Ultimate Avengers

Hey, true believers!

I just got Ultimate Avengers the other day. A few months ago I saw a preview of this movie online, and I've been excitedly waiting for it for some time now. I'm a huge fan of Captain America and my expectations were high for this movie to be good. Running about 71 minutes, it is kinda short, but considering the price (about $13.00) I think the lenght is not bad.

Now is the good enough for being Marvel Comics' first feature lenght animation? Well if you're expecting animation quality like a Disney feature like Beauty and the Beast, then you have your expectations WAY too high. The quality of the animation falls in between great to (sometimes) Saturday morning cartoons quality. The characters deasigns are great! Captain America 1940's design is one of the best in the whole movie. I also love the Wasp costume design and Iron Man's armor. The voice actors do a great job bringing to (larger than) life Earth Mightiest Heroes.

Some spoilers ahead:

The story is based on the Ultimates by Mark Millar and Bryan Hitch. At the end of WWII the Nazis are about to launch a nuclear weapon against Washington D.C. The technology was acilitated by a shape shifting alien race who helped Hitler rise to power and started the war. The United States Super Soldier, Captain America manages to stop the weapon sacrificing hmself and presumed KIA over the North Atlantic.

60 years later, General Nick Fury and his agency, SHIELD, finds the body of Captain America frozen and in perfect condition. Fury, with the help of Dr. Bruce Banner, has been trying to recreate the Super Soldier serum. Figurng that they had a dead body to make test with, Captain America wakes up and finds that his old life is gone, but his country still needs him. A menace from the past is rearing its ugly head and the only way to defeat the alien race from destroying the Earth is to unite a group of heroes (Iron Man, Thor, Giant Man, Black Widow, Wasp and the Hulk) with Captain America as their leader, but they may be doomed to failure, if they can learn to work as a team.

Personally I loved it. Granted, it has flaws but it does have a lot of good things going for it. The story is solid, especially how each character interacts with each other. You feel Bruce Banner's pain having his life destroyed by the Hulk. Captain America has a great scene as he is walking in modern day New York, showing him as a man out of time.

The DVD has a few good extras, the funiest one shows voice actors auditions for the parts. There is also a very good mini-documentary about the history of the Avengers, and interviews with George Perez and other great talents from the history of this series. There is also a first look at Ultimate Avengers 2.

This is a good piece for your collection. Now I'm looking forward for the next Marvel features, Iron Man and Dr. Strange

'Nuff Said.