Let me start by saying that I never thought that I would willingly go to see a movie about the Power Rangers. I have no connection to the characters and while I can appreciate how much they meant to an entire generation of kids, I was not part of that generation.
By the time the Power Rangers debuted in 1993, I was well into the pre-teen habit of plastering similarly aged TV and movie stars on my wall. I had a type. I'd still have Jonathan Brandis's babies if he were still alive today. Anyway… Other than the fact that they exist, I have no base of information of the Power Rangers. I know they wear different color suits and fight evil. That's about the gist of it. Right? This movie was an origin story for the Power Rangers. Five kids accidentally become the new team. They push themselves and each other to train in order to stop Rita Repulsa from destroying the world and their small town too. That's it, that's the plot. Considering that they have to do an entire origin story for each of the Rangers, Zordon, Rita, and everything? I'd say they did pretty well. I will admit to having been impressed. Maybe I was impressed because I expected it to be absolute crap. It really wasn't all that bad. The acting was passable considering the dialogue they were given, the action sequences were visible, something that some of the bigger budget films struggle with. There was a fair amount of comedy and pulling at the heart strings. I really only have a couple of critiques. Elizabeth Banks was completely underutilized here. The few actual lines she was given were completely dull and practically lifeless. She did seem to be having fun as the villain though. I know it dates back to the original show, but just the name Rita Repulsa itself is kind of lame. The other is that the casting of Jason with the Zac Efron look-a-like was completely distracting. All I wanted to do is pull out my phone see if this guy was Efron's cousin. Lastly, they say the character name of "Billy" an extraordinary amount. It was a lot. Seriously. Overall, I was more impressed than I thought I would be. I didn't leave the theater feeling as though I had wasted my money. The joke at the very beginning of the money may have been worth the price of admission.
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