I was eleven years old when this second Power Rangers movie came out. I know some fans had gone off the Rangers by the time they were that age, but I didn't mature as fast as them. So, I was still a big fan when this film came out (I was even still a big fan a year later), and remember watching it over and over for a while. Now, believe me, if I didn't see it then, I would NOT have bothered watching it ten years later, but because of the wonderful memories, I decided to do so. Obviously, it wasn't the same.
Divatox, an evil alien pirate, plans to go to the island of Muranthias on Earth, where she intends to release an evil creature named Maligore and marry him. In order to do this, she will need Lerigot, a good wizard, so she plans to have him kidnapped! Fortunately, the wizard manages to escape to Earth, seeking help. Tommy and Katherine go to find him in Africa, and teleport him back to the command centre. However, Lerigot soon decides to surrender after it is learned that Divatox has captured his wife and child! After this, the evil space pirate and her crew head toward the island, and it's obviously up to the Power Rangers to try and stop her, but before they set out, Zordon and Alpha 5 give them new powers called "Turbo powers"!
Where do I start in describing this movie? Well, first of all, there are some pretty poor quality characters. I would say the worst is probably Divatox, who was the Rangers' main enemy in the "Power Rangers Turbo" series. She basically acts like a bratty kid, and it seems her antics are supposed to be funny, but at an adult's perspective, they're quite embarrassing. Hilary Shepard puts on a VERY poor performance in this role! Nobody in the cast is very impressive, but most of them do a better job than her! Another character who brings the movie down in quality a bit is Justin, the new Blue Ranger, who is a lot younger than the rest. He's certainly not the only character with lame lines, but it seems his are often worse than most of the others. None of the characters stand out as really good, but clearly, some do stand out as remarkably bad.
As you can probably tell from the above paragraph, this movie has a poor script, and the acting generally isn't so good. If you're an adult who is at all familiar with Power Rangers, I'm sure none of this surprises you. Now, sometimes when a movie is bad, it can be unintentionally funny. A few months ago, I watched "Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie" (which I had never seen before), and around the beginning, I found that it was mildly amusing, but was disappointed to find that the amusement soon went away. Watching this movie after that one, I was hoping for some more unintentional humour, but didn't really find any of that, apart from the scene where the Power Rangers have just gotten their new Turbo powers, and say things like "This is great!" (with a thumbs up) and "This is awesome!" As a straight male, there's one thing I got out of this movie that I wouldn't have when I was eleven, which was the looks/physique of certain female actors, including Nakia Burrise and Catherine Sutherland who play Tanya and Katherine (the two female Rangers of the time), and I guess even Hilary Shepard who plays the dreadful main villain, but this obviously didn't make the entire film for me.
Now, I must admit that watching "Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie" again after all these years wasn't quite the same as watching "Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie" for the first time earlier this year. It didn't seem QUITE as bad, even though it's generally considered inferior to its predecessor. In fact, call me crazy, but I found that some parts weren't too bad at all, though I wouldn't say I exactly enjoyed the movie. However, I guess the fact that I actually saw it in my childhood is a major part of this, and if I just watched it for the first time, it probably would have been very similar to the experience I had with its predecessor, watching it for the first time way too late. For those who saw this movie in their childhood and are now adults, if you're curious to see what you would think of it now, I wouldn't say that's a bad idea, but not a very good one, either. For everyone else beyond their childhood, I think you know to just stay away. I may look like a fool watching "Turbo" at my age and then writing a long, negative review (after all, it is a kids' movie), but like I said, it wouldn't have happened if I hadn't seen it at a much earlier age.
