Ultimate Avengers DVD Review
The first DVD to be released by Marvel in cooperation with Lions Gate Home Entertainment has arrived. The movie which collects Ultimates 1-13 runs 72 minutes long. Now this is in no means a literal translation of Mark Millar’s run on the Ultimates, some scenes and characters have been toned down. The movie retells how Captain America, Black Widow, Thor, Giant Man and the Wasp got together. The plot line is basically the same, they band together to fight aliens and of course they get help from the Hulk.
Where to begin this review though? Let’s look at the what they managed to do right: For starters the animation is nice and solid, with a few exceptions, that I will put off till later. Although the characters don’t look as detailed as Bryan Hitch’s artwork they do a good job of translating them to a cartoon. The voice actors for the most part do a good job. Casting Olivia D’Abo as Black Widow was a perfect choice. The music is really good and the extras on the DVD are nice. There are interviews with George Perez, Tom Brevoot, and Kurt Buziek; where they talk about the history of the Avengers. Included in the extras is a preview of Ultimate Avengers 2, which is to come out this summer and will feature the Black Panther. The funniest part was the fan-submissions for voice acting; damn some of those were hilarious.
Now to the cons of this DVD. This is really a DVD for fans and that is pretty much it. Yes, the character designs are nice, but the animation is quite jerky at times, even when people are just walking. In many cases the angles were a bit off. I have been a fan of animation for years and know that if they had taken just a bit longer, they could have easily fixed those mistakes. All of the political sub-text has been removed as well as most of the more adult issues and have been replaced by more action. The movie starts out real slow and even when the action starts up it drags (with the exception of the Hulk fight scene). Thor is hardly in this movie, he is as much as a guest star as the Hulk was and Captain America as well as Tony Stark are more like their 616 counterparts. Some of the dialogue is poorly delivered, Captain America comes across as a whiny 616 Cap, but that is mainly due to the voice actor. This movie feels more like a Saturday morning pilot submitted to ABC or NBC, with a tad of violence that was rejected and made into a DVD. It’s not a must buy, unless you are a hardcore fan and completist, but it makes for a good rental. C+
