DVD Review: ‘Wonder Woman’ Continues Series of Interesting DC Universe Releases

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HollywoodChicago.com DVD Rating: 3.5/5.0
DVD Rating: 3.5/5.0

CHICAGO – Even though I once had a weekly comic book addiction, I was never a big Wonder Woman fan. Maybe it was a trapping of my gender, but I always tended toward books with male heroes like Superman, Batman, and The X-Men. Having said that, I can still respect what the team behind DC Universe’s latest film have accomplished with “Wonder Woman,” another installment in an increasingly intriguing series of straight-to-DVD movies.

When you tell a lot of people that an animated straight-to-DVD movie is worth their time, a lot of them glaze over, smile, and nod. Trust me. “Superman: Doomsday,” “Justice League: The New Frontier,” “Batman: Gotham Knight,” and, now, “Wonder Woman” would make for a better superhero marathon than most live-action blockbusters of men (or a woman) in tights. If I had to rank the four, “WW” would be the lowest, but that’s largely just because of how highly I think of the other films, particularly the must-see “New Frontier”.

“Wonder Woman” takes the feminist roots of its heroine and turns them up to eleven. It’s essentially the classic origin story for the girl with the invisible jet, told with a lot more Shakespearian intensity than usual. Maybe a bit too much. Maybe it’s because I grew up on Lynda Carter, but this take on “Wonder Woman” sometimes felt a little too serious for its own good. They could have had more fun with it.

Wonder Woman was released on DVD on March 3rd, 2009.
Wonder Woman was released on DVD on March 3rd, 2009.
Photo credit: Warner Bros.

Princess Diana (Keri Russell), the girl who would become Wonder Woman, is raised to be a warrior on an island with no men after her mother Hippolyta (Virginia Madsen) defeats the god of war Ares (Alfred Molina) and imprisons him, vowing to never deal with the opposite sex again. When pilot Col. Steve Trevor (Nathan Fillion) crashes on the island, Diana wins a contest to take him back home.

The journey for Steve and Diana becomes fraught with peril when it turns out that Ares has been set free by a traitor on the island and is trying to contact Hades (Oliver Platt) to be released for good and take over the world. With very strong feminist undertones, Diana learns that she can be both a strong woman and that not all men are evil.

As I said, I was never a big “Wonder Woman” fan. And the script for this origin story feels like the weakest to date in the DC Universe line. I was struck more by the cheesy dialogue - “Maybe I think the world’s not worth saving if you’re not in it.” - than in previous installments.

And it feels the least ambitious of the DC Universe titles by far. Superman dies in “Doomsday,” “New Frontier” balances multiple heroes and arcs, and “Gotham Knight” is anime-influenced. “Wonder Woman” feels the most like a standard, Saturday morning cartoon, even if it’s a really good one.

One of the things that has set the DC Universe titles apart is the incredibly accomplished voice work and the people behind the drawings are the best thing about “Wonder Woman”. “Waitress” stars Nathan Fillion and Keri Russell are reunited and they have much of the same quick-and-clever chemistry as they did in that film. Rosario Dawson, Virginia Madsen, Alfred Molina - they are all fantastic.

The video and audio on the two-disc special edition of “Wonder Woman” are typically excellent for this line of releases. The colors are vibrant and clearly defined. Upconverted on a Blu-Ray player, it looks practically HD. And the audio in 5.1 Dolby Surround is similarly strong.

One of the elements of these DC Universe releases that have helped set them apart are the excellently designed, produced, and organized special features. Each title has come with a great documentary/featurette about the history of the character and “Wonder Woman” is no exception.

The second disc featurettes - “Wonder Woman: A Subversive Dream” and “Wonder Woman: Daughter of Myth” - combine to give viewers a great history of this legendary character from her origin to her influence. The first disc includes an informative commentary by producers Gregory Novak and Bruce Timm, writer Michael Jelenic, and director Lauren Montgomery, and a first-look at the fifth title in the series, “Green Lantern: First Flight”.

For the fourth time, DC has taken a legendary comic book hero and created almost the equivalent of a DVD reference book about that character through excellent featurettes and supplemental material. While “Wonder Woman” doesn’t stand up to the other three for me personally, it comes from the same desire of the team behind these titles to really make something to satisfy the fans. That’s more than you can say for most live-action supehero movies.

‘Wonder Woman’ is released by Warner Bros. Home Video and features voice work by Keri Russell, Nathan Fillion, Alfred Molina, Rosario Dawson, Virginia Madsen, Marg Helgenberger, and Oliver Platt. It was written by Michael Jelenic and directed by Lauren Montgomery. It was released on March 3rd, 2009. It is rated PG-13.

HollywoodChicago.com content director Brian Tallerico

By BRIAN TALLERICO
Content Director
HollywoodChicago.com
brian@hollywoodchicago.com

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