. If you stick around for the mid-credit scenes, you'll witness a scene that might excite you for another Power Rangers movie!