Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie
| Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Bryan Spicer |
| Produced by | |
| Screenplay by | Arne Olsen |
| Story by |
|
| Starring | |
| Music by | Graeme Revell |
| Cinematography | Paul Murphy |
| Edited by | Wayne Wahrman |
Production company | |
| Distributed by | 20th Century Fox |
Release date |
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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 ensemble cast of Karan Ashley, Johnny Yong Bosch, Steve Cardenas, Jason David Frank, Amy Jo Johnson, and David Yost alongside the villains cast from the original series and Paul Freeman as Ivan Ooze. Much like the television season that followed the release, it used concepts from the Japanese Super Sentai series Kyoryu Sentai Zyuranger, and Ninja Sentai Kakuranger. It is the first Power Rangers production from Saban Entertainment not to feature any archived footage from Super Sentai.
Filming took place in and around Sydney and Queensland, Australia. It was released by 20th Century Fox on June 30, 1995. The film grossed $66.43 million worldwide,[2] but received middling and polarizing reviews from critics.
Plot
The Power Rangers participate with Bulk and Skull in a charity skydive for the Angel Grove observatory, in anticipation of Ryan's Comet which is scheduled to pass by in two days.
Bulk and Skull miss the target landing zone and accidentally land in a construction site where a giant egg has been unearthed. Lord Zedd, Rita Repulsa, Goldar, and Mordant arrive at the construction site and crack open the egg, releasing Ivan Ooze after 6,000 years, a morphological being who ruled Earth with an iron fist before he was overthrown by Zordon and a group of young warriors. Ivan lays siege to the Rangers' Command Center and incapacitates Zordon, robbing the Rangers of their powers. As the Rangers return to the Command Center, they find it destroyed and Zordon dying.
Zordon's assistant Alpha 5 sends the Rangers to the distant planet Phaedos to obtain the Great Power and save Zordon. On the Moon, Ivan usurps Rita and Zedd, trapping them in a snow globe, then sends his Tengu warriors to Phaedos and begins building an army. He uses children to bring his ooze to their parents, and it hypnotizes them into becoming his workforce to dig up his Ecto-Morphicon Titans, twin war machines built during his reign. When Fred Kelman, a friend of the Rangers', discovers his father missing, he finds him working at the construction site and discovers Ivan's plans.
On Phaedos, the Rangers are almost killed by the Tengu, but are rescued by Dulcea, Phaedos' Master Warrior. She initially tells them to leave for their own safety, but after hearing of Zordon's plight, she agrees to help them and takes them to an ancient ruined temple where the Rangers will have to overcome obstacles to acquire the power of the Ninjetti. Dulcea awakens each Rangers' animal spirit: Aisha is the bear, Rocky is the ape, Billy is the wolf, Kimberly is the crane, Adam is the frog and Tommy is the falcon. The Rangers make their way to the Monolith housing the Great Power, defeating its guardians, and retrieve the Great Power.
On Earth, Ivan's Ecto-Morphicons are completely unearthed, and he unleashes them on Angel Grove, ordering the parents to commit suicide at the construction site. Fred, Bulk, Skull and the other kids head to the construction site to save their parents. The Rangers return with their new animal-themed Ninja Zords and destroy one of Ivan's Ecto-Morphicons. Ivan takes control of the other and battles the Rangers himself. The Rangers lead Ivan into space right into the path of Ryan's Comet, which destroys him. His destruction breaks the hypnosis and the parents are reunited with their children. The Rangers then use the Great Power to restore the Command Center and resurrect Zordon.
In a mid-credits scene, Goldar briefly lounges in Zedd's throne being served by Mordant only to panic when Zedd and Rita appear having been released after Ivan was destroyed.
Cast
- Karan Ashley as Aisha Campbell, The Yellow Ranger
- Johnny Yong Bosch as Adam Park, The Black Ranger
- Steve Cardenas as Rocky DeSantos, The Red Ranger
- Jason David Frank as Tommy Oliver, The White Ranger
- Amy Jo Johnson as Kimberly Hart, The Pink Ranger
- David Yost as Billy Cranston, The Blue Ranger
- Paul Schrier as Farkas "Bulk" Bulkmeier
- Jason Narvy as Eugene "Skull" Skullovitch
- Paul Freeman as Ivan Ooze[3]
- Gabrielle Fitzpatrick as Dulcea
- Nicholas Bell as Zordon
- Peta-Maree Rixon as Alpha 5
- Jean Paul Bell as Mordant
- Kerry Casey as Goldar
- Mark Ginther as Lord Zedd
- Julia Cortez as Rita Repulsa
- Jamie Croft as Fred Kelman
- Paul Goddard and Robert Simper as Construction workers
Voices
- Kerrigan Mahan as Goldar
- Robert L. Manahan as Zordon
- Robert Axelrod as Lord Zedd
- Barbara Goodson as Rita Repulsa
- Richard Wood as Alpha 5
- Martin G. Metcalf as Mordant
Music
Adaptations in other media
- Four different video game titles based on the film were released for the Super NES, Sega Genesis, Game Boy, and Game Gear.
- Marvel Comics released a comic book adaptation and a photo comic book adaptation of the film in September 1995. The comic book was printed with two different covers: one featuring fully morphed Rangers and the other featuring them in their Ninjetti uniforms.
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 40% "Rotten" rating with a 4.5 average score based on 35 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 as a double feature with 1997's Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie on a double-sided DVD in 2001 by 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment. Bonus features included a theatrical trailer and a "Making Of" featurette. The film was then released separately on a single-sided DVD in 2003.
The film was re-released with different packaging on DVD in 2011. The film was then re-released in 2013 The film was then re-released in 2017 in a bundled set with Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie (this time as two single-sided DVD discs) to coincide with the reboot film Power Rangers.
On May 9, 2018, it was announced that Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie would be released on Blu-ray for the first time by Shout! Factory as an extra disc included in their 25th anniversary DVD steelbook box set of the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers TV series.[10]
References
- ↑ "MIGHTY MORPHIN POWER RANGERS (PG) (!)". British Board of Film Classification. 1995-07-11. Retrieved 2013-03-19.
- 1 2 3 Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie at Box Office Mojo
- ↑ Gritten, David (1995-06-28). "Oberon to Ooze--It's All in a Day's Work". The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2010-08-22.
- ↑ Dutka, Elaine (1995-07-06). "The Sky's the Limit at Box Office Movies: A total of about $154 million in receipts sets a five-day record. `Apollo 13' is atop the field with $38.5 million". The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2010-10-30.
- ↑ "Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie (1995)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved October 2, 2018.
- ↑ Thomas, Kevin (1995-06-30). "A Dazzling Leap From TV to Big Screen for 'Rangers'". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2010-08-22.
- ↑ James, Caryn (1995-06-30). "FILM REVIEW; For Power Rangers, Bikinis Are Not The Issue". The New York Times. Retrieved 2010-08-07.
- ↑ "Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie". RogerEbert.com. June 30, 1995. Retrieved 2010-08-07.
- ↑ Lasalle, Mick (1995-06-30). "Mighty Mindless 'Rangers'". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved 2010-08-25.
- ↑ "Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Complete Series [25th Anniversary Limited Steelbook Edition] + Exclusive Lithograph". Shout! Factory. 2018-08-07. Retrieved May 16, 2018.