Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie

"Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie" is a film that has to be seen to be disbelieved. The first film, 1995's "Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie", brought the six butt-kicking teens from the Fox Kids series to the big screen for the first time. That movie was not all that bad. It had some decent special effects, a somewhat interesting bad guy (Ivan Ooze), and the six young actors who play the Power Rangers were fun to watch. Plus, that film had a bigger budget. But they went back to the cheapness of the TV show with "Turbo". The special effects, production design, and costumes are so cheap and cheesy that you wonder why 20th Century Fox gave the go-ahead to let these filmmakers (who are close to the TV show) make this film. Also, the script is much worse than it was in the first movie. Bulk and Skull have more screen time here. It has one of the least interesting villains of all time (actually, a villainess). It's very, very, very, very, very, juvenile. And the Power Ranger actors look as if they want to escape this atrosity. So I have one question. Why did they release this movie to theaters? This should have been released straight to video. Or better yet, release it as a TV movie, were this series started in the first place. This movie was totally inappropriate for the big screen.

* (out of four)

This movie starts out with a "martial arts" match between one of the power rangers[out of costume], and some other guy, in which the ranger is thrown from the ring, and hurts his leg or something. So they end up replacing him with his kid brother or something as equally stupid. When he morphs, he puts on the costume, then grows to the size o an adult. Anyway, they get new "zords", which are actually cars. Way to go, robots at least made the show seem cool, now they have cars. They have to rescue some little alien thing, which is the love child of an Ewok and Gizmo from gremlins. Along the way, the new pink ranger twists her ankle or something after falling into the water, and the alien heals her with his glowing finger. No ET rip off there. They take him...somewhere, and then they have this boat. The boat takes them to the island, where the rangers have to fight the old red and pink rangers who are being mind controlled. Did I mention that they have a sub plot going where bulk, skull, Jason and Kim are prisoners of the enemies? Well, yeah, they get mind controlled. During the fight, the big evil thing on the island is released, and the rangers can stop fighting Jason and Kim because the alien used his powers to fix their brains. The rangers go out to fight the big guy, who's being called all powerful, and being completely overhyped. They call out their cars, and start up this 8 minute sequence where the cars drive around, the rangers wave their hands around, and the cars go together to form a giant robot. They then proceed to hit the guy once. Once with the sword. That's all it takes, and he blows up. I sat through that whole movie, and that's the end? They kill him in one hit? The fight was shorter than the robot forming sequence. There is no excuse for that.

I was eleven years old when this second Power Rangers movie came out. I know some fans had gone off the Rangers by the time they were that age, but I didn't mature as fast as them. So, I was still a big fan when this film came out (I was even still a big fan a year later), and remember watching it over and over for a while. Now, believe me, if I didn't see it then, I would NOT have bothered watching it ten years later, but because of the wonderful memories, I decided to do so. Obviously, it wasn't the same.

Divatox, an evil alien pirate, plans to go to the island of Muranthias on Earth, where she intends to release an evil creature named Maligore and marry him. In order to do this, she will need Lerigot, a good wizard, so she plans to have him kidnapped! Fortunately, the wizard manages to escape to Earth, seeking help. Tommy and Katherine go to find him in Africa, and teleport him back to the command centre. However, Lerigot soon decides to surrender after it is learned that Divatox has captured his wife and child! After this, the evil space pirate and her crew head toward the island, and it's obviously up to the Power Rangers to try and stop her, but before they set out, Zordon and Alpha 5 give them new powers called "Turbo powers"!

Where do I start in describing this movie? Well, first of all, there are some pretty poor quality characters. I would say the worst is probably Divatox, who was the Rangers' main enemy in the "Power Rangers Turbo" series. She basically acts like a bratty kid, and it seems her antics are supposed to be funny, but at an adult's perspective, they're quite embarrassing. Hilary Shepard puts on a VERY poor performance in this role! Nobody in the cast is very impressive, but most of them do a better job than her! Another character who brings the movie down in quality a bit is Justin, the new Blue Ranger, who is a lot younger than the rest. He's certainly not the only character with lame lines, but it seems his are often worse than most of the others. None of the characters stand out as really good, but clearly, some do stand out as remarkably bad.

As you can probably tell from the above paragraph, this movie has a poor script, and the acting generally isn't so good. If you're an adult who is at all familiar with Power Rangers, I'm sure none of this surprises you. Now, sometimes when a movie is bad, it can be unintentionally funny. A few months ago, I watched "Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie" (which I had never seen before), and around the beginning, I found that it was mildly amusing, but was disappointed to find that the amusement soon went away. Watching this movie after that one, I was hoping for some more unintentional humour, but didn't really find any of that, apart from the scene where the Power Rangers have just gotten their new Turbo powers, and say things like "This is great!" (with a thumbs up) and "This is awesome!" As a straight male, there's one thing I got out of this movie that I wouldn't have when I was eleven, which was the looks/physique of certain female actors, including Nakia Burrise and Catherine Sutherland who play Tanya and Katherine (the two female Rangers of the time), and I guess even Hilary Shepard who plays the dreadful main villain, but this obviously didn't make the entire film for me.

Now, I must admit that watching "Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie" again after all these years wasn't quite the same as watching "Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie" for the first time earlier this year. It didn't seem QUITE as bad, even though it's generally considered inferior to its predecessor. In fact, call me crazy, but I found that some parts weren't too bad at all, though I wouldn't say I exactly enjoyed the movie. However, I guess the fact that I actually saw it in my childhood is a major part of this, and if I just watched it for the first time, it probably would have been very similar to the experience I had with its predecessor, watching it for the first time way too late. For those who saw this movie in their childhood and are now adults, if you're curious to see what you would think of it now, I wouldn't say that's a bad idea, but not a very good one, either. For everyone else beyond their childhood, I think you know to just stay away. I may look like a fool watching "Turbo" at my age and then writing a long, negative review (after all, it is a kids' movie), but like I said, it wouldn't have happened if I hadn't seen it at a much earlier age.

I was browsing the worst 100 films of all time here on the IMDB, and came across this one. While, from an adult point of view, I agree with all who don't like the film at all, I think it's a little unfair because we are, after all, not the target audience. My son is 8 years old and he absolutely loves it. I feel sure that if there was a poll conducted of, say, six to twelve year olds, this one would be in their top 100! Oh dear! That was all I wanted to say, but the rules appear to insist that I provide ten lines. Right, that appears to be nine, (ignore this, it displays differently when you're typing it in) so I'll just extend it a little bit more............... OK that should be ten! No - They don't like that either so - What is an Egyptian King's favourite chocolate? Pharaoh Rocher. (Ben, aged 8).

This is not exactly a sequel from "Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers: The Movie" from 1995 'cause it doesn't follow the events that took place on the film, this is more like a 90 min. long episode to start the 5th season of the series (The Turbo era). In fact, if you don't see this film and see the rest of the season you wouldn't be able to figure out how everything started.

I don't hate the movie that much, I just hate the fact that it is a movie. This is, like I said, more like a 90 min. long episode. The movie could have easily been left out and make the storyline a III parts episode. Unlike the first film, this movie follows the rest of the series, it is set in the same universe with the same people, with the same sets, with the same suits...(Unlike the first film in which everything was different).

Personally I highly recommend this film ONLY and EXCLUSIVELY to Power Rangers' followers, NOT to the general audience.