Though Wonder Woman has seen a tried and failed TV Series and a popular three season TV Series in the '70's the character never had the recognition she deserved after that. So we saw her in the Justice League animation, though not until 2009 did she get a feature length animation to herself. While both Batman and Superman had series and movies to their credit. Not such a good thing for one of DC's Trinity.This film goes to show that both DC and Warner were wrong to shelf the Amazon Wonder for so long. I still cannot believe that there wasn't a series on the back of this movie. The story which the writers give the audience is one based on the current mythos. After the Amazons help Zeus to defeat Ares - the God of War, Zeus and Hera entrusts them to hold him prisoner on an Island created for that sole purpose - Themyscira. Mystical bracelets shackle him against using his powers. After years of guarding Ares, Diana is born out of her mother's love and Zeus' will, after Queen Hippolyte forges her from clay. More years go by and Diana grows into a young woman learning the ways of the Amazons. until their peace is shattered by a jet fighter crashing on their Island. Under the lasso of truth it's deemed that the pilot, Steve Trevor is no threat and should be returned to his world. During the Games to find an emissary to accompany Trevor, Ares is set free by his guard, his secret lover, Persephone. Now Diana has two missions to accomplish.The director does a wonderful job of keeping the action sequences coming thick and fast while interweaving some very good drama sequences (of which I particularly like the Steve Trevor lasso interrogation scene and Diana's introduction to Ares). The great thing about animation is that you have a broader scope of what you can bring to life. In this case it's the monster, demons, and ghosts. If this had been made in live action it would have required a much bigger budget.The story, on the whole, is strong and both the writers do a great job with the Amazons and their time period. The many references and quotes go along way to set an atmosphere and a believability for the audience. The only thing I found wrong with the film was Steve Trevor's character who comes of week and unassured at times. Even Fillion helps to give the character a "Wimpy" feel. Steve Trevor should be the complete opposite of these, with more than a smattering of cocky to boot. I think a rewrite of the character and a voice change would have worked better - David Boreanaz'ish or Ryan Reynold'ish.I also don't believe that Molina had the strength to voice Ares, who actually comes off kinda Meh! It needed a darker and richer voice, somewhere between Brian Blessed and Tim Curry (circa Legend) to give the God the power he deserves. Russell does a great job as Wonder Woman and in the scene with the ice cream brings out the child in Diana superbly - a very nice scene. Though the stars for me were Virginia Madsen, who was surprisingly brilliant as Hippolyte, and Oliver Platt for his magnificent take on Hades.I would recommend this for all as it has something for everybody. A strong story, good animation and direction, good acting, fast paced and action packed. This is one film I would be happy to watch again. All DC and Wonder Woman fans shouldn't miss this film.

You know I was actually looking forward to this movie. I love the DCAU and I have long been waiting for a proper Wonder Woman movie (seriously seven Batman and six Superman but no Wonder Woman?), but this…this…this is something else entirely. Firstly there are some things about his film I like; I love this style of animation which seems to blend Anime with the traditional western cartoons in a way that ends up being fluid and nicely proportioned. I like the voice acting. I like the music and I do like that this film keeps with the newer ideas of Greek Mythology laid down by Clash of the Titans (the original) and Hercules the Legendary Journeys, stuff like Hades being a neutral force (though in this movie he looks like a cross between Ursula from The Little Mermaid and Jabba the Hutt from Star Wars), Ares as the villain, the Greek Gods being petty and cruel, stuff like that, also this depiction of Wonder Woman is nice being the type who takes no nonsense from anybody. Pity she's stuck in a movie that seems to be full of nonsense. Now I have said time and time again that female superhero movies are needlessly difficult because writers just can't seem to get past the whole gender thing, here the problem is less because our heroine is a woman and more because she's an Amazon. Amazons in film have been tricky from the get go, in the original myths they had nothing but contempt for men and only kidnapped a few for breeding purposes but they promptly killed them afterwards. Hollywood has never liked this and so every time Amazons appear in film they're always depicted as feminists who deep down inside are really using their tough warrior exterior to hide the fact they yearn for a man. To say this was sexist would be an understatement. This movie falls into the same trap, the amazons are tough and being immortal they have no need for men at all, and yet one of their own frees Ares from captivity and helps him and when pressed for a reason she pretty much says that she's loved starved. But it gets worse, even the regular world falls victim to the Amazon movie clichés like all the men are drooling sexists jerks including Ares, not Hades but I don't honestly he's a man in this version. The worst case of these cliché Amazons movie men is Steve Trevor, a pilot who crash lands on the Amazon island and has to be Wonder Woman's guide in the regular world, he's a drooling sexist idiot pretty much, sure wonder woman hilariously puts him in his place a few times but he gets old fast. And just in case things weren't bad enough all the non-amazon women (of which there are two) fall into two categories; male dependent or frustrated by male dominance. In summary this movie comes close to being a decent female Superhero movie but the Amazon movie clichés drag it down to the point where it stops being fun, the action is fun, the story is interesting at times but this film isn't really worth watching.

