In a media environment where seemingly everything is getting rebooted and remade, it might be easy to overlook the new take on Power Rangers. But, against all odds, the new Power Rangers film is actually really good.

The story is essentially a reimagining of the first arc of the original Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers: Rita Repulsa has returned to conquer Earth by summoning Goldar and unearthing the Zeo Crystal that lies dormant beneath the surface. With the Zeo Crystal, Rita would have the power to create and destroy all life. It’s up to a new team of Power Rangers – five teenagers (with attitude) – to put a stop to her and save both Angel Grove and the world at large.

There’s a couple of twists thrown in there, though, the main one being Rita’s origin story. While in the original series she was a powerful alien sorceress, in the new film she has a different origin, that is still tied to the series and introduces another Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers element to the movie.

I honestly love the new Rangers. And what I thought would be a relatively campy reboot of the franchise turned out to be somewhat of a Breakfast Club-ish character study of the five teens. You’ve got Jason Scott (Dacre Montgomery), who struggles with not living up to his father’s expectations and then with the fact that he has to lead his team to victory or potentially watch the world end. Kimberly Hart (Naomi Scott) has to live with the consequences of some short-sighted actions that greatly impacted her close friends. Trini Kwan (Becky G) butts heads with her family over what it means to be “normal” – and is also struggling with her identity as a queer person. Zack Taylor (Ludi Lin) takes on the responsibility of caring for his ill mother as best as he can, but still desires to escape that life. And then you have Billy Cranston (R.J. Cyler), who was honestly my favorite and probably has the most standout performance. Easily the heart and soul of the team, Billy has all of the struggles of many autistic teenagers in high school regarding bullies and other people simply not understanding him.

It’s really great to have a team of superheroes be as remarkably diverse as the new Rangers are, as well. Representation is important, and having queer and autistic superheroes in a major big budget blockbuster film is spectacular.

All of the acting was really good, and the supporting cast was great. You have Bill Hader as Alpha-5, who manages to be just sassy enough without it ever being too much or out of place for the scene. Bryan Cranston is both the voice and motion capture of Zordon, and he exudes a sense of authority that I don’t think the original Zordon ever had. And then there’s Elizabeth Banks as Rita, who really nailed it. She was remarkably creepy while still having a kind of dangerous sex appeal that made her an honestly terrifying villain.

The tone of Power Rangers is right in the sweet spot where a ‘90s reboot needs to be – not too serious and not too terribly campy, either. It has a good amount of genuinely heartfelt, serious moments, but balances those out with some truly ridiculous antics (the Zeo Crystal, the source of all life on earth, is buried beneath a freakin’ Krispy Kreme, for goodness sake). Ultimately, it manages to get one thing exactly right: it’s just a really fun movie. Anyone who even remotely enjoyed the original Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers in the 1990s will certainly enjoy the new film. 

-Carrie Wood