Sup my 90's childhood.
In this special video presentation, two guys witnessed the rise of Emperor Daidas. Because of this, they were kidnapped by his men and the only ones who can stop him are the Kakurangers! Can they save the world from Daidas and his men?
Here's the thing with Super Sentai World, the film was made for Japanese amusement parks back in 1994 and was aired alongside with Kamen Rider World and Toei Hero Daishugo, giving this film a total of 9 minutes worth of running time. This is understandable given the fact that this film aired on 3D and it is meant for an amusement park. What I don't get is that for at least a minute of its short run time, they padded it with the same roll call footage of each Super Sentai team present in the film!
I mean, they can use those seconds to give us more fight scenes, but nope, we need to feature a roll call sequence of all teams again! You know, just in case the audience forgets who the heroes in this film are and who the ones that belong to what team are! It's kinda annoying and thankfully, the film didn't include individual roll calls for all teams. The only team that got the individual roll call treatment is the current team, Ninja Sentai Kakuranger.
I mean, they can use those seconds to give us more fight scenes, but nope, we need to feature a roll call sequence of all teams again! You know, just in case the audience forgets who the heroes in this film are and who the ones that belong to what team are! It's kinda annoying and thankfully, the film didn't include individual roll calls for all teams. The only team that got the individual roll call treatment is the current team, Ninja Sentai Kakuranger.
Anyway, as for the plot of the film, it is really straight forward and it serves its purpose for its given 9-minute run time. All the audience needs to know is that we have an evil emperor, he has minions, they are bad, they kidnap people who witnessed their arrival, and heroes arrive to save the day. That simple. It is so simple that pretty much the rest of the movie is dedicated to fight scenes, and boy, it is so disappointing.
Take note, Super Sentai World is the first proper Super Sentai team-up film we have since JAKQ vs. Goranger back in 1978, so this is quite a big deal if you ask me. The film features five different Super Sentai teams teaming up to defeat a greater evil. The sight of all five of them together is amazing. Thinking about it, the sight of the five teams alone is the sole reason why you'll end up going to an amusement park during the 90's just to see this movie. The sight of all five teams in one scene is an amazing scene on its own that what happens next made me feel sad.
Take note, Super Sentai World is the first proper Super Sentai team-up film we have since JAKQ vs. Goranger back in 1978, so this is quite a big deal if you ask me. The film features five different Super Sentai teams teaming up to defeat a greater evil. The sight of all five of them together is amazing. Thinking about it, the sight of the five teams alone is the sole reason why you'll end up going to an amusement park during the 90's just to see this movie. The sight of all five teams in one scene is an amazing scene on its own that what happens next made me feel sad.
But before talking about it, I'll first talk on some stuff that I observed in this film. Aside from the obvious bad voiceovers on some of the heroes, I can't help but notice that Keiichi Wada and Yuta Mochizuki reprised their roles as RyuRanger and Tyranno Ranger respectively. Considering that Dairanger was the Super Sentai before Kakuranger and Mochizuki also plays Kamen Rider J, it makes sense.
But if there is one thing that doesn't make sense is Shiro Izumi playing that guy who was kidnapped by Daidas' minions. For crying out loud, he played Dragon Ranger Burai for at least half a year in Kyoryu Sentai Zyuranger, the Super Sentai show before Dairanger! If you do the math, Zyuranger aired 2 years ago! Kids who might be interested in watching this might recognize him as Burai! Heck, if you are an older fan, you'll recognize him as Yuma Ozora aka Change Pegasus! But considering Mochizuki also played Kamen Rider J, I guess Toei thinks that the kids won't notice it.
But if there is one thing that doesn't make sense is Shiro Izumi playing that guy who was kidnapped by Daidas' minions. For crying out loud, he played Dragon Ranger Burai for at least half a year in Kyoryu Sentai Zyuranger, the Super Sentai show before Dairanger! If you do the math, Zyuranger aired 2 years ago! Kids who might be interested in watching this might recognize him as Burai! Heck, if you are an older fan, you'll recognize him as Yuma Ozora aka Change Pegasus! But considering Mochizuki also played Kamen Rider J, I guess Toei thinks that the kids won't notice it.
