It’s a banner day for comic-book fans as retail outlets offer Ultimate Avengers, the first animated movie based on Marvel Comics’ best-selling series, The Ultimates. The 2D-animated feature is available now on DVD from Lions Gate Family Home Entertainment, which previously teamed with Marvel on the live-action 2004 feature, The Punisher.
When Captain America saved the planet in 1945 by detonating a nuclear warhead in the upper atmosphere, he fell back to Earth and was lost in the icy depths of the North Atlantic. More than 60 years later, the world is again facing unspeakable evil and it’s up to the star-spangled one to rise again and lead a team of superheroes that includes Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, Thor, Wasp and Giant Man.
Marvel debuted The Avengers in 1963, bringing together a revolving cast of superheroes over the course of the series four-decade run. The company then put a modern twist on the property in March of 2002 with The Ultimates. Comic scribe Mark Millar contemporized the characters and story, while Bryan Hitch reinterpreted the visual world with his dramatic, gritty, and realistic drawings. In a bid to please purists, the production team behind the DVD movie tried to stay true to the art and design of the comics.
Bonus features on the DVD include a featurettes titled Assembling the Avengers and The Ultimate Voice Talent Search, as well as the DVD-ROM game What Avenger are You? an Avengers trivia track and a first look at Ultimate Avengers II. The disc lists for $19.98.
Also arriving on home video today is Stuart Little 3: Call of the Wild, a new direct-to-video sequel featuring everyone’s favorite adopted mouse and the voices of Wayne Brady, Geena Davis, Michael J. Fox, Tom Kenny, Hugh Laurie, Peter MacNicol and Virginia Madsen. While the first two films in the series featured a CG Stewart living with a live-action family, this one is completely animated in 2D as our tiny hero finds adventure during a family trip to the lake. Extras include a music video for ‘Reeko’s Funk,” two games titled Help Stuart Escape and Monty’s Monstrous Appetite, ‘Stuart”s Summer Journal’ read along and step-by step instructions on how to draw Stuart Little 3 characters. The Sony release carries a suggested retail price of 24.94.
If you missed last night’s debut of the half-hour, primetime special SpongeBob SquarePants: Lost in Time, you can pick up the DVD today. The disc features seven season-four episodes from that send the absorbent one on a series of adventures through time. The installments are anchored by an all-new storyline that finds SpongeBob and pal Patrick in a historical version of Bikini Bottom, where they are mistaken for great knights. Two bonus episodes and a Medieval Moments Jousting Practice game are also offered on the Paramount DVD for $16.99.
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