Mighty Morphin Power Rangers Parent Guide

The Power Rangers have probably initiated more discussions about violence on television than has any other program. Entire countries have banned the images of these hyper teenagers from their screens, and in those lands where the program still flows freely, parents often give strict orders to ensure their children are not around the set when Power Rangers are on.

I would encourage parents to watch this movie so they can form their own opinions about The Power Rangers. The thin plot has purple ooze monsters trying to overthrow the world by taking over the minds of parents. The oozies also go after Zordon, the Rangers’ leader, who lives atop a high mountain inside what looks like a big mayonnaise jar. The entire movie has the Rangers fighting one desperate battle after the next, but of course in the end they manage to save their city from doom and destruction.

It’s interesting to compare The Power Rangers to other action movies of late, like Batman Forever. I find a purple ooze monster being crushed against a wall much less violent than watching some poor man being locked in a vat of acid a la Batman Forever, and seeing two robots clash doesn’t bother me nearly as much as watching two humans beat each other. Yes, The Power Rangers are violent, but let’s get our priorities straight. If we are going to pick on The Rangers, we had better include many other movie and television characters that are marketed to this age group.

I won’t let my children watch Power Rangers, Batman, or many of the other “action” movies that are morphing onto home video. There is more than just violence at play here—there is also the overriding lesson that all confrontations can be solved by force, and that enemies are just faceless creatures without names or lives. Finally, the tiresome script of this film could fit on the back of a postcard giving me all the more reason to feel that my children, and probably yours, may have better things to do for 90 minutes.

About author

Rod Gustafson

Rod Gustafson has worked in various media industries since 1977. He founded Parent Previews in 1993, and today continues to write and broadcast the reviews in newspapers, on radio and (of course) on the Internet. His efforts also include writing and researching media in all its forms and observing how it effects society and culture. He and his wife Donna have four children.