Wonder Woman (2009)

Of the big three at DC - Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman - the Amazon princess has always been my least favorite (Batman of course holding a special place in my geek's heart). 2009's latest installment in the DC Universe Animated Original Movie line, an origin film for Wonder Woman, won't be dethroning Batman and Superman from their Top Two positions, but it might help build Wonder Woman's street cred for me.

As an origin film, Wonder Woman explores the backstory behind Diana (voice of Keri Russell), daughter of Amazon Queen Hippolyta (Virginia Madsen). Diana meets crash-landed Air Force pilot Steve Trevor (Nathan Fillion), but their budding romance is put on hold when evil god of war Ares (Alfred Molina) escapes from captivity.

As origin stories go, this one is pretty concise, dealing quickly with the birth of Diana and moving quickly into "first adventure" territory. At 74 minutes, the run time is a little brief, and I would have liked to see more content, perhaps a subplot with another of Wonder Woman's adversaries (Cheetah makes an appearance at the end, though there's plenty in the Amazon's stable of villains) or even just more of the "adjusting to America" scenes. What there is, I enjoyed, but I was left wanting more - whether Green Lantern: First Flight will deliver or whether I'll simply have to wait for Wonder Woman 2: Cheetahs Never Prosper (come on, that'd be an amazingly corny title, right in step with the tongue-in-cheek attitude of this animated adventure) remains to be seen.

Like every entry in the DCUA line (excepting, of course, the beautiful adaptation of Cooke's The New Frontier), Wonder Woman sports the same Dini/Timm look that fans either love or hate. I'm in the former category, having been a fan since Batman: The Animated Series way back in the early '90s. The animation is fun and streamlined, slick and stylized without being overly showy. My only complaint here is that some of the Amazons look very similar to each other, with background Amazons looking distractingly like main characters (how many Artemises can you spot?).

The voice cast is strong here, though Keri Russell wouldn't have been my first choice for Wonder Woman. As Ares, Alfred Molina is excellent, bringing the necessary gravitas for a mythological villain, though the animated figure doesn't exactly measure up to Molina's thick voice. Rosario Dawson and Virginia Madsen, as Artemis and Queen Hippolyta (respectively), are adequate choices with believably strong personalities bleeding through their dulcet tones, but the standout in the voice cast is Nathan Fillion as Steve Trevor. It helps that he gets all the best lines in the film - "You smell good" being one of the best examples of comedic timing - but Fillion's inflection and tongue-in-cheek sense of wit are what make his performance the best in the film.

The dialogue is a little corny, but it's surprisingly racy for an animated feature - and thus abundantly entertaining. Example: upon regaining consciousness, Steve Trevor finds himself bound with the Lasso of Truth as scores of angry Amazons loom over him. "I haven't had this dream since I was thirteen," he quips, adding to Hippolyta, "Your daughter's got a nice rack." The wit here borders on sexism, but its gaudy flamboyance (and expert delivery, mostly from Fillion) ends up sailing past any claims to misogyny. Instead, it's so over the top at times that it's something you can laugh both at and with.

The lackluster Superman: Doomsday aside, I've enjoyed the DCUA line of animated films thus far, and I'm looking forward to their interpretation of Green Lantern as well as the sterling Jeph Loeb-penned Superman/Batman: Public Enemies. Wonder Woman is a admirable addition to this line, even if it's sort of like that otherwise-lovable cousin that tells dirty jokes at family reunions.

Wonder Woman tousled with the MPAA and came out rated "PG-13 for violence throughout and some suggestive material." It's all cartoony, with little blood, but there are some pretty epic and extensive battle sequences and a surprising amount of decapitations (all in silhouette). The dialogue is more suggestive than I was expecting, and it's not subtle subtext that kids won't pick up on. It's mild compared to an Apatow script, but this ain't your momma's cartoon comic lingo.