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This is the double-disc edition and if you know anything about me, you knew it would be the double-disc version. This also includes a digital copy, which I hope I’ll actually use one of these days.
The Main Characters
--Wonder Woman/Diana Prince (voiced by Keri Russell) is the warrior daughter of Hippolyta, matriarch of the Amazons. She must enter into the realm of us mere humans to stop Ares.
--Ares (voiced by Alfred Molina) is the freaking god of War. He brings death and destruction anywhere he goes and wants to see all life wiped out.
The Setting
Themyscria, the island paradise of the Amazons and pretty much all over the world.
The Film (1:13:30)
This starts with a prologue to Wonder Woman, with Hippolyta battling Ares, god of war in battle. This thing earns its PG rating right away, with lots of blood and even a beheading! Ares is almost killed until Zeus intervenes. Ares is imprisoned to Hippolyta (using bands only a god can take off), thanks to Hera, and she also gives her an island where they won’t age. They get their own kingdom and her own daughter created from the sands of that paradise. That daughter is Diana.
The island paradise of Themyscira is hidden for centuries, until a pilot crash (Steve Trevor) lands on the island. He is to be brought back to the human world by an emissary who wins a tournament. That winner is Diana, who competed against her mother’s wishes. Of course, as this happens, Ares is freed by one of the guards he had been courting and then after defeating Wonder Woman in NYC gets his shackles freed. This leads to a huge all-out war between Ares and his army against Wonder Woman and the arriving Amazonians.
Movie Review
One thing you have to say about DC Animated, they get some top-flight names to do the voice-over work. There’s Keri Russell, Alfred Molina, Rosario Dawson (Artemis), Marg Helgenberger (Hera) and Virginia Madsen (Hippolyta). Those’re some big names. The animation is top-notch, too. It’s similar to the Batman/Superman animated series, though not quite as Fleischer-esque. The story was solid enough and Wonder Woman’s origin was really well done. It was succinct but fit into the storyline so that the characters involved in there were there for a reason. You want action with your Wonder Woman film? This had plenty of that, too. The one thing I had a problem with was that some of the language used was there just to ensure it had a PG-13 rating. I thought it wasn’t too violent but things like Trevor telling Diana she has a nice rack was unnecessary and took me out of the film. Is it distasteful? I didn’t think so, it was more trying to be funny and edgy, but just beware if you’re watching this with your children or young ones. This was a huge step up from the last DC Animated film (the awful Gotham Knight one) and is a very respectable representation of Wonder Woman. They picked a great villain that tied into the Amazonian lore and the little piece at the end with the appearance of a Wonder Woman foe is a great conclusion to the film. Recommended.
DVD Features
A) Extras
---Disc One---
1) Audio Commentary
One major no-no that this DVD has is that the names of the people who recorded the commentary were not listed anywhere! That’s a major faux pas, DC! From what I could hear, we have Gregory Noveck (Executive Producer), Michael Jelenic (writer), Bruce Timm and Lauren Montgomery (director) joining us on this commentary. This was an entertaining commentary, though not one filled with loads of interesting information. Disney is mentioned frequently and there were some periods of silence (which is odd on a 70-minute movie). They didn’t really talk much about the voice-over actors, either.
2) First Look at the Animated Feature Film Green Lantern Animated Film (10:11)
Let me preface this by saying I think it is awesome they are making a Green Lantern film. I’m not the biggest GL fan by any means but just to have this wide breadth of characters on DVD is fantastic. It starts by looking at the Golden Age Green Lantern being based on mysticism, a popular subject of the time. Fast-forward 20 years and when the Green Lantern is recreated, a pilot is used, thanks to the space programs popular at that time. The story will focus on Hal Jordan and Sinestro. This looks good.
3) From Graphic Novel to Original Animated Movie – Justice League: The New Frontier (10:44)
JL: New Frontier was awesome, pick it up. I feel like I’ve seen this before on another DC DVD. Still, a good look at New Frontier.
4) Wonder Woman: The Amazon Princess (10:25)
The voice-over talent (with some big names) talk about recording this show as Dan Didio and other DC guys talk about Wonder Woman. There’s a brief history of the character in the comics and it talks about how the movie will be done. This is another preview that was on a previous collection.
5) Batman Gotham Knight: An Anime Evolution (10:09)
This is another of the making-of previews that DC throws on DVD’s that precede the one in question, and so this is on another DVD. I’ve seen it before. What I do like about these previews is that it gives a history of the character before going into what the DVD is about.
