Reviews - The Film
Wonder Woman Original Release Date -
March 3rd, 2009 (DTV Only)
On the mystical island of Themyscira, a proud and
fierce warrior race of Amazons have raised a daughter of untold beauty,
grace and strength Princess Diana. When an Army fighter pilot, Steve
Trevor, crash-lands on the island, the rebellious and headstrong Diana
defies Amazonian law by accompanying Trevor back to civilization.
Meanwhile, Ares (the god of War) has escaped his imprisonment at the
hands of the Amazonians and has decided to exact his revenge - intending
to start a world war that will not only last for centuries but will wipe
out every living being on the planet, starting with the Amazons! It is
up to Princess Diana to save her people and the world by using her gifts
and becoming the ultimate Wonder Woman!
Editor Rob Desales
Casting and Voice Direction Andrea Romano Music by
Christopher Drake Wonder Woman created by William Moulton
Marston Story by Gail Simone and Michael Jelenic
Screenplay by Michael Jelenic Executive Producer Sam Register
Producer Bruce Timm Line Producer Bobbie Page Directed by
Lauren Montgomery Animation Services Moi Animation Studio |
Keri Russell as Princess Diana /
Wonder Woman Nathan Fillion as Steve Trevor Alfred Molina
as Ares Rosario Dawson as Artemis Marg Helgenberger as
Hera Oliver Platt as Hades Virginia Madsen as Hippolyta
Skye Arens as Little Girl John DiMaggio as Deimos Julianne
Grossman as Etta Candy Vicky Lewis as Persephone David
McCallum as Zeus Jason Miller as Thrax Rick Overton as
Slick Andrea Romano as President’s Advisor Tara Strong as
Alexa Bruce Timm as Attacker
Reviews by Zach Demeter, James Harvey,
Disney Boy
Media provided by Warner Bros. Animation |
Review (Zach Demeter)
It’s been quite a while since the last DC
Universe title saw release and our glimpses of Wonder Woman
have started and stopped since July of 2008. Now those who were
eagerly awaiting this production can finally see what months of
interviews and images has led up to: the first full-length
animated Wonder Woman film. While we’ve seen her recently in Justice
League and the recent The New Frontier DC Universe
title, never has she been given a solo animated outing that
focused solely on her origins and supporting characters.
In terms of setting and story, there isn’t a whole lot here
that is worth mentioning. It’s set in modern times and the story
is simply an origin story mixed in with some mischief kicked up
by Ares, God of War. Trailers for the film showed off plenty of
action-packed sequences and the film certainly never disappoints
when it comes to the throwing of fists and clashing of swords.
For many finally having a strong and solid adaptation of Wonder
Woman’s origins will be more than enough to bring them around to
this film. After years of complaints about a naïve Princess
Diana in Justice League and Justice League Unlimited,
fans will finally get their more mature Diana, complete with
full ensemble of superpowers (minus the flight and twirling spin
trick) and her own love interest and rogues gallery.
Before I delve into the film itself, I feel I should mention a
few things about my general feelings towards this film. I
honestly didn’t know what to expect when trailers were released
and the interviews and still came flooding from Warner Bros.
Animation. For the most part I’ve enjoyed all of the DC Universe
productions, but I just wasn’t all that excited about Wonder
Woman. It’s not that I don’t enjoy the character, I just
never really cared about her either. Still, that’s what this
film was for, right? To create a nice origin story for the
character that received some of the least balanced treatment
among the “Big 7” in previous animated outings. In a sense this
is decent film, but, and I’ll probably catch flack for saying
this, there really isn’t anything really…well, wonderful
about it.
Let me start off with what I did enjoy about
the film. The voice acting, for the most part, was pretty solid.
Keri Russell as Wonder Woman was impeccable and Nathan Fillion
as Steve Trevor was a solid performance and the two together
certainly had a bit of vocal chemistry going on, even if their
characters didn’t really show it much. Virginia Madsen was
strong as Hippolyta and Alfred Molina brought one of the
greatest villain performances I’ve heard from the DCAU in a long
time as Ares. Unfortunately not everyone was perfect, as I felt
Rosario Dawson really didn’t understand her character all that
well, as she didn’t match the tone of the rest of the Amazon
warriors, nor did she read the lines with any kind of feeling.
