Power Rangers (2017) Parent Guide

If you’re considering taking your kids to this big-screen reboot of Power Rangers, there’s a good chance you recall the television series from two decades earlier. Well, stop right there and understand these aren’t the mighty morphers of your childhood. Like so many franchises brought from the sunlit family room into the dark cinematic realm, you’ll quickly discover the biggest mission of the 2017 Rangers is to represent the gritty life of teenagerdom.

Moments after meeting Jason (Darce Montgomery), our lead guy and soon-to-be Red Ranger, we are treated to a tasteless joke about “milking” a bull that is being dragged into a competing high school’s locker room. (“I thought it was an udder!”) From there we work our way into issues of parental neglect, trespassing, stealing, reckless driving, bullying and (following the example set in the 2017 Beauty and the Beast) questioning of sexual-identity.

If, after reading that, you’re still game for the two-hour-plus tedium of this origin story, here’s the basic plot setup: Our first three Rangers meet in detention class. After the bovine incident, Jason is no longer the school’s star football player. Walking into the Saturday holding pen, he immediately takes care of a bully who’s harassing Billy (RJ Cyler), the future Blue Ranger. Kimberly (Naomi Scott), another troubled teen, notices the heroic effort and a trio is formed. And yes, she will be the Pink Ranger.

An evening runaway trip to a goldmine outside their small town of Angle Grove (thanks to a stolen family vehicle) unleashes an avalanche of coincidences. The ever-talented Billy, who earlier showed how he could hack Jason’s house arrest anklet, turns out to have pyrotechnic skills too. While he’s busy setting off explosives that reveal a mysterious glass-like wall that encases five glowing round stones, we meet the final two contestants. Yellow and Black Rangers, Trini and Zack (Becky G. and Ludi Lin) also happen to be in the mood for an evening adventure at the mine. It seems they have been brought together by a mysterious force that desires they discover the color-coded “coins” that will unleash their special powers.

From there we are led down a twisty plot path that involves a buried alien spaceship. Onboard are an instructive android (voice of Bill Hader) and a mentor called Zordon (voice of Brian Cranston) who has been turned into pixelated wallpaper by the prehistoric villainess Rita Repulsa (Elizabeth Banks). Her name reflects both her sadistic personality and the scanty green and gold outfit she struts around in could easily have been worn on Star Trek by one of Captain Kirk’s other worldly seductresses.

Much like adding a multivitamin to breakfast cereal, there’s an overwrought message of teamwork mixed into this mess of adolescent sawdust. Before the Rangers can morph into their colorful protective suits and stop Rita’s plans for world annihilation, they must first demonstrate their love and concern for each other. For some bizarre reason, the quest for these abilities requires frequent fights with rock monsters. And because they have no armor, the trainees sustain numerous injuries while being tossed about and against all manner of immovable objects. The action turns more life-threatening after they meet the evil gold-obsessed woman who delights in killing (deaths by beating, exploding and turning humans into dust are implied and depicted) and drowns a bound character by dropping him off a boat dock.

By the time you slog through this content, which swings uncomfortably between corny and disturbing, you may be yearning for some closing credits. However, if you’ve seen other superhero origin stories, you know that the lengthy introductions are always followed by a battle. In Power Rangers, this isn’t just a simple skirmish, but an all-out, town-destroying slug-fest that pits Rita against our newly minted Ranger team. Assuming you upsized your concessions, this experience will be a test of both patience and bladder capacity.

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.