Review: Saban’s Power Rangers

It’s Morphin’ Time!
Saban’s Power Rangers is the modern reboot of the campy 90’s TV show. The film tells the origin story of the Power Rangers. It stars Jason (played by Dacre Montgomery), the classic all-star athlete’ who makes a major mistake with the law. It results in house arrest and detention every Saturday for the rest of his senior year. Jason begins to make some friends in detention and they are given extraordinary superhuman powers to save their city.

I was pleasantly surprised when I saw Saban’s Power Rangers. By the way it was marketed, I thought it was going to be a children's property turned into a horrendous PG-13 reboot (ex. Transformers). But in reality, the film is a fun action flick that was surprisingly entertaining. The acting was also not lousy. I was under the original assumption that Director Dean Israelite, hired cheap no name actors, with little talent. In reality, they seemed to know what they were doing over the majority of the time. These high school heros had a lot to carry because, they honestly aren't the Power Rangers for the majority of the film. They had emotional bonding throughout the feature. It was interesting to see characters who didn't care about each other at first, transform into having a family-like connection. Bryan Cranston was a major highlight in the film as Zordon, the previous Red Ranger. But, the standout by far was Alpha 5 (played by Bill Hader). Hader brought a great amount of light-hearted humor during the film. Also, as a whole, the majority of the comedy worked. During my screening, the jokes had the crowd laughing. Saban’s Power Rangers surprised me, like the 2010 release Kick-A**. They both looked like stupid, over the top, cheesy, superhero flicks. But they ended up working.

Now this film does definitely have it’s stupid and cheesy moments. There were quite a few jokes that just fell flat, as well as, some over the top acting. Ultimately, I think the acting was the director's fault for giving them a bad direction. Also, Elizabeth Banks seemed to be working just for the paycheck, and was definitely not giving her all as Rita Repulsa. Her costume, at points, specifically stood out with a lack in quality, as well as, the Rangers suits. During some of the action scenes, the visual effects would occasionally stand out. With a $100 million budget, that really shouldn't happen.

Over all ,I have to admit I would recommend Saban’s Power Rangers to anyone with low to mid range expectations. It was pleasantly able to keep away from the campiness of the television series but, yet still maintain the same vibe and feel. I am one who did not grow up watching Power Rangers but, I did enjoy this film. It did a great job explaining the lore for those who are unfamiliar with the property. It is great for kids and teens, as well as, fans of the older series!

All this being said, I will give Saban’s Power Rangers a 3/5

What would I have changed? (Spoilers)
Click here to read what I would Change
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Cabell Cabell (Contributor) is a filmmaker from Tampa, Florida. He will watch just about any film but when he's not reviewing the latest hits he spends time directing films of his own.

Comments

Felix Lopez said…
i enjoyed it, being a 90's kid
Sheryl Richardson said…
Fantastic movie I thoroughly enjoyed it brought back moments of my youth when I watched it :)
Andrea Christine Vasquez said…
One of the best movies so far this year! I love the effects and music in the movie!!
Acura Fan said…
Enjoyed the movie lots. Brought back so much memories.
Rc Cintron said…
Excellent movie, the perfect way to reboot a franchise while keeping the flare of the source material
Luis Guillermo Cruz said…
Can't wait to see it
Micheal Rich said…
Great movie! if you haven't watched any of the series you like the story line and the action. I went in with an open mind since I watched the Saban series and original Japanese Super Sentai. I enjoyed it!
joan bush said…
I have not watch this movie yet.. I like the response so far. Will see it at the movie or DVD.
DegrassiEnclave said…
I was surprised that this was so good.
E P said…
This movie was very good, there were some parts where it wowed me
Dawn said…
I really enjoyed the newest Power Rangers movie.
Alexander Tu said…
Morphinominal!
Siegfried Leyh said…
Best movie in 2017 so far
Ariel - Mind on Movies said…
Just an FYI, there is a mid credits scene that you'll enjoy if you saw the older movies/shows
Kristen Daniel said…
I enjoyed it for sure!
Simone Coombs said…
This movie was fun to watch.
Luis Guillermo Cruz said…
A really great movie.
Gwen Manning said…
Power Rangers sounds great! Missed the preview so will add it to my must see list.
JP Mosquera said…
I enjoyed the movie as well. In fact I saw the movie for free. It seemed they were forcing you to watch this movie to compete with Beauty and The Beast, but anyway...

The movie was still fun to watch, the characters were great to see, and the action for intense. I enjoyed the cameos in the end, very nostalgic. I thought Rita Repulsa came out fine.

I dug it and so did my family. 3.5/5
Seattle Dad said…
My 11 year old son and I saw Power Rangers and both really enjoyed the movie.
Stacy D said…
I really enjoyed this movie and I think that RJ Cyler (Blue Ranger) was the standout in this movie!
Cabell - Mind on Movies said…
He was great! Definitely a stand out of the team!
Cabell - Mind on Movies said…
Definitely!
Cabell - Mind on Movies said…
I 100% agree!
Cabell - Mind on Movies said…
Check it out once you get a chance!
Cabell - Mind on Movies said…
I really hope that a sequel is made!
Cabell - Mind on Movies said…
Really?!? That's awesome!
Jordan Richardson said…
The movie had fantastic character driven scenes in the first two acts. Unfortunately, the exaggerated campiness of the last third threw off the rhythm and just didnt mesh well with me. My favorite was the blue ranger, which is ironic, considering how he was the least interesting in the show.
Sean Donastorg said…
Decent movie. Didn't necessarily wow me but it didn't disappoint me either..
Marie said…
I took my 7 year old son and ended up liking it just as much as he did.
Jay K. said…
Looks like an interesting reboot of the Power Rangers movie. Definitely think I will check it out.
Patricia Shea-Samul said…
I watched the original Power Rangers with my son. This movie brought back many good memories of his childhood. I loved the origins story. The campiness of the later part of the movie, while a different tone then the first two thirds of the movie, was more reminescent of the original series.
Roth Sothy said…
Glad to see that the majority of average movie go-ers are enjoying this property. You let out some juicy spoilers in the review there, but for anyone like myself who watched the show when it originally aired, even a bit of the Japanese show it was based on before the American remake, the original '95 movie, and followed news of the new movie, it's pretty much confirms it. Saban's Power Rangers is pretty much the origin story set in modern times. The reason for the cheesiness is likely because it's paying respects to the TV series while amping up for a new big budget full-length feature film.
It's not often we get to see a group of different races on the big screen, regardless the color of our skin, the language we speak. They all learned to work together as a team to save our world. I look forward to how they'll portray the Green Ranger in the sequel.
John Iorio III said…
This movie was a lot better than what i thought it was going to be. Graphics were amazing and cant wait for the sequal.
Aria said…
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Christopher Blanton said…
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Angelo Mercado said…
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