Perhaps that was the intent behind her character, as Artemis
really was kind of a stiff character to begin with, but whenever
she was on screen I felt the performance was simply lacking.
The animation was also quite a delight, with really lush
backgrounds (the aerial fight was really quite fantastic; I’m
not sure what kind of backgrounds were used, but the texture and
detail on them was really great) at times and a few of the later
shots of D.C. were nice and epic in scale. There was one
unsightly piece of animation…Hades. He looked like a male Ursula
from The Little Mermaid. Needless to say, it creeped me
out. In addition the music, composed by Christopher Drake, was
nice and epic and the piece that accompanied the final fight in
the film was perhaps the strongest out of the entire film. I’m
definitely looking forward to hearing the isolated score,
whenever it’s released.
Of course the aforementioned
action in the film is all quite spectacular, but I actually have
a few gripes about that. My main issue with this film,
supposedly fully warranting its PG-13 rating due to the violence
contained within, really isn’t all that grand. Yes, there is
some limb dismemberment and a bit of blood here and there, but
there really wasn’t all that much to drop your jaw at. Swords
that stabbed individuals came out completely clean, with only
the tiniest amount of blood showing up elsewhere and quite
frankly for a film that sounded (based on the early NYCC
reviews) like it was going to be running with rivers of blood,
it was a pretty timid affair. It seems that Warner wants these
titles to be PG-13 only so far as to warrant the rating, but as
soon as they get to it they hold off on taking it any further.
Language is mild, violence, while plentiful, is for the most
part bloodless and the “adult” situations amount to nothing more
than some prostitution jokes and sexual innuendos.
What
also confused me was while this film surrounds a bunch of
Amazons, the amount of breast shots and aforementioned innuendos
is surprisingly high. While Diana definitely stands her ground,
Trevor’s advances are almost relentless and the amount of “Oh,
geeze” faces he makes whenever a situation occurs that tests
Diana’s patience became incredibly annoying after awhile. Again,
I get that these films are supposed to appeal to a wide range of
audiences, but there needs to be less juvenile behavior and
cartoonish moments for these films to be truly “adult.” When you
think about it, Mask of the Phantasm and Return of the
Joker (and even Sub-Zero to an extent) had fewer
“all-age” jokes mixed in with their stories, so why we’re being
fed so many of them now in this DC Universe PG-13 “only” line is
a bit strange.
There are other tiny elements in the film
that irked me but really aren’t worth moaning about for an
entire paragraph (simple things like dragon fire breath
seemingly stopping in mid-air for no reason [top right corner of
one of the D.C. sequences, if you’re wondering] and why the
tequila that Trevor and Diana drank was brown [yes I
realize some tequila is brownish in color, but this stuff looked
like whiskey]), but honestly I wasn’t as impressed with this as
I’d hoped. I think a large part of it was that I was previously
expecting absolutely nothing from the film as I was unsure how a
solo-outing for Diana would fare, but after the seemingly
unanimous praise that the film received at NYCC and how violent
it was, my expectation level went up a few notches. I should’ve
kept it at the lower end of the spectrum.
Honestly I
think the main disappointment stemmed from the overly fast paced
speed of the film, as it seemed no sooner did Diana and Trevor
come to New York were they hot on Ares trail all of the sudden
(a plot point I’m still not clear on…nor am I sure how Ares got
to America or how the Amazons all showed up on boats in the
waters of D.C.). There was also very little chemistry between
Diana and Trevor and we seemed to be more made to believe they
liked each other simply because that’s the only man Diana ever
met, yet she never actually shows any real interest in him
(except when she “pines” for him later). I will say that they
did make Diana’s character a lot less naïve than previous
animated incarnations, so that was a positive aspect at least.
In the end Wonder Woman is an entertaining film
for the most part, but nothing that actually made me excited to
be watching it. The action sequences were well done and
choreographed brilliantly (I especially liked some of the
physical moves of Diana during the alley fight), but between the
choppy pacing and other small quirks, I just didn’t find Wonder
Woman to be all that great of a film.
