Wondering About Wonder Woman?, January 5, 2009
By Reconnecting To My Childhood "Time Won't Let ... - See all my reviews
First I want to say that this isn't so much intended to be a review as it is just me trying to give those wondering basic information on this DVD. I am aware some already know about it but this review is intended to easily inform people who don't know about it or are deciding what version of it they want to preorder or eventually buy.

Warner Bros. Premiere have been putting out DC Universe animated features revolving around the Detective Comics characters. First came Superman: Doomsday based on the record selling comic book story in which Superman is actually killed, second came Justice League: The New Frontier based on award winning graphic novel's about the earliest beginnings of the Justice League, then Batman: Gotham Knight was animated with strong anime influence and told several stories set between the two latest live action films (Batman Begins and The Dark Knight). Now March 3, 2009, we will finally get to see the animated DC Universe depiction of Wonder Woman's origin.

The plot is about the amazon princess Diana, on the secluded Island Themyscira, first meeting Steve Trevor, a pilot who crash lands on the island of no men. Diana must then fight in a tournament against fellow competing amazons for the right to escort Trevor back to the 'world of man' and along the way it seems the God of War Ares causes some trouble.

Voice casting includes Keri Russell (Famous for Felicity, and more recently Waitress, August Rush and Bedtime Stories) as the young Wonder Woman. Nathan Fillion (co-starred with Russell in Waitress) as Steve Trevor. Alfred Molina (Doc Oc in Spider-man 2) as God Of War Ares, Virigina Madsen (Co-star of Jim Carrey in Number 23) as Diana's mother Queen Hippolyta and Rosario Dawson (Seven Pounds with Will Smith) as Dianna's rival amazon Artemis.

There are three versions being released. The Blu-Ray, the Two-Disc Special Edition DVD and the Single Edition DVD. Features announced to be included with the Two-Disc DVD and Blu-Ray will be:

Disc 1- Commentary by the creative team, also as is customary with these releases a first look at DC/Warner's next animated feature project 'Green Lantern'.

Disc 2- 2 Documentaries- Wonder Woman: A Subversive Dream, and Wonder Woman Daughter of Myth: Historical Amazon Lore and it's Evolution into the Modern Day Wonder Woman Character. Two bonus cartoons are mentioned to have been provided by Bruce Timm but I'm not yet sure what they are, though most likely in following suit with previous releases they will be from the Justice League series and prominently feature Wonder Woman.

The feature itself has a running time of 74 min. and will be presented like the other features in widescreen format. These features are PG-13 and aimed at an older audience but with the exception of some intensely dark animation in Gotham Knight nothing I've seen in Doomsday or New Frontier would lead me to think this innappropriate for any child fifth grade and up. Still parent's should use their own discretion.

About the quality you can expect if you haven't seen the other recent features, DC/Warner have been delivering top notch animation on these features rivaling that of Disney's straight to DVD releases. The stories are always well written and stay true to source materials that the characters are taken from. Another thing these new features have done well is providing alot of well staged action scenes and still delivering fine moments of character development/exploration that I haven't seen since Batman The Animated Series.

This is the first solo animated feature for Wonder Woman and hopefully it will portray her with the dignity DC's third biggest icon deserves and the same respect she was granted in the Justice League series, which to me is the most believably she has been depicted thus far (if only because of her lack of exposure in this medium to date).

I hope this helped anyone wondering about the product feel at least a little more informed. I posted it early in enthusiasm for the product and to make it easier for customer's to find information that they may have been wondering about. They want me to rate it out of 5 so I will give it 5 anticipatory stars especially for anyone who is a fan of well depicted heroines or Wonder Woman herself. Thanks For Your Time.