Looking back, the Power Rangers were brilliant. They were perfectly timed to snap up kids who were growing weary of the Ninja Turtles; the show was cheap to produce thanks to monumental amounts of footage from the Japanese show Kyôryû sentai Juurenjâ; and it was filled with action. That's where a lot of the charm came from on TV. On film, produced entirely by Americans, the series lost a lot.
Part of the problem with the film is the amount of CG effects used. They ruin the entire finale, horribly thrown together against miniature sets. The latest villain, Ivan Ooze, morphs into a bubble of, well, ooze unconvincingly.
Of course, this is based off a TV show where guys in rubber suits destroy each other on a weekly basis. Why spend the money if you don't have to? Still, there's a charm to the campiness of the show, and with the larger scale of the feature film, it's only natural they would try something different regardless of whether or not it works. The kids would show up in droves anyway.
Without footage to take from a Japanese TV series, the writers decided on adding in Ivan Ooze. That role is given to Paul Freeman who literally takes over the movie. It's almost like he knows how ridiculous he looks inside the costume and runs with it. Witty banter and a great sense of evil add to the character.
The Rangers themselves are given all new equipment, which serves one purpose: merchandising. The new costumes and Zords added in something fresh to the series, though it's certainly arguable things were far better before the switch (and the second movie). Fight sequences are choreographed with tons of wire work, and lack the faster edge the Japanese original had.
Other problems, like a distinct lack of laughs from anyone other than the villain and sloppy continuity from scene to scene hinder this kids flick. It's a quick one that was on a schedule before the fad was over, and it didn't need to be. We're still dealing with these characters, and probably will be for a while. In the end, a sloppy movie didn't do that much damage at all. 
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