So where does
this film stand in terms of DC Universe productions? Well (as of
now at least) I’d put it above Superman/Doomsday at
least, as the more I watch that film the less I enjoy that one
as well, but as flawed as the other two DC Universe titles were
at times, I never picked out and noticed so many quirks as I did
with Wonder Woman. Still Recommended for DC
animation fans of course, but there really isn’t much in this
production that would make me want to recommended it to anyone
else.
Review (James Harvey)
Wonder Woman has always been a
hard-sell it seems, and unfairly so. While I can understand the
somewhat reluctance to get involved with a character that can be
difficult to relate to, you have to admit that she's a great
romantic figure, one that reminds me, personally, of some of the
best characters in classic literature. An Amazon born of the
clay, she rose to become an ambassador of peace, falling in love
with the world she's never seen. How classic does that sound?
Regardless of that, and save for a hit live-action series from
the 1970s, she's had a difficult history in the media. Even
though she's an influencial character, Wonder Woman has never
really broke out of the shadow of Batman and Superman, her male
DC Comics counterparts. Well, hopefully that will all change
with Wonder Woman, one of the best DC Universe Animated
Original Movie DVD releases to date. Let's get that pesky
synopsis out of the way and dig a little deeper into this new
animated feature.
On the mystical island of Themyscira, a
proud and fierce warrior race of Amazons have raised a daughter
of untold beauty, grace and strength Princess Diana. When an
Army fighter pilot, Steve Trevor, crash-lands on the island, the
rebellious and headstrong Diana defies Amazonian law by
accompanying Trevor back to civilization. Meanwhile, Ares (the
god of War) has escaped his imprisonment at the hands of the
Amazonians and has decided to exact his revenge - intending to
start a world war that will not only last for centuries but will
wipe out every living being on the planet, starting with the
Amazons! It is up to Princess Diana to save her people and the
world by using her gifts and becoming the ultimate Wonder Woman!
The opening battle sequence for Wonder Woman is a
sight to behold, full of sharp directing and beautiful
animation. While the battlefield is littered with corpses and
combative foes, the backgrounds are detailed and lush. It's an
absolutely stunning opening, and also pretty violent. Swords
clash and heads fly as the Amazons struggle to defeat an evil
foe. And this sequence is literally just the beginning. All this
sequence does is provide the backdrop for the rest of the movie.
Once the words "Wonder Woman" blaze across the screen, the movie
picks up with the leading character, Princess Diana, front and
center. And, thankfully, the movie does live up to the promise
of the opening sequence, even if it does falter a little here
and there.
Without a doubt, Wonder Woman is a fun
movie, full of striking visuals and great performances. Nathan
Fillion is absolutely perfect as Steve Trevor, who has some of
the best dialogue bits in the movie. Fillion manages to play up
the cocky nature of Trevor without it becoming too overbearing
or tiresome. There's one moment in particular, when Fillion
bares his soul after unknowingly stepping into Wonder Woman's
Lasso of Truth, where we get an understanding of who Trevor
really is. Keri Russell also manages to hold her own in this
movie. I'll admit I was initially skeptical of her being cast as
Wonder Woman when the news originally broke, but she does a good
job with the role. She really does push herself into the role
admirably and manages to pull it off. I don't think she
absolutely nails is like Fillion with Trevor, but she does solid
work as Wonder Woman, even resulting in some really hilarious
moments here and there. Russell's voice also helps define
Diana's age in the movie, too. She's still young and, I suppose,
a bit fresh when it comes to the world around her, and we see
that. There's one amusing scene where Wonder Woman, just
arriving in New York, tells a little girl to "Unleash Hell" in
an effort to console the child. Trevor and Diana have great
chemistry and, thankfully, Trevor never overshadows Diana
despite his strong presence in the movie.
Overall, I
thought the movie was very well cast, with everyone pulling
their weight respectively. If there was a weak point, I'd have
to say that Rosario Dawson was a bit too rough as Artemis. I
understand the character and what Dawson was going for, but I
don't think she pulled it off as well as she could. There were
some line reads that sounded so stilted compared to the others.
The movie does have a couple other detractors, though.
