Vengadores

What a strange beast this is. Clearly - and explicitly - based on the brilliant Millar and Hitch comic 'The Ultimates', this cartoon refuses to shake off its mainstream Marvel heritage.

The Ultimate Universe has been the best thing to happen to Marvel for many a year, being a fresh imprint re-imagining all their characters back to 'day one' to hook new readers who might have been put off by the encyclopedic background knowledge needed to keep up to speed with events in the original comics.

The Ultimates were the new incarnation of The Avengers, Marvel's mightiest superhero group since the 1960s. Mark Millar took a much tougher, more 'realistic' and mature approach to the idea of a team of supersoldiers - treating them as 'weapons of mass destruction' - rather than just masked crimefighters and alien invader repellents.

The Ultimate Avengers movie - which could have been mind-blowing done live action in the style of Spider-Man or The X-Men - is a strange mix of the two universes, dumbing down Millar's story and making it more child friendly, but still keeping the characters of new Ultimate universe, with their cocky natures, bickering and inter-party feuds... although The Hulk doesn't get to eat anyone, which is a shame! The animation is pretty good, but not a patch on Bryan Hitch's artwork, which again gives the cartoon a very run-of-the-mill, sub-anime feel in the wake of its high calibre source material. The story and dialogue are also above-average for American cartoons, but could have been so much better ... the problem arises from trying to turn an adult comic back into a kiddy cartoon.

That being said, it still makes good viewing - even if it runs the risk of leaving both Avengers and Ultimates fans cold and disappointed - and a sequel is due out in July, taking the Ultimate Avengers to Wakanda, the home of The Black Panther.

I like the fact that jealous DC fans are trying their frustrated best to find flaws and bash this instant classic. It's a sure fire sign that Marvel did their job and gave us one quality animated feature.

I do agree that the movie wasn't as "complex" as the Ultimates in that it did not have the heroes intermingled with politics like the comics did. That's a good thing, however. Infusing politics is going to divide your audience because not all of them are going to agree. Quite frankly, I get tired of movies that preach politics to me and would prefer sometimes to be transported into another world that doesn't lecture to me. Most moviegoers seem to agree, as the highest grossing movies of 2005 were STAR WARS, NARNIA, HARRY POTTER, FANTASTIC FOUR, etc. All fantasy films.

Some fools are trying to complain about this masterful animation? What are they talking about? Did they want a CGI movie on par with FINAL FANTASY from a few years ago? That's very unrealistic and that movie bombed bigtime. Personally, I thought the animation was excellent. I loved the way Cap's shield seem to glimmer in almost every scene. The battle sequences were phenomenal. I watched the movie with those "factoid" bubbles activated and they mentioned some interesting items about the complexity of the animation. The characters looked great. Iron Man looked ten times better then he does in the Ultimates book. Attempted bashers of this film should move on to another item. The animation is anything but a weakness.

I thought Ultimate Avengers was near perfect and really couldn't have expected more. Keeping the "Ultimate" BS to a minimum was a SEVERE improvement in my opinion.

A very good effort all around here and I hope they don't change one thing for Avengers 2.

The action is spectacular and the storyline keeps you riveted from start to finish. This movie grabs with its cinematic lead in and flashback to World War Two. (Complete with throwback radio broadcast) From there, it's one big roller coaster ride to the pulse pounding finish. The battle sequences are some of the best ever animated. I think the PG-13 rating really helps. Soldiers die and heroes bleed, that completely draws the viewer in to the feature. I think movie fans of all ages will be stunned at how many levels this movie delivers upon. This is a smart and surprisingly interesting film that really delivers. Calling this movie a cartoon doesn't really seem right or do it justice.

Like my title says, one extremely satisfying thrill ride!

Excellent movie here. For newbies, Ultimate Avengers is based off of The Ultimates, arguably the best Ultimate Marvel book out right now. This movie does a good job of adapting the comic to movie form. The transition isn't perfect, but it's still an outstanding film.

The movie has taken liberties with the comic story in order to suit it into movie form. Most people, like myself, won't mind, but a few die-hard Ultimates readers might be irked. In the movie, many of the characters are influenced more by their 616 versions than their Ultimate counterparts. The greatest liberty was taken with Iron Man. In the Ultimates, he willingly joined the Ultimates and his identity is public knowledge. In Ultimate Avengers, he is much more like 616 Iron Man.

Story wise, this movie combines the first and second arcs of the comic and does so in the perfect manner.

As far as voice acting goes, it's top-notch. All the characters sound as they should, although I still would've liked Sam Jackson to have voiced Fury. The best voice by far is Black Widow. She sounds excellent and is probably the best voiced of all the characters.

Overall, this movie does a great job of blending two major comic arcs into one story. The story will throw off people that were expecting a perfect comic-to-film transition, but people with an open mind will enjoy and appreciate the changes. Animation wise, this movie is like a cross between anime, and cartoon. I can honestly say that the animation looks as close as Brian Hitch's work as you're gonna get, which is a very good thing.

Final Verdict: I'm just gonna say it, this is a very good animated movie. It does the comic justice without straying too far from the source material. Fans and non-fans alike will find something to love with this movie. The animation is spot on, and readers of the comic will find many scenes to be almost ripped from the comic. All the characters are likable, and the voice acting is excellent. Unfortunately, fans of the comic will be unhappy with the more 616 than Ultimate aspects of the film. Nevertheless, it's a solid film and a very good sign of things to come by Marvel.

Score: 9/10

Where to begin? Ultimate Avengers is simply one brilliant rendition of Marvel's (and Earth's) Mightiest Heroes. I've read different reactions and I've heard from both sides of this debate. Some serious Ultimates fans wanted this movie to be an exact reenactment of the comic book. Marvel instead made a conscious decision to infuse the old school Avengers in to the Ultimates mix. It was a masterful decision. The combination works very well. Gone are the overblown and, quite frankly, juvenile elements of the Ultimates. Having a horny Hulk or an outrageously abusive Henry Pym may work to capture the teenage comic crowd (which is exactly why the Ultimate Universe was created) but it doesn't play with main stream audiences. The title Ultimate Avengers fits because it's just that, a perfect meshing together of two separate universe of characters. The edge that made the Ultimates popular is still present but the characters that made the Ultimates possible in the first place still shine through. Captain America is perfect. You can really see why Marvel is lining up to give him his own live action movie. It'll be great, maybe even better then this masterful animated treat.