A particularly faithful big-screen debut for the TV kids show, which retains the hyperactive, rubber-suit-wearing craziness of its Japanese origins, only now with certain upgrades. The increased budget means the old campy Japanese archive footage has been replaced by big CGI transformer battles and bands like Red Hot Chili Peppers on the soundtrack. But it’s still the same old shtick, and a total sugar rush for young fans. There is a prologue scroll at the start which acts as a brief guide for any parents who might be watching before essentially launching into an extended episode of the show, with the Power Rangers forced to defend Angel Grove from a 2,000 year-old purple ooze monster called Ivan Ooze who plans to enslave the planet. To add further jeopardy, they lose their powers when their floating headmaster Zordon is overthrown by Ivan, causing their trusty robot friend Alpha 5 to send the Rangers to the planet Phaedos to reclaim their awesomeness. It’s here where they meet a Xena-like warrior princess in completely inappropriate clothing who sends them on a quest to find their Ninjeti animal spirits but sadly not their personalities. On their way, some dinosaur skeletons come to life and attack them because, well, why not? Some of the fight choreography nods to the Hong Kong style, with a few Jackie Chan tricks and wire fu references like Wong Fei-hung’s ‘no-shadow kick’. We’re not remotely in the same league as those references, but the action is occasionally well observed, if completely innocuous. The film won’t win over any new fans, but it won’t lose any either.

AKA: Power Rangers: The Movie.