It tends to jump around for the last twenty minutes, and while
the movie does set up that Trevor and Diana are closely
following Ares, I don't think it's handled as well as it could
have been. This comes apparent especially for the final battle
which has the Amazons just showing up in Washington, DC after
Ares pops up there mere moments before. Yes, the Amazons do have
a magic mirror to view the outside world, and Paradise Island
does seem to pretty damn close to North America, like a few
miles away at most, but they do show up way too fast for my
liking. But, again, one can assume that the Amazons were also
tailing Ares, making it easy for them to show up when they did.
Still, how everyone winds up in the same place at the end seems
a bit contrived and could have been handled better. It's not too
distracting, but I guarantee that it may give you pause to
wonder, even for just a few seconds. Since I'm not a life-long Wonder
Woman fan, I am sure I missed a few other inconsistencies a
dedicated Princes Diana fan would have picked up, but that
seemed to be the major dropped story-point for me.
Well,
there's also the unexplained invisible jet the Amazons possess,
but I'm sure others more knowledgeable in Wonder Woman lore than
I can touch upon this better.
To get back on track, I
still think Wonder Woman is a solid animated
action-adventure, emphasis on "action." As extremely evident by
the opening sequence, this movie isn't for the faint of heart.
The battle scenes alone make this movie not entirely
kid-appropriate. We see a huge amount of stabbings and
decapitations within the opening moments, and then many more
during the climactic battle. The amount of dead in this movie is
staggering. And, as violent as these battle scenes are, they're
aren't as violent as early reviews will lead you to believe. In
fact, based on the commentary track for the movie, they seem to
have been toned down from their original presentation, which
would be understandable given the final product. Despite that,
it's still a violent movie, even if some of the more graphic
moments, such as decapitations, are done in silhouette.
Thankfully, the epic battle and fight scenes are countered with
Trevor and Diana, who are paired up for the majority of the
movie. Like I said above, there's good chemistry between the
two, and that helps balance the movie. If the movie was just an
animated retread of 300, then it would get tired really
quickly, but that's not the case here. The script provides a lot
of light and quiet moments that allow the characters to breathe
and move the story along naturally. Even the villains are given
some delicious moments, especially a very disturbing Hades, who
has some really great, creepy scenes. Everyone has a moment to
shine here, making it possible to actually care about what
happens and how the movie unfolds, even if the movie succumbs to
some erratic skipping toward the end of the feature.
A
lot of this is easily overlook-able thanks to some of the truly
beautiful animation we see on display here. I briefly mentioned
it above, but I'd like to go a little more in-detail for a
moment. Whether it's the opening battle scene or the detailed
cityscape, the animation on Wonder Woman is top-notch,
and possibly the best looking DC Universe Animated Original
Movie title to date. The movement is so fluid, with some of it
even bordering on rotoscope-smooth quality. There's one scene
involving a zombie Amazon (yes, you read that right) that is
animated in draw-dropping fashion. Yes, there are a few glitches
here and there, but any animation errors are far and few
in-between. The only things that may stand out to the trained
eye is the occasional obvious use of CGI, to bulk up the size of
battle scenes and number of characters, or the odd jumpy
animation cycle, such as walking cycles or the odd background
movement cycles. But, like I said, it's nothing that takes away
from the story at all. Overall, Wonder Woman likely has
the best animation to date for a comic-themed direct-to-video
animated feature, full of beautiful detail and sweeping visuals.
The movie is truly an eyeful.
If I had to compare it to
the previous DC Universe Animated Original Movie releases, I'd
rate it as the best yet. Much like Wonder Woman, each of
the previous installments had their flaws, but also had major
redeeming factors, too. Justice League: The New Frontier
was a great production, but struggled to fit a massive story in
a meager 75-minute movie. Batman: Gotham Knight was an
interesting experiment with six loosely related shorts, with
some better than others. Superman Doomsday was an
unapologetic smashfest that was heavy on visuals but a bit light
on story. Regardless of their faults, they were all enjoyable
and fun, but Wonder Woman does them all better for one
major reason. While there may be a few unexplained jumps, the
movie doesn't feel as rushed as previous animated features. Wonder
Woman is allowed to breathe for the 75-minute run time.