I am currently going through a stage of watching all of the animated DC movies. I was honestly going to straight up miss this one out as it's, you know, not Superman, Batman etc. But I am so glad I didn't as this is by far the best animated DC movie to date. I think in today's society, what with Christopher Nolans Batman,the popularity they gain and what have you, it's easy to forget or downright exclude other superheroes, especially ones that aren't included or seen as popular in the eyes of your average Joe. But this animated movie and the way it handles the origin story of Wonder Woman, very much impressed me. I only hope that further down the line, they decide to do another Wonder Woman animated film, not one with the rest of the JLA as I feel the rest of the cast over shadow her.

In the 2009 DC Universe animated film, "Wonder Woman," the first noted super-heroine of any significance in modern superhero comic books is given her own beautifully animated first cinematic direct-to-video outing. It's a great animated movie, much like the great "Green Lantern: First Flight" (2009), which was released the same year as this film. One of the greatest things to be said about that earlier "Green Lantern: First Flight" is that it was far, far better than the live-action "Green Lantern" (2011) from last year.What's most incredible about that statement is that now, Wonder Woman is likely to experience the same fate, that a short animated film is likely to be far better than any live-action adaptation could ever be. Admittedly, while I'm largely a Marvel Comics reader and my favorite super-heroine is Fathom (as created by the late Michael Turner), I've always admired Wonder Woman, but at arm's length only. When watching this movie (and reading up on the history of the character), my interest for the character certainly deepened a lot more.Psychologist William Moulton Marston (who apparently also invented the polygraph machine) co-created Wonder Woman for DC Comics with his wife Elizabeth and their live-in mutual lover Olive Byrne, and she first appeared in "All Star Comics #8" in December of 1941. Wonder Woman was seen as a feminist icon, a kind of female Superman, yet still possessing the love and compassion that is unique of a woman. I also remember reading that some social critics accused the character of condoning the hatreds of men by women (misandry), promoting bondage fantasies and other aberrant sexual behaviors/fetishes, and also encouraging lesbianism (!?!). And despite Wonder Woman's obvious appeal to young female readers, there's also the tiny little fact that she just looks smoking-hot in that get-up (in case you haven't already figured it out yet, I'm a guy).Speaking of the movie, boy, is it entertaining and gripping. Like "Green Lantern: First Flight," "Wonder Woman" establishes itself in pretty quick-step tempo: on the island of Themyscira, a proud, strong race of eternally youthful Amazon women (based on the ancient Amazons of Greek mythology) live in peaceful seclusion from the evil Man's World (the rest of human society). A millennium ago, the malevolent god Ares (voiced by Alfred Molina), the God of War, was defeated in battle by Hippolyta (voiced by Virginia Madsen), queen of the Amazons, and sentenced to eternal imprisonment by the god Zeus (voiced by David McCallum) and Hera (Marg Helgenberger).Years later, an internal betrayal allows Ares to escape, and Hippolyta's strong, courageous daughter Diana (voiced by Keri Russell), earns the right to not only track down Ares and bring him to justice, but to escort downed fighter pilot Steve Trevor (voiced by "Firefly" Nathan Fillion) back to human civilization. And thus, Diana quickly earns her "Wonder Woman" namesake as she tracks down - using her patented, Amazonian-forged Lasso of Truth and indestructible bracelets - the nefarious God of War as he seeks to turn Earth into a graveyard."Wonder Woman" is fantastic! The film's story is apparently loosely adapted from a specific run in "Wonder Woman" comics called "Gods and Mortals" by artists George Perez, Len Wein, and Greg Potter in 1987. The voice acting by a first-rate cast made the film extremely watchable. Even more so, there's some strong character development here, one of the main criticisms I had with "Green Lantern: First Flight," which plunged head-first into the action without really letting us get to know who Hal Jordan (voiced there by former "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" star Christopher Meloni) was before he was given a power ring and thus became the Green Lantern. Keri Russell gives the film's best voice acting performance as Wonder Woman, whose character is tracked to the beginnings of her DC Comics super-heroine career. Additionally, Nathan Fillion gives the film's most enthusiastic performance as the wise-cracking hot-shot pilot Steve Trevor.Although it runs only at a brisk 74 minutes and is deftly directed by Lauren Montgomery (who also directed "Green Lantern: First Flight"), it's still an engaging, action-packed thrill ride of an animated superhero adventure. Its violence could be pushing it for a "PG-13" rating, so I'd be a bit more careful when watching this around young children. I can only hope that unlike last year's "Green Lantern," the live-action adaptation of "Wonder Woman" will be something worth watching more than once.8/10