Anyway, back to the five Super Sentai teams teaming up, like I said earlier, the sight of all five teams together was great, but what happens next is a tad disappointing. The fight scenes barely highlight each Super Sentai member in the limited run time. The way those fight scenes were shot barely highlights the five teams teaming up. Granted, there are some good moments in the fights, but those moments are not enough to properly highlight what makes all teams greats individually.
Some of those scenes made me smile due to nostalgia, especially scenes involving Jetman and Fiveman, which are limited compared to the scenes they have for Zyuranger, Dairanger and Kakuranger. Just having those short scenes made me smile like a dork. Another thing that makes the fight not seem grand is how it was shot. It seems that the director didn't use the 4:3 aspect ratio to its full capacity, giving this kind of impression that an army of 25 heroes is small. It didn't help that when they did the frontal group shot, it made the teams look really tiny. Instead of a shot of 25 heroes, what I got is a line of ants on a cliff.
Some of those scenes made me smile due to nostalgia, especially scenes involving Jetman and Fiveman, which are limited compared to the scenes they have for Zyuranger, Dairanger and Kakuranger. Just having those short scenes made me smile like a dork. Another thing that makes the fight not seem grand is how it was shot. It seems that the director didn't use the 4:3 aspect ratio to its full capacity, giving this kind of impression that an army of 25 heroes is small. It didn't help that when they did the frontal group shot, it made the teams look really tiny. Instead of a shot of 25 heroes, what I got is a line of ants on a cliff.
After they are done beating the crap out of the minions, it is time to fight Emperor Daidas and what better way to fight him is with the giant robots! The shot where each Red Hero summoning the team's main mecha was an amazing sight to see. Take note, this scene predates the all 35 Super Sentai mecha scene at the climax of Super Sentai 199 Heroes, so just the sight of the 5 main robots of the early 90's Super Sentai shows moving is amazing on its own. What happens next is well, a disappointment.
After the robots surround the big bad, they had a hard time beating him because he is too powerful. Look there is nothing wrong in it, but the scene felt like these robots are not strong enough to handle this guy! It didn't help that some of the robots we see in some shots barely throw a punch or even have the opportunity to fight or show that it can fight! All I see are five robots in a circle with two robots punching the bad guy. There's no effort put in it! This is when we have the film's cop-out moment.
After the robots surround the big bad, they had a hard time beating him because he is too powerful. Look there is nothing wrong in it, but the scene felt like these robots are not strong enough to handle this guy! It didn't help that some of the robots we see in some shots barely throw a punch or even have the opportunity to fight or show that it can fight! All I see are five robots in a circle with two robots punching the bad guy. There's no effort put in it! This is when we have the film's cop-out moment.
Not Dragon Ranger/Change Pegasus remembers what happened earlier in the episode and tells our heroes that the Emperor's weakness is in its third eye. Instead of a barrage of finishers coming from the all five robots, what we got is Muteki Shogun performing the final blow! Not only this scene made the Emperor look weak, but it also defeats the purpose of having five robots fighting a powerful enemy! You know what happens next after they beat the bad guy? More team roll calls! Instead of using that time to show us a barrage of robot finishers, we got another roll call! Great, just... great.
Anyway, the day is saved, not Dragon Ranger/Change Pegasus and his sister thank the heroes and the movie ends. To sum it all up, Super Sentai World is film that is all spectacle, but no substance. I am not looking for some deep substance here; all I want is a short 9-minute movie that highlights five Super Sentai teams in action. Granted, we will get it years later in the Super Sentai 199 Heroes film thanks to its extended Legendary War scene, but for the kids in the 90's, this is the closest thing that they have for that kind of spectacle... and it is a major letdown minus some scenes.
Anyway, the day is saved, not Dragon Ranger/Change Pegasus and his sister thank the heroes and the movie ends. To sum it all up, Super Sentai World is film that is all spectacle, but no substance. I am not looking for some deep substance here; all I want is a short 9-minute movie that highlights five Super Sentai teams in action. Granted, we will get it years later in the Super Sentai 199 Heroes film thanks to its extended Legendary War scene, but for the kids in the 90's, this is the closest thing that they have for that kind of spectacle... and it is a major letdown minus some scenes.
RSS Feed