It goes without saying that Wonder Woman is an
animated feature that actually does have something for everyone,
as odd as that may sound. We get comedy, romance, action,
amazing animation, everything, and it's all actually balanced
really well. Just keep in mind that, like the previous DC
animated features, this movie it not appropriate for the younger
set. Easily the best DC Universe Animated Original Movie title
to date, it seems as though the creative team behind these
direct-to-video animated features are finally getting a hang of
what they can and cannot tell over a 75-minute period, and Wonder
Woman is an example of a step in the right direction. Not to
say that the previous DC Universe Animated Original Movie titles
were bad, they weren't, but they seem to be finding their
comfort zone on how to work these 75-minute features and Wonder
Woman is a prime example of that. This direct-to-video
animated feature is nearly perfect, and pretty much is until the
third act when the script takes a few jumps that seem to come
out of nowhere. Despite the flaws, once again, I find myself
standing behind and touting this release as Highly
Recommended. Wonder Woman is a great installment in
the DC Universe Animated Original Movie line, and a movie that
I'm sure fans new and old will gladly get behind.
Review (Disney Boy)
It was with great
anticipation and joy that I sat down to watch DC's latest
animated film, Wonder Woman. For far too long,
comicbookdom's original heroine has been left warming the bench
as Batman, Superman and Spider-Man get to have all the animated
and live-action fun. So it is a great relief to confirm that the
film holds together very well, bringing strong characterizations
and considerable action to vivid, 2D life. It stands tall,
easily the most impressive of DC's recent series of
direct-to-DVD features, but - to fans of the character who have
waited years for a movie like this - it all boils down to one
question: Does it do justice to Wonder Woman? The short answer
is...depends on what you consider most important to the
character
Wonder Woman the character, however, as
anyone who has followed her evolution in the comics can attest,
isn't quite so easy to nail down. Diana is the embodiment of
numerous contradictions. A gorgeous, virginal Princess in a
revealing one-piece who speaks of strength of character, inner
beauty and women's rights. A proud and skilled warrior on a
mission of peace to undo the influence of the God of War. An
outsider from a race of immortal, reclusive women trying to
teach the modern world to be more open-minded. If a writer
swings too far in any one direction, Diana can easily be reduced
to a vapid pin-up or man-hating brute.
Case in point, the
popular live action series from the 1970s. If Lynda Carter's
beloved portrayal of the Amazing Amazon laid the sweet and
feminine on a bit too thick, Bruce Timm's Justice League
and Justice League Unlimited tried to rectify this by
depicting her as more of an aloof outsider with a royal temper.
Neither really managed to achieve the balance between beauty,
brains, brawn and compassion believed by many to have been the
crowning achievement of George Perez's famed relaunch of the
Wonder Woman title in the early 1980s. His 62-issue run
on the book brought Diana's mythological origins to the
forefront, including supporting roles for the full Greek
Pantheon, established her firmly as an Emissary of Peace and
developed the unique attributes of each of her rivals, including
Circe, Dr Psycho and the Cheetah to name a few). Though the
first six-issue storyline from those books is used as a template
for the events of this movie, Wonder Woman confidently
marches to its own tune, stripping down each of the characters
to the bare essentials and redefining them for a new audience.
Perez attributed the Amazons' mistrust of men to their
suffering at the hands of demigod Heracles and his army, who
used seduction as their weapon to conquer and imprison the
female warriors. Timm's Justice League recast Hades, Lord
of the Underworld, as the handsome aggressor, and the Queen's
one-time suitor, in an attempt to provide Diana with a more
visually Satanic foe. This film finally brings Diana's long-time
comic book arch-nemesis Ares, God of War, to the forefront of
the action, but re-envisions him as a Justice League-style
Hades, Satanic motifs intact, in order to tie him more closely
to Hippolyta. In a new twist, Ares' abuse of the Queen is shown
to have resulted in the birth of a son, a situation she
rectifies early in the film, providing Ares with ample
motivation later on to go after Diana.
