Why So Blu?

It’s the Power Rangers to the rescue in their all new high action motion picture adventure. With new turbo powers and racing Turbo Zords, the five superheroes battle a ruthless band of evil space aliens in order to save Earth from destruction.

The evil space alien Divatox plans to unleash the dark forces of Maligore, a powerful, fiery creature imprisoned inside a volcano on the magical island of Muiranthias. She can reach the island only by traveling through the dangerous Nemesis Triangle, and for that she needs the special powers of the magician Lerigot. But Lerigot flees to Earth, to see the only people who can stand against Divatox and her evil plan — the Power Rangers. Along with the new Blue Ranger, their turbo-powered Zords, and the unexpected help of original Power Rangers Kimberly and Jason, the Power Rangers set out on their most thrilling and dangerous adventure yet!

Well, if there was any goodwill from the first movie for someone who is looking for dumb fun, its gone almost from the star with Turbo. But, that’s not to say it can’t be enjoyed by people on some level or by children (Who its intended for). Like the last movie, it oddly feels like its inspired from the adventure films of the 1980s more than it is the children’s/family films of its modern era despite using its technological advances.

First off, I found out quickly why Steven Cardenas wasn’t a fan of this movie, he got the short end of the stick and replaced by a kid! Well, This film doesn’t really offer much in the way of “new” from the previous one which is pretty crazy. The setting, tiny ounce of a back story, villains and some of the cast might be different, but it was eerily similar in its plot beats and goals. Except this time around its just a little too much, and as an adult “too kiddy”. But hey, it was never meant for me in the first place. This thing is also utilized to sell merch, so we have to get new costumes and Zords to fight new monsters. It all works out. Overall, yeah, its kids junk, but they are allowed to have theirs too and kudos to everyone involved in the movie as they do give it 100% and never once feel like they think they are above it. Amy Jo Johnson who had left for greener pastures even returns and has fun hamming it up. Unfortunately, its just not enough to take down Ivan Ooze in the pantheon of Power Ranger movies.

Encoding: MPEG-4 AVC

Resolution: 1080p

Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1

Layers: BD-50

Clarity/Detail: Turbo comes to Blu-ray and well, has that sorta 90s movie look to it with this transfer. Its a bit dimmer looking as a whole and the while its pretty sharp and crisp, its just not the prettiest looking image. The film looks better than a DVD upconvert, but it not going to wildly impress anyone. Solid, but that’s about all I can say.

Depth:  Decent spacing here, though its more in the slightly above average category. Motion is cinematic and natural, with no issues regarding motion distortion.

Black Levels: Blacks are deep and on the slightly lighter and gray levels. No crushing witnessed.

Color Reproduction: Colors are okay and pop more with the more fantastical things like the Ranger costumes, Zords and monsters. Greens stand out pretty good in the more tropical looking scenes.

Flesh Tones: Skin tones are natural and consistent for the duration of the film. Facial features and textures are good in close ups but a little more hit or miss the further its back.

Noise/Artifacts: Clean

Audio 

Audio Format(s): English 5.1 DTS-HD MA

Subtitles: English

Dynamics: Turbo has a nice, loud and rowdy 5.1 mix that will bring these silly hijinx to your viewing are with some nice thunder. The mix is free and kind of random at times. Its best asset is how loud and impacting it is during any sort of big action scene. That’s about all you could ask for here. There is a nice balance to it all, and none of the vocals, music or effects get in one another’s way.

Height: N/A

Low Frequency Extension: The subwoofer provides a pretty solid thump in a variety of ranges to make this a terrific bit of fun.

Surround Sound Presentation: This mix throws itself all over the room and really gets an effort for tossing sounds in random corners of the room to give you a little jolt as well as some nice traveling back and forth.

Dialogue Reproduction: Vocals are clear and crisp. There’s a bit of a muffle with the Ranger costumed voices as to be expected.

Extras 

Ranger Tales-Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie (HD, 23:21) – Nakia Burrise, Catherine Sutherland and Justin Stewart reflect on making Turbo, with many stories from the set and about getting their roles and working with the other actors. Its not limited to just this movie as they talk a little about their time on the series and their relationships with fans via the conventions.

Turbo-A Power Rangers Movie Original Featurette (SD, 4:21) – A little EPK from when the film came out, featuring generic interviews and such with the cast.

Theatrical Trailer (SD, 1:06)

TV Spot (SD, :35)

Summary 

Welp, Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie is finally here on Blu-ray. For fans, it includes a really nice retrospective from the new cast members in this movie. The feature itself has a nice 5.1 mix but the video is just kinda bleh, but still solid. Despite that, this is the edition to have and the upgrade to make from you old DVD (or VHS?).