Well, what do you know: 'Power Rangers' is surprisingly OK

We're all a little tapped out on '90s nostalgia for a moment, so much so that Lionsgate's Power Rangers reboot sneak attacked us with its spring release. The movie looks like guiltless Transformers visuals meets formative teen movie (you'll hear one particular example referenced a lot), but how is it?

From unbridled enjoyment to pure loathing, reviewers have a lot of responses to this movie, and they are all over the map.

The teen angst

Emily Yoshida, Vulture:

It’s true that Power Rangers, which is rated PG-13, flirts with edgy material; there’s a leaked-nudes subplot, and our teenage heroes utter the word “shit” a couple times, though practically sotto voce, as if they’re afraid lurking parents might hear. But the angst teased by the trailer is mostly of the John Hughes variety, and the power of friendship is what binds the five rangers together like so much glowing, neon CGI magic dust. This is the anti-Logan.

Chris Nashwaty, Entertainment Weekly:

They all feel like teen archetypes lifted right out of The Breakfast Club. Not surprisingly, a few of them meet for the first time in weekend detention. All that’s missing is Simple Minds on the soundtrack.

Adam Chitwood, Collider:

This is a diverse group of individuals—the movie’s basically Chronicle meets The Breakfast Club—but what makes this story stand out from all the other superhero franchises around is that the film isn’t entirely about saving the day or settling internal squabbles. In order to fully become Power Rangers, these kids must care more about others than themselves. This theme of compassion, of empathy, is a welcome change of pace, and to my surprise it actually results in an emotionally engaging story.

Scott Mendelson, Forbes:

As noted above the set up is straight-up Breakfast Club, where three teen outcasts meet up in detention and eventually run into two other kids, and together they end up stumbling upon secret amulets that give them super powers. The five main kids are appropriately sympathetic and properly self-tortured. Dacre Montgomery is the Red Ranger and the arbitrary leader while Naomi Scott is the Pink Ranger who is trying to cope with some self-inflicted red on her ledger. RJ Cyler is mourning his father, and it is his discovery that puts the whole plot into motion.

Stars who steal the show

Matt Zoller Seitz, RogerEbert.com:

Billy, however, becomes a genuinely memorable character, thanks mainly to Cyler’s heartfelt performance (which overcomes a lot of fuzziness about what, exactly, the character’s condition is). And the screenplay makes this cheerful kid the heart and soul of the group, and sometimes its comic relief, without sapping him of dignity.

Chitwood, Collider:

The performances are, for the most part, impressive. Just as he did in Me and Earl in the Dying Girl, RJ Cyler pretty much steals the show here. The guy is a massive young talent, and his funny and sweet portrayal of Billy is destined to be a crowd favorite.

The film takes a very grounded approach to the story and characters, but Banks—who shares very few scenes with anyone besides herself and her CG monster Goldar—is turned up to 11. If this were a very faithful adaptation of the campy TV series she’d be right at home, but in the context of the film she’s quite over the top and doesn’t really jibe with the rest of the movie.

Nashawaty, Entertainment Weekly:

The only thing that makes this battle-heavy second half orgy of green-screen destruction remotely interesting is Elizabeth Banks’ Repulsa. A cackling sadistic crone with a sweet tooth for gold and insult comedy, Banks’ baddie gives the leaden fight scenes some adrenalin and winking humor. You can tell that she knows exactly what kind of film she’s signed up for and she’s decided to have a ball with it.

That Krispy Kreme sponsorship

Yoshida, Vulture:

It is also, jaw-droppingly, one long Krispy Kreme commercial — the Power Rangers product-placement game is strong. This movie is out of its goddamn mind.

Matt Zoller Seitz, RogerEbert.com:

I’ve seen complaints that “Power Rangers” is too crude in its humor, too precious in how it establishes its characters' outsider status, and too obvious about its product placement (the words “Krispy Kreme” are spoken nearly as often as “kill Rita”). All three charges are true.

Jennifer Read-Dominguez, Digital Spy:

It begins with a few casual mentions, but then, just when you think the Krispy Kreme advertising frenzy has reached peak ridiculous, you realise fictional town Angel Grove's Krispy Kreme branch is actually integral to the plot. There's a race between the Rangers and Rita Repulsa to get to magical artefact 'the Zeo Crystal', which is buried underneath, you guessed it… Krispy Kreme. Perhaps Lionsgate realised that when you're an hour-and-a-half into a teen-angst movie (which takes itself way too seriously) and the kids still haven't morphed into their Power Ranger costumes, you start thinking about food – specifically, donuts.

But we must take note of The Telegraph's review, in which Robbie Collin described the film as "sadistic, ugly and incompetent":

An even halfway competent action finale might have made up for much of the above. But the ugly and incomprehensible big finish we get appears to have been shot by the Hunchback of Notre Dame and edited by a monkey wearing oven gloves, and if there’s a single clear shot of the Dinozords in action in there, I must have missed it.

Power Rangers hits theaters March 24.