Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie

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 on 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 Earth, Ivan usurps Rita and Zedd, trapping them in a snow globe. Ivan sends his Tengu warriors to Phaedos and begins building an army. He uses his ooze to hypnotize the adults, forcing them to be 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. 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, Billy is the wolf, Rocky is the ape, Kimberly is the crane, Tommy is the falcon, and Adam is the frog. The Rangers make their way to the Monolith housing the Great Power, defeat its four 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 other students 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

Voices

Adaptations in other media

Release

In its opening weekend, the film earned $13,104,788, coming in fourth behind Apollo 13 and holdovers Pocahontas and Batman Forever. It ultimately grossed $66,433,194 against a $15 million budget, making it a financial success.

Critical reception

The film holds a 41% "Rotten" rating based on 34 reviews on the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, though there is no summarized consensus given for it. 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.

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. 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. 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.

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 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 movie Power Rangers.