I don’t think I’ll ever look at “Mighty Morphin Power Rangers” the same way after seeing the new movie.
Adaptations of older films or other entertainment properties will always be an interesting and infuriating topic.
Over the past decade, and especially in recent years, the film industry has been going to reboots of old movies and adaptations of other media properties more than thinking up original concepts. This is a much safer business practice because it’s easier to write a script for an existing product and it already has name recognition, however, this will always open the door for hardcore fanboys who want to crash the party over any small detail missed or altered.
This year, there have already been 10 movies released that are adaptations of existing properties. As the year goes on there’s only going to be a crap-ton more, according to listings from moviefone.com.
I can’t help but feel this is completely unnecessary and absolutely intriguing at the same time.
I’m just as tired of Hollywood churning out unoriginal craps one after another as the next guy or girl. I also think film adaptations open the door for some amazingly fresh changes to any stagnating franchise.
On March 24 Lionsgate released “Power Rangers” a modern reimagining of the 1990’s TV show “Mighty Morphin Power Rangers” and was immediately panned by critics only earning a 48 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
Critics from Rotten Tomatoes say “Power Rangers has neither the campy fun of its TV predecessor nor the blockbuster action of its cinematic superhero competitors, and sadly never quite manages to shift into turbo for some good old-fashioned morphin time.”
Why do either of those things matter?
Yes, the new movie doesn’t have much fun, it takes itself and its characters quite seriously, but for the tone the film was trying to set combined with the unique character backstories cutting out the goofy nonsense of the 90’s show was a near necessity.
As for blockbuster action, there isn’t too much of that either despite how the film is clearly trying to compete with the other big superhero movies.
However, instead of being a superhero movie that tries to impress you with it’s “amazing” cinematics, “Power Rangers” takes most of its screen time to build its characters and the relationships between the team. Relatable and interesting characters tie a good story together much more than nice visuals.
According to Forbes.com, “Power Rangers” dropped in box office sales by 64 percent, from $40 million on opening weekend to $14.5 million in week two. This is saddening to me because it just shows nostalgia now rules the film industry.
The quote from Rotten Tomatoes is a good example of this, when it says it doesn’t have the campy fun of its TV predecessor, I ask why is this important? Yeah, of course it’s not exactly the same that’s why it’s called an adaptation.
The 90’s Power Rangers still exist, making a new movie doesn’t pop the old show out of existence. The point of adaptations is to tell a different story, to bring a new perspective to the old story. Remember, whenever Hollywood tries to shoehorn some old thing into the spotlight with a new look that the old thing is still real and nothing will change that.
