Wonder Woman Animated Movie
Post Honourkeeper signings, I sat down for a well-earned cup of coffee and to watch the latest animated movie from DC - Wonder Woman. This is the next in line of a batch of straight to DVD, feature-length animated movies, alongside the likes of Superman: Doomsday, Justice League: New Frontier and Batman: Gotham Knight.
I'm a little too young to be a fan of the old Wonder Woman TV series starring Lynda Carter, but I was obviously aware of the character (what adolescent boy wasn't).
She's part of the Trinity of DC's uber-super heroes, including the aforementioned Amazon warrior princess, Superman and Batman. It kind of made sense that Wonder Woman be given the animated movie treatment relatively early on in DC's pantheon of animated features then.
My experiences of the character come from the Justice League and, later, Justice League Unlimited TV shows (which are frankly superb, especially the latter as it embraced some pretty sophisticated story lines with an overarching narrative and as many DC characters as you could possibly want in an animated show). This show had the legend that is Bruce Timm at the helm (who was also instrumental in the award-winning Batman the Animated Series) amongst other luminaries.
Timm is involved here again, as producer of the Wonder Woman movie and there are some other familiar names too, namely the excellent Andrea Romano responsible for casting and voice direction (a stalwart of the DC animated shows and features). With this in mind (together with some of the great reviews I've seen for this), I was very much looking forward to this feature.
The animated Wonder Woman is a far cry from the late sixties/early seventies TV show - there's none of the campness, the dazzling seventies overtones and gay iconism. Rather, this version of Wonder Woman is rooted strongly in mythology. Surprisingly, though this gels with the Justice League version of the character, there are some departures too - she cannot fly for instance and instead uses her invisible plane to get around and there's also a slight redesign on the character (read superbly by Keri Russell).
As if to hammer home its PG13 rating, together with its gods and monsters credentials, the opening prologue of the movie is set in Themyscira (the mystical utopian island of the Amazons, ruled over by Queen Hypolita and kept shrouded from the land of men i.e. America - usually - by a magical mirror), many years before Wonder Woman is even born. It works as a sort of battle-scene establishing shot and sets up the tone of the movie expertly.
Queen Hypolita and her Amazon warriors (including the ass-kicking Artemis, bookish Alexa and battle-seasoned Persephone) are engaged in bloody battle against hordes of fell creatures: trolls, minotaurs, harpies, brutish viking-esque huscarls and other beasts. They are the army of Ares, the former lover of Hypolita, who she has now spurned upon realising he's the god of war and a bit of an evil swine.
Gratifyingly, there are no punches pulled in this graphic, bone-rending opening sequence. The dead pile up and carnage reigns supreme (much to Ares delight, portrayed by the excellent Alfred Molina). Expect to see bodies falling left, right and centre to spear thrusts, sword slashes and worse. It's easy to see here how the movie earned its PG13 rating. I didn't find it gratuitous, though, and the movie's makers stop short of showing too much blood - swords often slip free of malformed bodies clean, as do spears. Key deaths are illustrated with a little blood, but it's done artfully and has emotional resonance.
Best of all is when a certain character is decapitated - the deed shown in silhouette (a fact that made it all the cooler in the context of the narrative). You see the head itself later, cast aside like the spoil of war it is.
There's a real strong sense of myth and grandiosity in this opening section as Ares is defeated, his powers stripped away by the almighty Zeus and incarcerated by Hypolita. A short montage follows in which Wonder Woman's creation is described; not of man, or the unholy union between Hypolita and Ares that brought about the birth of his degenerate and ultimately ill-fated son, Thrax, but forged instead from sand and given life by the gods. Truly then Diana (aka Wonder Woman) is a special warrior indeed.
Fast forward about eighteen years (or whatever maturation age is for Amazons - they live forever on the island, so who's to say), and times have changed. Gone are the endless wars, thanks to the end of Ares (for now...) and a time of peace and seclusion have been brought about. This is much to the chagrin of Artemis, who would like nothing better than a good battle to slake her warrior's thirst. Alexa, of course, is more than happy with the peace and tranquility, being the bookish, pacifist that she is.
These ancillary characters do show some initial promise, the dichotomy between them and Artemis's rivalry with Diana in all things martial and skill-based, but do peter out to nothing somewhat as the movie's 80 minute running time forces the story to focus on Wonder Woman (a pity it wasn't another 10-20 minutes longer, to develop sub-characters and set up/explain some more of the background - a few scene shifts are a little abrupt - the discovery and subsequent butt-kicking of the Cult of Ares for instance).
