That's the sad truth. This special relies almost entirely on nostalgia to be any good. And while that may have been ok if they had put more effort into the rest of the special, it's obvious that they put the bare minimum of effort into it.
Right off the bat it feels off as they start in the middle of the conflict, explained later via flashback, which gives the special and strange feel, and from there, it depends on nostalgia to give it any worth. The acting really isn't that good, and while the TV series didn't have the best acting either, you can tell that they didn't put in much effort here since the acting in the TV series was even better. The special effects are horrible too, once again, having the effects of the TV series be even better, which is completely inexcusable since they definitely had a bigger budget than the TV series did. And that's not even counting the horrendous CGI that looks like it's out of a bad PlayStation cutscene. When your acting, special effects, and CGI is actually worse than that of a cheap TV series from the 90s, you know they're not even trying.
While it was nice to see much of the old cast back fulfilling their roles, it once more relies heavily on nostalgia to carry it. The actors lack a lot of the chemistry they had in the TV series, and when you look at past reunion specials such as Forever Red, once again, it's inexcusable, especial since they have the funds this time to make sure it shouldn't be as mediocre and the actors have much more experience, but obviously aren't really trying. And then there's the horrible newcomer, Minh, who is just all around unlikeable. Yes, we get that she's supposed to be angry and want revenge, but her character is just completely insufferable and acts like a total brat throughout the entire special that just keeps making everything worse for most of the special. That's not the actress' fault, they just made her character awful.
In short, this special was pretty disappointing, especially after the way it was built up to be the ultimate reunion special or something, that instead relies solely on nostalgia, has no effort put into the roles, an unlikeable new character, and awful special effects, and even the action isn't as good as the TV series, and it all comes to a close in a rather anti-climatic ending. If you want to kill an hour living off nostalgia, I say give it a watch, but you'd probably be better off just watching the old MMPR if you want that, you'll find it much more appealing.
Right off the bat it feels off as they start in the middle of the conflict, explained later via flashback, which gives the special and strange feel, and from there, it depends on nostalgia to give it any worth. The acting really isn't that good, and while the TV series didn't have the best acting either, you can tell that they didn't put in much effort here since the acting in the TV series was even better. The special effects are horrible too, once again, having the effects of the TV series be even better, which is completely inexcusable since they definitely had a bigger budget than the TV series did. And that's not even counting the horrendous CGI that looks like it's out of a bad PlayStation cutscene. When your acting, special effects, and CGI is actually worse than that of a cheap TV series from the 90s, you know they're not even trying.
While it was nice to see much of the old cast back fulfilling their roles, it once more relies heavily on nostalgia to carry it. The actors lack a lot of the chemistry they had in the TV series, and when you look at past reunion specials such as Forever Red, once again, it's inexcusable, especial since they have the funds this time to make sure it shouldn't be as mediocre and the actors have much more experience, but obviously aren't really trying. And then there's the horrible newcomer, Minh, who is just all around unlikeable. Yes, we get that she's supposed to be angry and want revenge, but her character is just completely insufferable and acts like a total brat throughout the entire special that just keeps making everything worse for most of the special. That's not the actress' fault, they just made her character awful.
In short, this special was pretty disappointing, especially after the way it was built up to be the ultimate reunion special or something, that instead relies solely on nostalgia, has no effort put into the roles, an unlikeable new character, and awful special effects, and even the action isn't as good as the TV series, and it all comes to a close in a rather anti-climatic ending. If you want to kill an hour living off nostalgia, I say give it a watch, but you'd probably be better off just watching the old MMPR if you want that, you'll find it much more appealing.