Ultimate Avengers: The Movie DVD: Review By T.Clark

If you're a fan of comics, The Ultimates in particualar, then you'll take solace in the fact that this is an adaptation that doesn't dissapoint...if only it were live-action.

Ultimate Avengers: The Movie is based on the aforementioned "The Ultimates" comic book by Mark Millar and Bryan Hitch. The feature creatively combines the two stories of the first volume of the Ultimates to make a satisfying piece of animated work.

In the first half of the first volume, Millar and Hitch created realistic and more gritty Avengers universe never before seen in the regular Marvel Universe, instead calling the team of powerful individuals the Ultimates instead of the Avengers, and setting them in a world more adult friendly than thier Marvel U counter-parts, turning the team into a government based organization looked over by S.H.E.I.L.D. commander, Nick Fury. With this initial first six-part story, the creative team lays the groundwork for the team until they finally face a horny and out-of-control Hulk. With this direct-to-DVD film, the creators successfully turn the memorable battle into animated gold.

In the second story of the first volume, Millar and Hitch pit the team against an alien invasion building up since WWII. In the feature, the aliens are turned into the focal point.

Ultimate Avengers's biggest strength is it's admiration for the large fan base of the comic series. The creators of the movie seem to have full respect for the comic the film is inspired by, and create an exciting film out of it. It's biggest weakness? The run-time. The movie seems rushed, while the comic is expertly orchestrated and planned out, with most of the issues being longer than the regular comic format.

The animation is a plus, too. The characters seem to be rendered carefully, and they resmble thier comic counterparts to near-perfect accuracy. The action sequences throughout the film only make you dissapointed it wasn't live-action, because they are so great.

I have to admit, I've never heard of any of the casting choices for the characters' voices, but they did an astounding job. My favorite is Andrew Ware as Nick Fury, who manages to execute Fury's tough-guy attitude through his voice with success.

As for the extras, they aren't great, but they are good for an animated feature. I love the "What Avenger Are You?" DVD-Rom game(I was War Machine, yes!). The features also include a look at the voice talent search and a first look at the sequel to this movie.

The replay value is not it's biggest flaw, but it's not it's best attribute either. With the film running at only 71-minutes long and being an animated movie, audiences might not find the will to pop it into their DVD players that often because it's easy to remember what happens, and a single viewing lasts a long while. The movie is worth the watch, though, and the first viewing is an excellent one.

Overall, Ultimate Avangers manages to adapt a fairly hard-to-adapt comic and gives fanboys what they want, resembling the comic in more ways than one. It's action-packed, and you may have to be a fan to appreciate it, but it's a solid movie nonetheless.

8/10-Impressive