Some of the coolness of the movie for me came from the fact that one of my iconic childhood heroes plays Grandpa Max. I couldn’t believe that Lee Majors (The Six Million Dollar Man!) had signed on for the part. I enjoyed watching him, but during the action sequences I kept expecting to see him go into slow motion and throw manhole covers and stuff.

Robert Picardo (Star Trek Voyager’s Doctor) starred as Ben’s principal and one of the plumbers. He played the goofy role to the hilt.

The plot revolved around a villain known as Eon. Grandpa Max tells Ben that Eon was the first alien the Plumbers ever faced, and that they thought they’d locked him up. Instead, when Grandpa Max leads the kids there, they find out Eon has escaped. Grandpa Max also feels certain that Eon will be after his doomsday device known as the Hands of Armageddon.

Only four of Ben’s alien forms were presented in the movie. Heatblast, the flame-throwing alien, opened up the movie with action. His powers looked pretty good onscreen. Grey Matter was played completely for laughs, but anyone could have done the special effects because they really weren’t all that special. Diamondhead, another fan fave, was all right, but the action was way too confined and over with before you know it.

The real scene-stealer was Wildmutt, one of the craziest forms Ben takes. He looks like an eyeless, shaggy dog with moves that would make a ninja green with envy. The CG on these scenes alone were worth the wait. Wildmutt is totally awesome when he’s in action, and he looks completely real. When he growled and his huge mouth flew open to reveal his teeth, his jaws looked wide enough to swallow a pumpkin. My kid and I were delirious over those scenes because – in some ways – they looked even cooler in CG than in animation. Wildmutt looked real!

Since the current season of Ben 10 is slated to be the last, although Cartoon Network is supposed to bring a new series featuring a 15-year-old Ben to lineup, everyone hopes Ben 10: Race Against Time will kick off a series of live-action movies.