BY CARTER AAKHUS

The ‘Power Rangers’ series has been successful for many years with numerous television shows and merchandising popular with young kids. Those TV shows and movies were very cartoonish and ridiculous, while this new film aims to be taken more seriously. While this movie might be higher quality entertainment than the shows were, it lacks in what it should be, which is a light, action-packed adventure.

The story follows 5 teenagers who, while exploring an abandoned gold mine, discover the Power Coins and are given powers in order to fight the former Green Ranger, Rita Repulsa, who has come back to take over the world.

I didn’t have many high hopes for this movie. I enjoyed some of the shows when I was little, but was never a fan of the franchise. After coming out of the screening, I was not exactly impressed.

The trailers and advertisements for this film portray it to be action-packed and visually spectacular, but the final film is definitely not that. The teens don’t suit up until the last 10 minutes of the film. When they do, the action is boring and ridiculous in nature.

What the film spends the majority of its time on is character development. The characters are more interesting in this movie than you would maybe expect, but the acting is not very good and the dialogue that they are given is poor.

The film’s villain is highlighted for me as one of the worst parts of the movie. Rita Repulsa, played by Elizabeth Banks, is over-the-top, cliché, and boring. The entire story goes by without the audience being informed of her motivations or why she is evil.

On a positive note, “Power Rangers” is a movie that you can watch with your friends and make fun of it. It is included on my “so-bad-its-good” movie list. Check it out if you are a fan of the series or looking for laughs that the filmmakers did not intend on creating.