Wonder Woman

Released by: Warner Brothers
Released on: 3/3/09
Director: Lauren Montgomery
Cast: Keri Russell, Nathan Fillon, Alfred Molina, Rosario Dawson, Marg Helgenberger, Oliver Platt, Virginia
Madsen
Year: 2009

The Movie:

You know, growing up as a boy who was completely addicted to comic books, Wonder Woman never did it for me. The TV show was rad because Linda Carter filled out the costume nicely but really, despite some nice efforts from George Perez and Mike Deodatao, I could have cared less about the comic book. Obviously, despite personal preference, the character was hugely important to the D.C. universe and to comic books in general, but she just didn't do it for me so it took me completely by surprise to find that the latest feature length animated D.C. universe movie from Warner Brothers kept me completely enthralled. This is seriously good stuff we're talking about.

The movie kicks off with a bang when a battle between Queen Hippolyta of Amazon (Virginia Madsen) and her warrior women against Ares, The God Of War (Alfred Molina) comes to boil. Just as Hippolyta's ready to smoke Ares, Zeus (David McCallum) and Hera (Marg Helgenberger) save Ares' life, though they force him to wear metal gauntlets that can only ever be removed by another god. These gauntlets force him to serve as Hippolyta's slave, but Hippolyta is still pissed about all of this and, fearing for the safety of her clan, decides to hide the island of the Amazons in an alternate plane ensuring that they'll never have to worry about an invasion again.

Fast forward a few hundred years and the Amazons, while mighty warriors in their own right, are a country of peace loving hotties. Hippolyta gives birth to a daughter, who she names Diana (Keri Russell) who soon grows into a young woman. When an American fighter pilot named Steve Trevor (Nathan Fillion) somehow manages to crash his plane on the island, Diana winds up in a battle with local swordswoman Artemis (Rosario Dawson) and in turn wins the honor of returning the buff Yankee to his homeland. Diana heads off to the 'real world' and shortly after, Ares breaks out of his metal gauntlets thanks to some foul play courtesy of Hades (Oliver Platt). Intent on making life miserable for Diana's Amazon sisters, Ares unleashes the full fury of his rage on her people, leaving her and Steve as the only ones who can help.

Chock full of the type of hard hitting violence you wouldn't necessarily expect from a Wonder Woman movie, the film definitely earns its PG-13 rating with a fair bit of blood shed and carnage and obvious sexual overtones and innuendos (and even at one point the threat of castration!). That said, the movie also stays very true to the character's roots, essentially telling her origin story and setting up further adventures quite nicely. The animation, obviously based on Bruce Timm's drawing style, works well in that we get some quirky looking characters set against more realistic backgrounds making for an interesting looking picture. There's a very nice 'flow' to it all that keeps the movie visually appealing. The story moves along at a very brisk pace, it's never dull, but the character development is strong enough that there's some real meat on the bones of the central players.

Wonder Woman turns out to be a genuinely exciting mix of super heroics, mythology, sci-fi and action and it works really well thanks to a smart script, some great voice over work from a few instantly recognizable actors and actresses, and some slick direction. You don't have to be a fan of the comic book to get into this one.

Video/Audio/Extras:

The VC-1 encoded anamorphic 1.78.1 widescreen 1080p high definition transfer on this release looks excellent. The first thing you'll notice is how strong the colors look here, they're very bold and vibrant and very well defined. Complimenting this nicely are the rich, strong black levels. Detail is quite good throughout the presentation and really, the only noticeable issue is some banding that occurs throughout the film. There aren't any compression artifacts or edge enhancement issues to note and the animation generally looks excellent, but the banding is there, and there are a couple of moments where you might notice some mild jagged lines on the figures. These are minor complaints, however, as generally the image is pretty impressive.

Equally impressive is the 48 kHz/16-bit English language Dolby TrueHD 5.1 track that has been created for this release. Bass response is very tight and well defined while surround usage is quite noticeable and handled with a fair bit of precision most noticeably during the action sequences. Dialogue is consistently clear throughout the picture and the levels are perfectly balanced. The score doesn't sound quite as 'epic' or powerful as you might expect it to given the film's mythological trappings, but it still carries its weight and adds impact when it's used. An optional standard definition Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound mix is also included while subtitles are provided in English and French.

Warner has also included some worthwhile supplemental material on this release, starting with an audio commentary DC Comics Creative Affairs VP Gregory Noveck, producer Bruce Timm, co-writer Michael Jelenic and director Lauren Montomgery. This is actually a pretty informative talk that does a solid job of letting the various participants discuss their roles in the production and cover what it was like bringing one of comicdom's most recognizable icons to life.

Wonder Woman: A Subversive Dream is a decent half hour documentary that explores the cultural significance and importance of the Wonder Woman character, explaining her influence, how she changed comics, and what sets her apart from other classic heroes. This sits nicely alongside another half hour documentary entitled The Daughters Of Myth, which explores the character's mythological origin and places it into context with the comic book universe she lives in. Between these two segments, pretty much everything you would hope would be covered in regards to how she was created and where she came from is covered - who says comics and cartoons can't be educational?

Closing out the extras is a bunch of promotional material for other animated D.C. Comics projects - we get a ten minute preview of the upcoming Green Lantern animated feature, four bonus episodes from the Justice League cartoon, and previews for the Batman: Gotham Knight and Justice League: New Frontiers features. None of the extras are presented in HD, they're all 480i. Animated menus and chapter selection are included and the second disc in the set holds a digital copy of the feature film.

The Final Word:

A surprisingly edgy take on the character, D.C.'s animated Wonder Woman feature film is entertaining, stylish, and far cooler than it really had any right to be - it's a pretty bad ass movie that looks and sounds great on Blu-ray!