6) Trailers (3:42)
There are trailers for Lego Batman (1:15), Inkheart on Blu-Ray (0:32), Scooby-Doo and the Samurai Sword (0:56), and The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest (0:59)
---Disc Two---
1) Wonder Woman: A Subversive Dream (25:33)
To understand Wonder Woman, you need to look at the time she was created and that’s where we start, with 1930’s America. William Marston, the creator of Wonder Woman, was a noted psychologist of the time, the Dr. Phil of his era if you will. His wife was just as educated as him, but not given the proper regards because she was a woman. She was actually the one who had the original idea of the lie detector test, something her husband got credit for. He wrote an article on why children like comic books and he was soon asked by comic book creators at DC to create one of his own. Suprema was born, and she became Wonder Woman. Hugh Hefner makes an appearance on this documentary (I am as surprised as you are!). There is a lot of discussion about how Marston psychologically using things like jewelry for the Wonder Woman character and using a pilot to hook the boy readers at first. Things took a turn for the worse when Wertham’s “Seduction of the Innocent” was published. The look at Wonder Woman’s history dies down shortly after this, which is a shame. They touch on the Denny O’Neill run in the 60’s and that’s that. They could’ve done an hour easy on this.
2) Wonder Woman: Daughter of Myth (25:36)
They note by saying that Themyscira is paradise, an Eden if you will, until a serpent arrives in the form of Steve Trevor. Wonder Woman also has to go through the “heroes’ test.” Wonder Woman’s mythology was influenced by the current times, including Rosie the Riveter. There’s some interesting things here, especially connecting Wonder Woman to old myths. For instance, the name Diana is taken from the name that Artemis used when walking amongst humans. We move from the mythology of Wonder Woman to here mainstream success in television. This was really entertaining and I loved how the mythology was tied into Wonder Woman.
3) Bruce Timm’s Top Picks
---A) To Another Shore (22:43)
Original Airdate: 09/24/05
Wonder Woman goes out to a meeting for her mother and she tries to get Martian Manhunter out of her shell. We then head to the Legion of Doom and see Luthor giving out powers to people (including Devil Ray, instead of being Black Manta) and Grodd relating a Norse story of a torrid affair between a Viking Prince and a goddess in beautiful paneled art. Grodd says the Viking Prince is on a ship found in a glacier and the LoD want to harness that power. So the villains try to steal the ship and only Wonder Woman is there to stop them. She gets help from Martian Manhunter and Green Arrow and the day is saved! This was also included on the New Frontier DVD, making approximately 1 hour of the four hours of extra features available on other discs. Were there no other Wonder Woman-centric episodes?
---B) Hawk and Dove (22:44)
Original Airdate: 08/21/04
An armored behemoth named the Annihilator is built for Ares, god of war. He sells it as a WMD which just so happen to coincide with Wonder Woman being a little bit more moody than usual. We also meet Hawk and Dove, two dudes. I’m not the biggest DC fan, but weren’t they girls in the comics? Okay, Wikipedia tells me that girls have been Hawk & Dove but the originals, created by Steve Ditko were dudes. Anyway, Wonder Woman and the duo of Hawk and Dove must team up to stop the Annihilator, a device that runs on anger.
B) Audio/Video
This is in widescreen, which the box calls matted, preserving the aspect ratio of the original TV exhibition. So the DVD was made to fit TV screens when it eventually makes it onto TV? Both audio and video were fine. It was a good transfer of a cartoon with nice brights.
C) Packaging / Liner Notes
This is a standard DVD case with a nice slipcase that is nice and shiny to attract people’s eyes. There are no liner notes to speak of except for the Digital Copy code.
D) Easter Eggs
None
Overall Review
I always start this with the previews that lead into these things. Blu-Ray (1:09) and Star Wars Clone Wars (1:32). One thing I have to bring up is the amount of repeats of extras on here. There’s almost an hour worth of stuff that you can find on other collections. The three ten-minute previews of Wonder Woman, New Frontier and Gotham Knights were featured on Gotham Knights, Superman: Doomsday and New Frontier respectively. One of the JLU cartoons was also on the New Frontier DVD. SO they promoted four hours of features but really, only three of them were unique to this disc; the commentaries and the two looks at Wonder Woman. Let me say, those three hours are well worth the price of admission, especially the two Wonder Woman featurettes that really could’ve used another 10-30 minutes added on to each. This was a really nice collection which is appropriate for the biggest women comic character in history. In the Wonder Woman preview one of the guys (I think Paul Levitz) says that this will be THE definitive origin of Wonder Woman, and it really was. Great film, great extras, and a very high recommendation. The repeats will knock this rating down a notch, but it is still an awesome collection.
Overall Rating
9.5
10.0 Perfect
9.0-9.5 Near Perfect, Highly Recommended
8.0-8.5 Really good disc, Recommended
7.0-7.5 Good DVD, Mildly recommended
6.0-6.5 Above Average DVD. Mildest of mild recommendations
5.0-5.5 Decent all around disc, but catch it on TV
4.0-4.5 Great Movie but horrible DVD
3.0-3.5 Horrible movie but great DVD
2.0-2.5 There’s at least some merit to this DVD, but not much.
1.0-1.5 Horrible DVD, don’t even bother
0.0-0.5 Worst DVD ever
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