DVD Reviews

Ben 10: Alien Swarm – DVD Review

By June L. Dec 18, 2009, 11:32 GMT

THE ALIEN SWARM IS UPON US! Our world is threatened with an imminent invasion from a swarming alien menace. And there is only one hero brave enough, smart enough and tough enough to fight back - Ben Tennyson!

If you have youngsters in the house and cable television, chances are that you already have some familiarity with Ben 10 (Benjamin Tennyson) a remarkable young man who uses his special talents to protect our world from unscrupulous aliens. 

In this second live action film chronicling the adventures of Ben and his friends, the youngsters must save the planet from a nefarious Alien Swarm.

I’m intrigued when animation turns to live action.  It is something to see if the living breathing actors and the engineered special effects will live up to the animated characters and what they can do via the unlimited abilities of graphics. In some cases it can be a total flop, but not so with Ben 10: Alien Swarm. 

The transition works, as the characters have been matured a bit from their animation counterparts, and the action sequences do not simply rely on astonishing changes to keep the audience interested. In addition, the live actors have been selected well for their roles, truly bringing Ben and crew to life and investing them with personality. 

The adventure and action is as riveting as the cartoon version, with fast speed chases, and character-morphing-into-creature sequences that have the resident scientist grabbing for the remote control to “watch again.” 

I personally like the live action version a little more, as the characters can use their faces to express emotions and convince us of their thoughts behind the ability to perform their specials skills.  I do enjoy watching both the animation and the live action, finding in the adventures of Ben, Gwen and Kevin elements that defy the expected age limits for viewers.

In this particular story, Alien Swarm, Ben goes AWOL from the group, against the wishes of Grandpa Max (Barry Corbin.)  He is drawn away from rules and regulations to help an outsider, the daughter of a “Plumber” (a girl whom he remembers as a childhood playmate,) locate her missing father. 

Is she out to trap Ben and the others, in some vendetta based on past wrongs against her family?  Or is she really just looking for help in rescuing her father from a situation that has put him in a precarious position?  In choosing to help her, Ben must decide where his loyalties lie, and while he thinks that he is on his own, the others obviously are just behind him. 

Audiences see further development in the relationship between Gwen and Kevin, and that they still look to Ben as the leader of the group, regardless of his actions.

Ben 10: Alien Swarm is presented on single disc in widescreen format with a running time of 74 minutes.  In addition to the feature, the DVD has bonuses of a behind the scenes featurette “The Making of  Ben 10:  Alien Swarm,” and a music video. 

This DVD is a nice addition to any Ben 10 fan’s collection.

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