For the
convenience of the scriptwriters, Ares is portrayed as more of a
mortal, which permits Diana to engage him in hand-to-hand combat
sequences, but ultimately robs their relationship of the nuanced
respect they've shared for years in the comics. If Greg Rucka,
Phil Jiminez and George Perez were able to spin stories out of
Diana and Ares' opposing ideologies without allowing either to
triumph simply by smacking the other in the face, one can only
wonder why Simone and Jelenic opted not to rise to the occasion
and avoid the typical, tired hero/villain showdown. The end
result is an Ares who never really comes across as charming,
menacing or powerful as the producers would have intended and
the film suffers as a result. Even once he's finally regained
the full breadth of his powers at the end of the movie, his
plans are disappointingly one-note. The comic book Diana
convinced Ares that launching a nuclear attack on the world
would only kill off the worshippers from whose devotion he draws
his very existence. If handled correctly, such a conclusion
would have made both Diana and Ares look a little more wise, but
then I often find myself wondering why Perez's work isn't
followed more closely.
His Diana was as much an eager,
joyful young woman as obedient servant of the Gods. Though she
lacks the ability to fly under her own power, a trait she's had
since the 80s, this Wonder Woman is more the captain of her own
ship, acting without any prompting from Goddesses or time for
tearful farewells. As much as this re-interpretation empowers
the character, her likeability suffers, and in that respect,
she's not alone. Hippolyta and the Amazons are shown early on to
be remorseless killing machines with a stiff upper lip even when
faced with betrayal at the hands of one of their own. Their
Paradise Island is less a sanctuary of higher thinking as a
prison from which even the Queen secretly hopes to escape. They
are defined almost entirely by the abuse they're suffered and as
such, nowhere near the aspirational figures from the comics.
So, it only stands to reason that this Wonder Woman would be
similarly unsentimental and battle-ready, not that this accounts
for all her odd reactions throughout the movie. When Steve
realizes Ares' presence has incited acts of violence in Greece
and Turkey, Diana is content to remain in New York and do
tequila shots while waiting for further murders to occur and a
pattern to emerge that will better pinpoint her enemy's
location. Later, when she's threatened by a mugger in an
alleyway, this Diana replies "Maybe I want somebody to
get hurt". In one of the movie's cutest bits, she even teaches a
young girl how to impale the boys who refused to allow her to
partake in their jousting match. Ambassador of Peace, I think
not, and it's a shame. Whatever you want to say about Carter's
flouncy, grinning Diana, she stole the hearts of a generation in
a big way. Even Justice League Unlimited's Princess
eventually softened up a bit over time. This Diana still has a
ways to go and as such, the movie lacks something
quintessentially "Wonder Woman".
From a visual
standpoint, though, the film proves the days of groaning over
the limitations of digitally-inked animations are far behind us
now. The story opens with an epic battle the likes of which
we've never seen in any previous DCU animated project, and
continues to bring cleverly-staged, if somewhat overbearing,
action sequences right up until the closing credits. The
characters move across the screen with grace, with extra
flourishes given to everything from small hand gestures and
follow-through movements to hair and clothing. Though the basic
look of the movie is still Bruce Timm-influenced and a far cry
from Disney-levels of intricacy, the added shadows and diffused
light create new, intoxicating environments. The freshness of
Themyscira's air is almost palpable. Its lush, ancient forests
contrast nicely with the gritty streets of New York. The cloudy
skies, especially, bring a level of realism and sense of scope
to the world of the movie that marks a considerable step up.
As far as character designs are concerned, a small
controversy was already brewing months ago, when an early
promotional image showed Diana bearing more than a passing
resemblance to another seemingly ageless icon...Cher.
Thankfully, when this Wonder Woman leaps deflects bullets with
her silver bracelets, the comparison will quickly be forgotten.
Fans will be pleased by several small touches, including Diana's
Greek facial features and her mother's brunette locks, and
disappointed by the one obvious misstep - Ares. Until someone
can make a case for why the blue armour he's worn for the past
thirty years is somehow less classic than the Joker's signature
purple suit, I will continue to speak out against this
red-and-black look. He's not Satan and audiences don't need to
see the color red to understand that a villain is evil. Etta
Candy gets a similarly disappointing redesign. The "pleasantly
plump," as Timm later puts it comic book wife of Steve Trevor
seems to have switched bodies with the typically thin Hades
off-screen, who, in Wonder Woman, sits on his throne
eating grapes as though he were Dionysus. First-time director
Lauren Montgomery can hardly be blamed for wanting to set some
of the characters apart from their past incarnations, though,
and overall, has much to be proud of.
