Warning: Possible spoilers ahead
For Super Sentai's 35th anniversary, TOEI decides to go all out by... having a Gokaiger team-up with Goseiger. Ok so most of it was a team-up with Goseiger, that bland Sentai team many fans have grown to dislike, but this team-up still had plenty of merit. There were plenty of guest appearances from past warriors, a little more insight on the Legendary War, and lots of good action that still made this movie an enjoyable nostalgic trip.
The movie begins with the Legendary War, which this version includes all the "extra" heroes as well. After having their powers drained via ranger keys, the Goseigers steal their ranger keys back from the Gokaigers. This leads to a fight over Gosei Knight's ranger key. They're interrupted by Black Cross King, the reincarnated version of Black Cross Fuhur, who has made a deal with the Zangyack to destroy the remaining Super Sentai teams (Gokaiger and Goseiger). Accompanying him are other past villains such as Bladeron, Hades God Dagon, and Yogoshimacritein. They take all the ranger keys, save for Gosei Knight's ranger key, and teleport the Gokaigers and Goseigers to different locations. From then on, the Gokaigers and Goseigers have to learn to trust each other, defeat their designated enemy, and unite to fight Black Cross King.
While this movie largely consists of a Gokaiger-Goseiger team-up, you knew before hand that the movie was going to mostly feature the Gokaigers and Goseigers. For once, it was nice to see the anniversary team get to team-up with the previous team. As flawed as Goseiger is as a series, it does have a pair of good team-ups (first with Shinkenger and now with Gokaiger). Unlike their series, the Goseigers are actually likable in their team-ups. However, other than being a team-up with Goseiger, the movie still managed to integrate many nostalgic elements into the movie, such as the Legendary War, past Super Sentai heroes and villains, the grand powers passed onto the Gokaigers, and the awesome mecha fight near the end. I also really liked a couple subplots, particularly the ones involving this man who got laid off and encounters Umeko, Ryo, and Daigoro. This subplot overlapped well with the main plot. While a lot of characters only made cameos in the movie, it was still nice to see them. By the way, this also brings up an interesting question as to why the Gokaigers were given the Dekaranger and Shinkenger grand powers twice? (They had already gained both grand powers before the time this movie takes place). The interaction between the teams was good, with both teams being split up into different places and learning to trust one another. The movie isn't without its share of flaws. Moune and Luka uttering the same lines at the same time was funny at first, but got annoying after a while. Also, the movie used extensive stock footage, but I guess there's so much the producers can do if they don't have all the mecha costumes. Still, the mecha battle was awesome, as well as the fight with the Gokaigers and Goseigers going against every single other sentai team.
I give it a rating of 8.5/10. Overall, this was a very good team-up and reminds me what Gokaiger is about, a celebration of the franchise. I think Gokaiger has been a better celebration of Super Sentai then its predecessor anniversary seasons like Gaoranger and Boukenger.
I think the biggest reason on why the Goseigers are likable in the team-ups is because the writers actually put some honest to god effort on these ground flat characters. The series, I've decided to consider it a place filler sentai; with all the effort put in Gokaiger (which I love), it really seemed like the writers forgot that Shinkger was going to end and had VERY little time to make a sentai for the previous year, the only real effort they put in was the motif, and then they just winged it just to stall until it was time to release Gokaiger.
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