Turbo Power Rangers - Il film

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.

This Power Rangers movie is better than the first. It's still bad, BUT at least this goes along with the show. The first movie was bad, mostly due to it not following the show. It was an odd stand alone movie, this movie was the introduction to Turbo Rangers, BUT it also has issues. 1) The Justin character was odd and confused why he was picked as the new blue ranger...2) Lerigot was annoying....3) why get rid of the Zeo Powers which were supposed to only get stronger?? Why the cars?? The action (like the first movie) isn't bad, the issue is the action movie doesn't happen much and the Villain is more annoying than Rita is and she's not scary. Same with Eldgar and the movie paranatrans are far worse. At least they improve in the show.

"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 is a bad movie. Bad as in, it sucks. I'm a Power Rangers fan, even today I watch Power Rangers, but this was bad. Not as bad as the series (Power Rangers Turbo) which permierd a mounth after the movie was in theaters. But The Movie does have it's good points. Like, Jason and Kimberly returning and then turning evil. The big fight sceen at the end. But, I think this series didn't deserve to go to theaters. I think the Power Rangers series with the plots should have went, like Power Rangers In Space, Power Rangers Lost Galaxy, Power Rangers Lightspeed Rescue, Power Rangers Time Force, or even the newest series, Power Rangers Wild Force. Those are the ones that deserve to be in theaters just like the first movie did. Turbo should've been made for TV and not for theaters.

I remember reading the Roger Ebert review for the first Power Rangers movie and above all else he hated the fact that the Rangers were, essentially, color coded clones with only thin streotypes as personalities. Well, I'm dying to know what he thought of this entry. It emphasises Ebert's point in the scene where a little kid who was allowed to stand in for an injured Ranger gets the magic armor on... and in the dissolve, we see him replaced with an adult sized armored stuntperson.

I'm what kids consider a cool adult. I don't hate boy bands, I can name all the Pokemon, and I enjoyed the first season of "Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers" as I'd enjoy an old Godzilla flick. This movie was when I started to get a tad disillusioned with them.