Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie (1995) – A Nostalgic Mess or 90s Trash?

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie

Directed by: Brian Spicer

Written by: Arne Olson

Starring: Amy Jo Johnson, Karan Ashley, Jason David Frank

Release Date: June 30th, 1995

Star Rating: ★½☆☆☆

A Movie Made to Sell Toys… and Not Much Else

Is there a reason to revisit Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie nearly 30 years later, beyond shamelessly promoting the I Hate Critics Movie Review Podcast? Not really.

This 1995 live-action adaptation of the popular children’s TV show isn’t a film so much as it is an extended commercial—created to promote a franchise, peddle merchandise, and capitalize on kids’ love of colorful martial arts and rubber-suited monsters.

Yet, somehow, this strange and wildly inept film has become a time capsule of 1990s marketing excess, wrapped in spandex and sprinkled with ooze.

Power Rangers 101: Frankensteining a Franchise

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers began when producer Haim Saban bought the rights to a Japanese show and spliced it together with footage of American teens pretending to be action heroes. The result was a bizarre hybrid that leaned into its campy, low-budget charm—and kids loved it.

The show knew what it was. The movie, unfortunately, does not.

The Plot? If You Can Call It That…

The villain is Ivan Ooze (Paul Freeman), a goo-based menace who easily destroys Zordon—our disembodied mentor-in-a-tube—and disables the Rangers. Left powerless, the team travels to an alien planet to retrieve some nebulous energy source while exchanging cringe-inducing dialogue and bumbling through choreographed fights.

By the time they return to Earth with their new powers, they’re still losing every battle they enter—this time in CGI mech suits that look like rejected PlayStation cutscenes. The climactic fight? A mess of pixelated chaos where even the lead Ranger, Tommy, is taken out in seconds. The girls, Kimberly and Aisha, fare even worse—scripted into helplessness at nearly every turn.

None of this is the fault of the actors. Amy Jo Johnson and Karan Ashley do what they can. But the film’s failure lies entirely with director Bryan Spicer and writer Arne Olson, who mistakenly treat the material with misplaced seriousness instead of the tongue-in-cheek fun that made the show work.

When Camp Fails and Nostalgia Feels Cheap

What could’ve been a self-aware, energetic love letter to fans instead plays like a half-hearted cash grab. There’s no heart here—just a soulless attempt to sell action figures and slapdash effects. It’s a bleak reminder that not every piece of childhood nostalgia deserves a movie adaptation.

Even so, there’s a strange charm to the film’s failure. It’s a cultural artifact of a more innocent time—when all a movie needed to succeed was some karate, some slime, and a Saturday morning TV slot.

Final Thoughts

I’m not here to insult Power Rangers fans. In fact, I admire the passion and loyalty that fans brought to the series. This film, however, didn’t earn that love. It coasted on brand recognition, delivered the bare minimum, and trusted that kids wouldn’t notice. Many didn’t—but watching it now, the cracks are too large to ignore.

If you’re nostalgic for 90s weirdness or curious how far a franchise can go on brand power alone, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie is worth a cringe-filled revisit.

Want More?

We’re talking Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie in depth on the next episode of the I Hate Critics Movie Review Podcast. Join us as we break down this ’90s time capsule, dissect its many failures, and try to figure out if there’s anything—anything at all—that actually works.

Listen wherever you get your podcasts and follow along at IHateCritics.net

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