Review of Wonder Woman (2009) by Jonathan P — 10 Mar 2009

DC manages to come out from under the Bruce Timm shadow and produce something a little more grown-up. Although not completely perfect, it's a beautiful start.

We start with a battle between Hippolyta and Ares, moving forward into the creation of Paradise Island, the birth of Wonder Woman from clay, Steve Trevor's crash landing, the contest to find an emissary, a venture into the underworld and the final battle in Washington D.C.

Let's face it, this movie has it all and tonally it manages to push all the right buttons, my only problem with it being it tries to push too many and cram them into something that only lasts just over an hour.

I was impressed with the level of violence in the film, it manages to contain itself and not turn into a splatterfest, but doesn't hold back from plenty of slicing and dicing. There's heavenly politics and intrigue going on as well, although appearances by the gods are few.

The opening scene with Hippolyta and the Amazons fighting Ares and his hordes was a joy to behold, I could have quite happily watched an hour and a half of that, and I think that's part of what the film lacks. By putting so much into one film, it fails to fully explore every fantastic idea it has, and that makes me a little sad. I would have been much happier seeing this as a television series, and who knows, maybe it will turn into one.

With Marvel firing all cylinders with Thor, this might very well be the mythological contender.

I was happy to see the source material respected while still providing a fresh spin on origins. Themyscira is still there, the explanation as to how it came about is just a little different. I thought the explanation as to why the costume was a USA flag was great, as that's always bothered me a little. Why would an ancient Greek society of warrior women dress their hero in an American flag? To go in peace to the country they are visiting is a fantastic idea, and it makes me curious to see past emissary missions with different wonder women dressed in different flags.

The supporting cast is top-notch too. I was happy to see Hippolyta get plenty of screen time, as well as Artemis who is my favourite Amazon, second only to Diana. Steve Trevor was great as comedic relief, and plenty of it too. My one complaint would be Etta Candy, who makes a brief appearance to serve a purpose, and is played closer to Cat Grant than the Etta Candy in the comics.

The voice work is fantastic, although it took me about five minutes to get used to the fact all the voices have American accents, you know, what with being ancient greeks and all. But Keri Russell really makes it work as Wonder Woman, and is definitely the highlight of some stellar voice work all round.

The changes in tone within the movie might be brief, but at least they aren't jarring. We go from epic ancient battles to witty humour to debates on gender and it all works in a very fluid manner. I was surprised to be laughing out loud plenty, there are parts of this movie that are very funny and smart. There's even some slightly profound arguments about gender divides and fundamentalist ideas. I was just sad to see emotional resonance lost because the film is so short.

The definite highlight of the movie comes when the Amazons gather in Washington, it's like 300 meets Troy and everything you thought you were going to see in Amazons Attack. I also have two words for you: Zombie. Amazons. Yes, really. And it's awesome.

This is definitely a step in the right direction for DC animated movies, and might hopefully get the ball rolling on some more animated and live action movies (Marvel is putting them to shame). The very last scene is just a cruel tease for a sequel I am very much looking forward to.