I had heard there was a Ben 10 live action movie in the works. I had no idea that it was practically complete and will be released in November of this year. For those that don’t know, Ben 10 is one of the more recent cartoons produced by the cartoon Network.

The show revolves around Ben Tennyson, his cousin Gwen, and his grandfather Max. During the start of their summer camping trip, Ben is nearly hit by an alien pod that fell from space and crashed next to him. When he examines it, he finds a mysterious, watch-like device, called the Omnitrix, stored inside. The device attaches to his wrist and gives him the ability to transform into a variety of alien lifeforms, each with their own unique powers, quite similar to DC’s “Dial H for Hero” comic. Although Ben realizes that he has a responsibility to help others with these new abilities at his disposal, he is not above a little super-powered mischief now and then.

It’s a very traditional cartoon, which is rare nowadays on Cartoon Network. I found a trailer for the film on director Alex Winter’s website. Yes, it’s that Alex Winter of Bill and Ted fame.

I can’t say that I’m overly impressed by the trailer. It looks a little too kid friendly. I’m worried that they took a half-decent cartoon plot and have dumped it in favor of a dumbed-down kids movie. The villain in the trailer doesn’t look like the Season 1 villain Vilgax, but just a generic alien/warlord. Still, it should be an entertaining enough to watch once with Carter. I wonder how many of the alien transformations they will showcase in the movie.

Digging around, it looks like it will be a TV movie instead of a theatrical release. That kind of surprises me, but it makes sense for Cartoon Network. One big plus (in my book) is that Grandpa Max is played by Lee Majors. How cool is that? TV’s The Fall Guy is now someone’s grandfather in a film. Actually, that’s not as cool as I originally thought, because now I feel old.