Perhaps the only
aspect of the film that cannot be debated, even by the most
particular of critics, is the invaluable contribution of
composer Christopher Drake. Hippolyta has two rather moving, if
noticeably dialogue-free moments in the picture, first when she
sculpts her daughter into existence on a rainy morning and then
when she unflinchingly allows her to leave home despite wanting
her to stay. Both are bolstered by Drake's enveloping score,
which does most of the heavy lifting, bringing deep emotion to
all the scenes and covering for where the script or performances
fall short. A soundtrack DC had better be on the way because
this man has pulled off quite a feat.
The all-star cast,
meanwhile, is something of a mixed bag. Keri Russell (Felicity,
Waitress) breaks free from her primetime past as
soft-spoken Felicity Porter to deliver a surprisingly confident
performance as the titular heroine. Rosario Dawson (Sin
City, Seven Pounds) brings an inspiring level of
passion and commitment to her role as the Amazon Artemis. Alfred
Molina (Spider-Man 2, The DaVinci Code) and
Virginia Madsen (Sideways) play well off each other as
Ares and Hippolyta in the opening scene, but fall flat
elsewhere. The simple truth of the matter is, voice acting is an
art unto itself, and not every actor can bring across a
well-rounded performance using only their voice.
Screenwriter Michael Jelenic, with story support from Gail
Simone, takes special care to craft a self-contained adventure
in no way hampered by the film's limited running time, a brisk
70 minutes. The overall structure is sound, even though some of
the supporting character arcs come off half-baked. Though they
aim for a King Triton-like growth on the part of Hippolyta, the
character feels more held back than anything else, boxed-in by
the script's desire to portray her largely as a bitter, one-note
victim instead of the cautious and loving Queen fans have come
to love. Similarly, Jelenic prefers to have Diana's mission of
peace come about as a result of the events of the film. Both are
interesting variations, but like Justice League before
it, run the risk of leaving fans feeling as though they're
getting an upside-down cake.
Elements like the infamous
Invisible jet and Ares' armies of monsters are thrown in without
explanation. The Amazons fly atop winged horses that pop up
conveniently for the battle scenes, but otherwise appear not to
live on their island. In the climax, Ares calls upon lighting
and raises armies of undead warriors, apparently without either
Zeus or Hades' assistance. These sorts of random occurrences
don't initially detract from the picture, but stick out upon
repeated viewings.
More successful are the attempts to
create chemistry between Steve and Diana, a couple whose Lois
and Clark-styled beginnings were gradually abandoned in the
comics, leaving Diana without a romantic partner for much of her
60+ year history. Though Simone, current writer of the Wonder
Woman book, has been pushing the limits of Diana's eternal
virginity by pairing her up with Tom "Nemesis" Tresser, fans
have struggled to warm to the idea of this fresh new suitor
having the honour of 'getting it on' with the Princess. Nathan
Fillion (Firefly, Castle), who plays Diana's
original blonde boy toy as the familiar jackass with a heart of
gold everyone knew in college, and is likely to win audiences
over with his relatable, mature sense of humour. When Steve
quips about the "God of Dependability" or starts spilling his
heart out because his foot is stuck in the Lasso of Truth, you
can't help but smile. His "men are pigs" shtick eventually wears
thin, but that's more the fault of the script, whose overall
depiction of men leaves much to be desired. He doesn't
completely seem like the perfect man for Princess Diana and
there is often more animosity between them than affection, but
the same can be said of the movie as a whole. Very close, but no
tiara.
Still, this film feels as much like a tactical
move as anything else. In creating a functional template for a
feature film and proving to audiences that Diana can kick butt
without the presence of a Justice League, perhaps Wonder
Woman will encourage DC to finally move forward with a
live-action film franchise or regular animated series. Then
again, the PG-13 rating, with a slightly more bloody R-rated
version eventually on the way, and implied sexual content kind
of negates this picture from the "kiddie flick" category.
Without the support of the Saturday Morning Set - who buy the
toys that get cartoon shows turned into movies - can this film
really make the impact needed to convince studios that kids, and
their parents, will spend cash to see more of the Amazing
Amazon? Only time will tell. And what is time to an immortal...?
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