Hello, everyone! Jeyl here with a review of the Direct to Video Wonder Woman animated movie that was just released this week (03.03.09).
Before I begin, let me just start out by saying that the only Direct to Video (DTV) animated movie I ever bought of the DC universe was Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker UNCUT. Everything else that came out I had no interest in seeing. Not the new Justice League, not Superman Doomsday or even Batman: Gotham Knight. It just wasn't my forte.
The most common problem I have with Super Hero movies these days is that they're so male focused that I'm practically bored. The Dark Knight played a big part in that when they reduced essentially ALL the female characters to either being unrealistically helpless (Rachel), cowering peons who cannot be trusted (Barbara Gordon) and bad decision making cops (Ramirez).
So when I heard that they were making a Wonder Woman movie, a lot of thoughts came pouring into my head. The obvious one was "About goddang time! Wonder Woman outside of the comic book medium has always been trapped in the Justice League shows and hasn't had her own solo outing since the bloody 70s. Heck, even in "The Batman" when the JL is introduced as it's members, she's not only absent, there isn't any female presence at all. Wonder Woman is supposed to represent what women can do outside of their 'house-wife/secretary/love interest' role but hasn't been in anything outside of being sandwiched between Batman and Superman.
So I was pretty psyched about this movie. Seriously. When I heard it's announcement sometime last year when Gotham Knight was released, March was too far away. Now that it's out and I have watched it, I have a few things to say.
1. It's too quick. 74 minutes is a very short time frame to get used to a character as big as Wonder Woman. While the film sticks true to her creation origin (Being formed out of sand/clay and being blessed by the gods), we immediately cut to her as an adult. Call me a slow pace lover, but I wish the film spent at least five minute of Diana growing up as a child into adulthood. After all, Hippolyta wanted a daughter and now that she has one, we don't have any genuine development between her and Diana. It's one of those character gaps I would have liked to have seen instead of a five minute jet fighter attack.
2. The use of the ™. When you show us the title to Wonder Woman in a nice, stylized animated fashion, DO NOT PUT THE ™ AT THE END!. Yes, you own the characters, but you shouldn't be reminding us of this when we're trying to watch the movie they're in! Can you imagine if the new Star Trek movie will have the title read like this: STAR TREK™. It's selfish and It's a mood killer, plain and simple.
3. Steve Trevor. Nathon Fillion did an excellent job here. He's a darn good actor and a very good voice performer and I his performance. Unfortunately his character was a bit over-the-top and preachy. For instance, Diana has the senses to block several arrows at the same time, lift heavy objects with perfect ease, out smart a heavily trained amazon warrior, yet she comes off as being equally matched to Steve when they fight?..... I don't think so. And his whole shouting speech about how the Amazons abandoned man and are overly prejudiced just made him off to be a douche bag. I mean, this is the guy who tried to get Diana drunk at a bar so he could take advantage of her, and he's the one shouting that her view points are wrong? Diana should have figured this stuff out on her own, because that's what strong characters do. They think and figure stuff out like this. With Steve shouting and lecturing in front of her (Did I mention she's recovering from her injuries?) just makes her out to be more dependent than self-dependent. Did I mention that he comes to save Wonder Woman from danger and not vice-versa?
That's all the juice I have at the moment. I'll continue posting more thoughts when they come to mind.
Now I know I shouldn't count on great quality when it comes to Direct to Video movies, but I can still criticize it!
Before I begin, let me just start out by saying that the only Direct to Video (DTV) animated movie I ever bought of the DC universe was Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker UNCUT. Everything else that came out I had no interest in seeing. Not the new Justice League, not Superman Doomsday or even Batman: Gotham Knight. It just wasn't my forte.
The most common problem I have with Super Hero movies these days is that they're so male focused that I'm practically bored. The Dark Knight played a big part in that when they reduced essentially ALL the female characters to either being unrealistically helpless (Rachel), cowering peons who cannot be trusted (Barbara Gordon) and bad decision making cops (Ramirez).
So when I heard that they were making a Wonder Woman movie, a lot of thoughts came pouring into my head. The obvious one was "About goddang time! Wonder Woman outside of the comic book medium has always been trapped in the Justice League shows and hasn't had her own solo outing since the bloody 70s. Heck, even in "The Batman" when the JL is introduced as it's members, she's not only absent, there isn't any female presence at all. Wonder Woman is supposed to represent what women can do outside of their 'house-wife/secretary/love interest' role but hasn't been in anything outside of being sandwiched between Batman and Superman.
So I was pretty psyched about this movie. Seriously. When I heard it's announcement sometime last year when Gotham Knight was released, March was too far away. Now that it's out and I have watched it, I have a few things to say.
1. It's too quick. 74 minutes is a very short time frame to get used to a character as big as Wonder Woman. While the film sticks true to her creation origin (Being formed out of sand/clay and being blessed by the gods), we immediately cut to her as an adult. Call me a slow pace lover, but I wish the film spent at least five minute of Diana growing up as a child into adulthood. After all, Hippolyta wanted a daughter and now that she has one, we don't have any genuine development between her and Diana. It's one of those character gaps I would have liked to have seen instead of a five minute jet fighter attack.
2. The use of the ™. When you show us the title to Wonder Woman in a nice, stylized animated fashion, DO NOT PUT THE ™ AT THE END!. Yes, you own the characters, but you shouldn't be reminding us of this when we're trying to watch the movie they're in! Can you imagine if the new Star Trek movie will have the title read like this: STAR TREK™. It's selfish and It's a mood killer, plain and simple.
3. Steve Trevor. Nathon Fillion did an excellent job here. He's a darn good actor and a very good voice performer and I his performance. Unfortunately his character was a bit over-the-top and preachy. For instance, Diana has the senses to block several arrows at the same time, lift heavy objects with perfect ease, out smart a heavily trained amazon warrior, yet she comes off as being equally matched to Steve when they fight?..... I don't think so. And his whole shouting speech about how the Amazons abandoned man and are overly prejudiced just made him off to be a douche bag. I mean, this is the guy who tried to get Diana drunk at a bar so he could take advantage of her, and he's the one shouting that her view points are wrong? Diana should have figured this stuff out on her own, because that's what strong characters do. They think and figure stuff out like this. With Steve shouting and lecturing in front of her (Did I mention she's recovering from her injuries?) just makes her out to be more dependent than self-dependent. Did I mention that he comes to save Wonder Woman from danger and not vice-versa?
That's all the juice I have at the moment. I'll continue posting more thoughts when they come to mind.
Now I know I shouldn't count on great quality when it comes to Direct to Video movies, but I can still criticize it!
