Ultimate Avengers DVD Review

Based On: “The Ultimates,” written by Mark Millar and illustrated by Bryan Hitch.
Content Guide: Rated PG-13 for action violence and mild language.

From the DVD: “Individually, they are superheroes. United, they are The Avengers. Ultimate Avengers: The Movie is the extraordinary story of six very independent heroes who must - like it or not - fight as one to save the world. Little did they know that their biggest threat would emerge from within their very own ranks - The Incredible Hulk!”

The Ultimate Avengers DVD retells the story of the forming of the Avengers and is based on the hit comic book, “The Ultimates,” as told by Mark Millar and Bryan Hitch. This is not the same Avengers of your youth, but rather a special team hand picked by Nick Fury, head of S.H.E.I.L.D. (Strategic Hazard Intervention, Espionage and Logistics Directorate.)

The focus of the Ultimate Avengers DVD rests a lot on Captain America. Captain America is a super soldier that helps defeat Nazi Germany in WWII. He stops a rocket from destroying much of America, but falls into the icy ocean and is frozen in solid ice.

Fifty-seven years later, he is discovered by S.H.E.I.L.D. in the hopes to find a key to unlocking the super soldier serum that gave Captain America his powers. Little do they know that the same serum has kept Captain America in a state of suspended animation all this time. He is awakened and Nick Fury sees he has a leader for his special team, “Project Avengers.”

The team gets off to a rocky start, but has to pull together to fight two great forces. On one side is an alien invasion and on the other is The Incredible Hulk. The Avengers must defeat them both at the same time and work together to save the earth.

I was worried about the aspect of a cartoon feature film based on, “The Ultimates.” The comic is violent, touches on difficult issues, and over the top in many areas. No matter where you stand on the issue of having all the top talent pumped into “remakes” of our favorite comics, “The Ultimates,” is still a very well told story with tons of great action.

On first glance, the first thing that struck me was the rating. With a PG-13 you can bet this won’t be your average Saturday morning cartoon. Luckily, it isn’t.

The quality of the art is good, on par with many of the other cartoons out there. It isn’t amazing in the sense that some anime has become known for, but it is pretty good.

Storywise, the Ultimate Avengers DVD is not on par with the comic book it is based on. The Ultimate Avengers DVD is more of a boiled down version of, “The Ultimates,” leaving out such characters as Hawkeye, Quicksilver, and the Scarlet Witch as well as some of the main story elements. The biggest thing lacking for me was the pace of the movie. I thought it had a slow start, but in the end it had a great finale with the big battle between The Avengers, the aliens, and The Incredible Hulk.

The Ultimate Avengers DVD has some pretty cool special features:

Avengers Assemble – This is a 20 minute group feature that shows a group of interviews with many of the key creators of the many different Avengers comic books. There is a lot of great material here, but it doesn’t touch much on the creation of, “The Ultimates,” rather focusing on the transition from Avengers to New Avengers.

Voice Talent Search – The creators of the Ultimate Avengers DVD held a talent search of sorts, offering fans a chance to get their voice talents into the Ultimate Avengers movie. This is a sampling of some of the entrances they received.

1st Look Ultimate Avengers 2 – A short trailer showing what is coming with the next Ultimate Avengers film.

Avengers Trivia Track – A way to watch the movie ala AMC’s [url link=http://www.amctv.com/section?CID=110-EST]DVD-TV, or VH1’s Pop Up Video. You can basically watch the movie with little tidbits of trivia and information that will pop up during the movie.

“What Avengers Are You?” DVD-ROM Game – A game that will play on your personal computer, and allow you to find out which Avenger you are most like. For the record, I am most like, “Jack of Hearts.” Is that a good thing or a bad thing? Didn’t he die?

If you are a hardcore fan of the regular Avengers, or a hardcore fan of, “The Ultimates,” you may be displeased with the liberties that are taken with the script and retelling of this classic superhero team. If you are comic book fan and are looking for a fun video with some great action and content that is a bit more mature that those Saturday morning cartoons, then the Ultimate Avengers DVD would be a good pick.