The static nature of life on Themyscira is soon altered forever by the arrival of Steve Trevor, a US airforce pilot and ostensibly Wonder Woman's love interest in the movie. After an amusing sequence where Steve comes to realise the native Themyscirans aren't just a society of super-hot women who like bathing naked together under a plunging waterfall, but a race of ultra-feminist, super-hard, warrior-Amazons, a different battle starts to unfold between the two central characters as they head off to the land of men to track down Ares (who has subsequently escaped after ensnaring an embittered Persephone into loving him) and return Steve to his native lands.
There's a couple of throwaway battles here as Wonder Woman does her stuff (having been given sanction to return to the mainland with Steve Trevor after passing a series of martial trials to determine a worthy escort for him/emissary for Themyscira in secret) and the battle I mentioned earlier, one of the sexes, begins in earnest.
Although diverting and with the occasional amusing line, this sequence felt a little rushed (though Nathan Fillion, as Steve Trevor, is awesome as usual) and after a couple of fairly cliche 'thugs try to rob them in the alley, but don't bank on the fact they're holding up the toughest female super hero ever conceived in the DC pantheon' and 'Steve tries to get Diana drunk on tequila not reckoning on her Amazonian constitution' moments, it's back to the main storyline, involving the recapture of Ares.
It follows a somewhat predictable but none-the-less enjoyable path after that, which culminates in Ares having his god-like powers restored by a disturbingly envisioned Hades (for a price, of course, and one that he doesn't fully understand - that pesky god of the underworld: just can't be trusted...), and an all-out battle commencing for the fate of the USA and the world. It's not explained exactly how Ares manages to summon all of his fell creatures to commit to battle nor how this battle to end all battles really starts (or even what his end game is), but it's a grandstand finale that works well in the context of the story.
I'd definitely recommend this movie if you're a fan of animation or DC heroes. It has action, a thin narrative but a decent heart.
Next on the list for DC is Green Lantern: First Flight, which, from what little I know about it, looks pretty damn awesome - a kind of super hero space opera or something, tonally very different from its predecessors. Like Wonder Woman, it's an original story though does chart the characters origins from the initial Hal Jordan start point (I was always fan of the black power, John Stewart, but you can't have everything right?).
With some pretty well-known names signed up (Victor Garber, Michael Madsen), and employing the exquisite minimalist art style of the Justice League, Batman and Superman animated shows, this is one I'm very much looking forward too.
I'm a little too young to be a fan of the old Wonder Woman TV series starring Lynda Carter, but I was obviously aware of the character (what adolescent boy wasn't).
She's part of the Trinity of DC's uber-super heroes, including the aforementioned Amazon warrior princess, Superman and Batman. It kind of made sense that Wonder Woman be given the animated movie treatment relatively early on in DC's pantheon of animated features then.
My experiences of the character come from the Justice League and, later, Justice League Unlimited TV shows (which are frankly superb, especially the latter as it embraced some pretty sophisticated story lines with an overarching narrative and as many DC characters as you could possibly want in an animated show). This show had the legend that is Bruce Timm at the helm (who was also instrumental in the award-winning Batman the Animated Series) amongst other luminaries.
Timm is involved here again, as producer of the Wonder Woman movie and there are some other familiar names too, namely the excellent Andrea Romano responsible for casting and voice direction (a stalwart of the DC animated shows and features). With this in mind (together with some of the great reviews I've seen for this), I was very much looking forward to this feature.
The animated Wonder Woman is a far cry from the late sixties/early seventies TV show - there's none of the campness, the dazzling seventies overtones and gay iconism. Rather, this version of Wonder Woman is rooted strongly in mythology. Surprisingly, though this gels with the Justice League version of the character, there are some departures too - she cannot fly for instance and instead uses her invisible plane to get around and there's also a slight redesign on the character (read superbly by Keri Russell).
As if to hammer home its PG13 rating, together with its gods and monsters credentials, the opening prologue of the movie is set in Themyscira (the mystical utopian island of the Amazons, ruled over by Queen Hypolita and kept shrouded from the land of men i.e. America - usually - by a magical mirror), many years before Wonder Woman is even born. It works as a sort of battle-scene establishing shot and sets up the tone of the movie expertly.
Queen Hypolita and her Amazon warriors (including the ass-kicking Artemis, bookish Alexa and battle-seasoned Persephone) are engaged in bloody battle against hordes of fell creatures: trolls, minotaurs, harpies, brutish viking-esque huscarls and other beasts. They are the army of Ares, the former lover of Hypolita, who she has now spurned upon realising he's the god of war and a bit of an evil swine.
