WONDER WOMAN REVIEW

[Blake Petit]

Review by: Blake M. Petit Blake@comixtreme.com
Quick Rating: Very Good
MPAA Rating: PG-13

The origin of the Amazing Amazon!

Director: Lauren Montgomery
Cast: Keri Russell, Nathan Fillion, Alfred Molina, Rosario Dawson, Marg Helgenberger, Virginia Madsen, Oliver Platt, John DiMaggio, Vicki Lewis, Tara Strong
Writers: Gail Simone & Michael Jelenic
Original Music: Christopher Drake
Producer: Bruce Timm
Studio: Warner Premiere

While it’s hard to top New Frontier as the best film to date from the DC Universe animated series, Wonder Woman comes very close. After a brutal war with the god Ares (Alfred Molina), Hippolyta (Virginia Madsen) and her tribe of Amazon warrior women retreat to a hidden island. There she crafts a daughter from clay, a child given life by Hera (Marg Helgenberger), who is forced to lead her sisters back to the world of men just as Ares makes a new play for domination.

While most superhero movies get the origin out of the way in the first act, this film is essentially all origin, and it works in the movie’s favor. Most of the first act, in fact, is just getting to the point where we have an adult Diana (Keri Russell) on Themyscira. From there, we see the classic version of the origin – fighter pilot Steve Trevor (Nathan Fillion) crashes on Paradise Island. A competition is held to determine who will accompany him back to “Man’s World,” and Diana – naturally – wins. The really original stuff comes in when they return to the United States and go to war with Ares. There’s a lot of fantastic action in this movie. A full-blown Amazon war in the streets of Washington works incredibly well here, and the animation is seamless. This is right up there with some of the best stuff Bruce Timm did in the DCU Animated Universe on television.

On top of wonderful animation, the voice acting in this movie is magnificent. Russell is very convincing as Diana, as is Madsen as her mother. Molina nails the part of Ares, and Rosario Dawson – easily the most A-list star to do one of these films to date – gives a wonderful turn as Artemis. But if you’re going to watch this movie, watch it for Nathan Fillion’s hysterical performance as Steve Trevor. Fillion’s voice acting is second-to-none, with perfect comic timing and great intensity when the scene calls for it. The only real weakness in the film was Helgenberger’s Hera – a sort of flat, lifeless reading. Fortunately, her part is essentially a cameo, and we quickly get back to the good stuff.

This film is available in three editions – a one-disc DVD, a two-disc DVD, and a Blu-Ray edition. I got the two-disc DVD (with the exclusive action figure at Best Buy, because that’s just the kind of geek I am), so I’ll be talking about the extras on that version specifically. Like most of the DCU animated movies so far, there’s a lot of decent behind-the-scenes stuff. Disc Two actually features two half-hour documentaries. The first one one focuses on the history of Wonder Woman as a character, with quite an emphasis on the life of her creator, William Moulton Marston. The second focuses more on the character herself, her mythological roots, and her significance today. Both are well-produced, entertaining documentaries with lots of nice interviews with current DC staff, creators who have worked on the character in the past, comic historians and other experts of one stripe or another. There are also two Wonder Woman-centric episodes of the Justice League Unlimited series here – one featuring J’onn J’onzz and the Viking Prince, the other teaming her up with Hawk and Dove.

There’s also a nice preview of the upcoming Green Lantern: First Flight movie, and the now-requisite “digital copy” that will hopefully keep a few people from pirating the movie from the internet when they want to put it on their iPods.

Overall, this is a really solid movie that’s well worth watching for even a passing fan of the character. And if you’re a real fan of the character, the two-disc edition is more than worth the money.

Rating:


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[Jiggaman Tiga]

I don't know why.....everything you say is pretty much the truth. But I just couldn't get into this movie. Maybe it's the character. Maybe it's the fact that it's all origin like you say. But I didn't feel satisfied after this movie like I did with everything DCAU has put out outside of Titans in Tokyo.

Maybe I need to watch it again after the stupor of Watchmen fades. I'm watching 24 right now, and all I can think about is how frickin' awesome Rorschach was.

[Warpsters]

I really enjoyed it. It wasn't quite up to the level of New Frontier and the Batman animated movies(except Gotham Knights...that was a good try with some cool moments)but I thought it was damn good. The documentaries and WW action figure make the Best Buy exclusive the way to go.

[Blake Petit]

Oh yeah, I'm such a sucker for the extras.

I even wrote just about the action figure on my blog.

[staredcraft]

I just wish they kept the Behind the scenes of the movie Featurette...whatever it was called. But apparently it was dropped at the last second so they instead put most of the "Previews" that were done for the previouis DVDs, mainly New Frontier, Gotham Knights, and even the WW one from GK

[Mark Blicharz]

Really, really excellent movie. Simone nailed the interaction between Trevor and Diana.

[Terry Verticchio]

Seeing Gail's name in the credits is enough for me to check this out.

I might even get the action figure.

I also feel that maybe if this movie is successful it may just entice Warner to bring the Wonder Woman feature out of production hell and moreover hand it over to Gail to write.

One can dream.

[Blade X]

I'm not a Wonder Woman fan, but that didn't stop me from enjoying this movie. I thought this movie was great.

Hey Blake, did you watch the HULK VS DVD movies? If you did see both movies, what did you think of them? If you haven't watched the DVD, I highly recomend you watch it.

[Blake Petit]

Originally Posted by Blade X

I'm not a Wonder Woman fan, but that didn't stop me from enjoying this movie. I thought this movie was great.

Hey Blake, did you watch the HULK VS DVD movies? If you did see both movies, what did you think of them? If you haven't watched the DVD, I highly recomend you watch it.

Haven't seen it yet. It's on my NetFlix queue. When I do see it, it'll be part of an inevitable "Great Movie Ride" column.

[Terry Verticchio]

Okay I just finished watching this flick...

Now if they just made a live action version of this story I'd be happy.

Favourite line....Diana just gave that little girl an impromptu lesson in sword play..."Now unleash hell."

Quintessential Simone.

By the way...what were those kids doing in Central Park at night?

[Pile]

I liked it. Out of DC and Marvel it's my favorite animated movie since Doctor Strange.

7.4/10