DVD Review - 'Wonder Woman'

Wonder Woman Featuring the voices of Keri Russell, Nathan Fillion, Alfred Molina, and Rosario Dawson Directed by Laruen Montgomery Rated PG Own it on DVD March 3, 2009 Check out the official website: WonderWomanMovie.com

I have been bucking for a Wonder Woman movie for years, and the new animated feature from DC Comics and Warner Premiere gets it about half-right. The product line itself is a great idea; we've already seen a tie-in for The Dark Knight, and we'll get both a Justice League animated flick and a Green Lantern 'toon in short order.So if nothing else, these movies can be proving grounds for the big budget live- action movies in DC's future, maybe sooner than later. But just because this isn't a summer tentpole movie doesn't mean that this is just something to string us along until the day that there finally is a Wonder Woman movie in theaters. Writer Michael Jelenick and director Lauren Montgomery have been working on comic book adaptations for years, and the cast is superb: Keri Russell, Nathan Fillion, Rosario Dawson, Alfred Molina, Marg Helgenberger, Oliver Platt, and Virgina Madsen all voice primary characters, and frankly, that's a better collection than most $150 million animated movies can claim. So that's one of the things about this production that really stands out. The animation is only so-so. At least, I thought it could have been a lot better. There's nothing wrong with the overall design, but some individual characters seemed less thought out than some others. The dialogue is, as you might expect, not the film's strong suit. In an effort to get a PG-13 rating, one of the elements that's kicked into high gear is suggestive dialogue. For instance, this might be the first time in DC Comics history that Wonder Woman (Russell) is complimented on her rack, or rather, that an American fighter pilot (Fillion) who happens upon the secret Amazon island compliments her mother (Madsen) on Wonder Woman's breasts. Much of the dialogue is too cutesy for its own good, although it works when Oliver Platt says it for some reason. Another slight surprise is the level of violence, again a nod to the PG-13 rating. There's quite a bit of swordplay, and a couple heads are removed from their bodies. Here's where a more intense animation style would have really paid off. It sounds like I'm really critical of this, but as I said, this new Wonder Woman gets it about half-right. You can't argue with the voice actors, and even some of the story is pretty solid. It made me envision a Diana/Wonder Woman origin story, which comprises about the first 10 minutes or so of this film. It's essentially a female 300, and that approach has a lot of merit when (or if) DC moves forward with an eventual live-action film. I understand that they have to bring her into the here and now, which works because of the relationship between our heroine and the fighter pilot. Juggling those two worlds is tough, though. Oh yeah - the invisible jet? Well done. The DVD contains some making-of footage and features about the other DC/Warner Premiere animated flicks, meaning this is a good way to check out what's cooking for Green Lantern and Justice League. It's probably more for die hards than casual fans of the character or the TV series, but it gives us something to build on.
Watch the Wonder Woman trailer

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