Ultimate Avengers: The Movie

Three cheers to Lionsgate Films for releasing several new animated DVD releases based on some of the more popular Marvel Comic Books on the market. If you are wondering why the word "Ultimate" appears in front of the name of The Avengers, the reason is that this DVD is based on the revamping of the classic Avengers in the Ultimate line of books.

The "Ultimate" series of books were originally conceived as a way of recapturing a younger audience through remaking all the top Marvel Superhero tales (X-Men, Spider-Man) and bringing their origins and first adventures into the modern era. So, instead of presenting a rehash of the 1962 origin of Spider-Man, we get to see a total revamping of the character and the character's history for modern audiences.
While the original plan was to slant the Ultimate line of books towards younger viewers, some of the stories eventually leaned towards a more mature audience as was the case with THE ULTIMATES, the flagship title that re-wrote the early tales of the Avengers.When Lionsgate Films opted to make animated dvds about featuring Marvel Heroes, they interestingly chose to adapt the Ultimates line.

Ultimate Avengers is the first release and it is a significant disappointment. The main reason this DVD flops so miserable is that it runs a scant 75 minutes.

Considering the vast number of heroes that need to be introduced combined with the additional time required to be spent on the character of Captain America, there is very little time left for any significant plot. When the plot actually does kick in, it is decidely removed from the more mature aspects that the character development was previously centered around. A dopey robotic aliens from outer space attack is incredibly dumb and belongs in someone else's movie as opposed to being in the storlyline that was conceived for this film.

As for the characters, they are interesting presented as Captain America appears virtually untouched from the books as a man from a previous era who finds himself out of place in a society that to him is a future where he does not belong. The Hulk is here and the themes of Betty and Bruce's failed love affair leading to Banner's drive to cure himself of being the Hulk is touched upon briefly, but it is not explored in a manner that would be considered having any depth. (Betty is also REALLY toned down from the emasculating wench that appears in the books) Thor is presented as a hippie with superpowers who believes he is a Norse God, but his appearance is too brief to garner any interest. (In the books he is greatly expanded upon and is quite interesting)

So, essentially you have a movie called THE ULTIMATE AVENGERS and the Avengers simply do not get any adequate screen time to appear as more than anything other than cardboard cut out cliches. As such, the whole purpose of the thematic concerns found in the book is virtually ignored. This is an unpardonable crime! Marvel's heroes are rich in their depth and that depth is what allows their adventures to gain a heightened sense of drama and emotional involvement. All of these concepts are ignored in this film and the quality of the film suffers dramatically because of it.

Again, this just beats the point that this DVD's running time is a major reason for the lack of character development and is a major contributing factor to the negative reviews this movie has received. Perhaps the main problem is the fact that it is a "movie" when it should have been an episodic TV program. Then again, it could have also been a series of interrelated movies that connect all the subplots together. Actually, that may even be the current plan, but if the subplots are introduced in a manner that is so poorly constructed the whole concept becomes self defeating. This is a shame considering the great material the producers and writers had to work with. What they have delivered is pretty underwhelming and it is hard to understand how they could have dropped the ball so badly.

Lionsgate will be producing and releasing further Marvel Superhero adaptations and hopefully they will learn from the errors that they have set forth and hopefully will revamp their concept of how these movies should look. 75 minutes appears reflective that the company has decided to simply dump a DVD on the market with little effort and then reap in the financial windfall that the Superhero Movie fad has started