Gratifyingly, there are no punches pulled in this graphic, bone-rending opening sequence. The dead pile up and carnage reigns supreme (much to Ares delight, portrayed by the excellent Alfred Molina). Expect to see bodies falling left, right and centre to spear thrusts, sword slashes and worse. It's easy to see here how the movie earned its PG13 rating. I didn't find it gratuitous, though, and the movie's makers stop short of showing too much blood - swords often slip free of malformed bodies clean, as do spears. Key deaths are illustrated with a little blood, but it's done artfully and has emotional resonance.
Best of all is when a certain character is decapitated - the deed shown in silhouette (a fact that made it all the cooler in the context of the narrative). You see the head itself later, cast aside like the spoil of war it is.
There's a real strong sense of myth and grandiosity in this opening section as Ares is defeated, his powers stripped away by the almighty Zeus and incarcerated by Hypolita. A short montage follows in which Wonder Woman's creation is described; not of man, or the unholy union between Hypolita and Ares that brought about the birth of his degenerate and ultimately ill-fated son, Thrax, but forged instead from sand and given life by the gods. Truly then Diana (aka Wonder Woman) is a special warrior indeed.
Fast forward about eighteen years (or whatever maturation age is for Amazons - they live forever on the island, so who's to say), and times have changed. Gone are the endless wars, thanks to the end of Ares (for now...) and a time of peace and seclusion have been brought about. This is much to the chagrin of Artemis, who would like nothing better than a good battle to slake her warrior's thirst. Alexa, of course, is more than happy with the peace and tranquility, being the bookish, pacifist that she is.
These ancillary characters do show some initial promise, the dichotomy between them and Artemis's rivalry with Diana in all things martial and skill-based, but do peter out to nothing somewhat as the movie's 80 minute running time forces the story to focus on Wonder Woman (a pity it wasn't another 10-20 minutes longer, to develop sub-characters and set up/explain some more of the background - a few scene shifts are a little abrupt - the discovery and subsequent butt-kicking of the Cult of Ares for instance).
The static nature of life on Themyscira is soon altered forever by the arrival of Steve Trevor, a US airforce pilot and ostensibly Wonder Woman's love interest in the movie. After an amusing sequence where Steve comes to realise the native Themyscirans aren't just a society of super-hot women who like bathing naked together under a plunging waterfall, but a race of ultra-feminist, super-hard, warrior-Amazons, a different battle starts to unfold between the two central characters as they head off to the land of men to track down Ares (who has subsequently escaped after ensnaring an embittered Persephone into loving him) and return Steve to his native lands.
There's a couple of throwaway battles here as Wonder Woman does her stuff (having been given sanction to return to the mainland with Steve Trevor after passing a series of martial trials to determine a worthy escort for him/emissary for Themyscira in secret) and the battle I mentioned earlier, one of the sexes, begins in earnest.
Although diverting and with the occasional amusing line, this sequence felt a little rushed (though Nathan Fillion, as Steve Trevor, is awesome as usual) and after a couple of fairly cliche 'thugs try to rob them in the alley, but don't bank on the fact they're holding up the toughest female super hero ever conceived in the DC pantheon' and 'Steve tries to get Diana drunk on tequila not reckoning on her Amazonian constitution' moments, it's back to the main storyline, involving the recapture of Ares.
It follows a somewhat predictable but none-the-less enjoyable path after that, which culminates in Ares having his god-like powers restored by a disturbingly envisioned Hades (for a price, of course, and one that he doesn't fully understand - that pesky god of the underworld: just can't be trusted...), and an all-out battle commencing for the fate of the USA and the world. It's not explained exactly how Ares manages to summon all of his fell creatures to commit to battle nor how this battle to end all battles really starts (or even what his end game is), but it's a grandstand finale that works well in the context of the story.
I'd definitely recommend this movie if you're a fan of animation or DC heroes. It has action, a thin narrative but a decent heart.
Next on the list for DC is Green Lantern: First Flight, which, from what little I know about it, looks pretty damn awesome - a kind of super hero space opera or something, tonally very different from its predecessors. Like Wonder Woman, it's an original story though does chart the characters origins from the initial Hal Jordan start point (I was always fan of the black power, John Stewart, but you can't have everything right?).
With some pretty well-known names signed up (Victor Garber, Michael Madsen), and employing the exquisite minimalist art style of the Justice League, Batman and Superman animated shows, this is one I'm very much looking forward too.
Labels: Wonder Woman. DC Animated Movies
posted by Nick Kyme at
18:20
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