Wonder Woman DVD review

Viewing 3 posts - 1 through 3 (of 3 total)
  • Author
    Posts
  • April 11, 2010 at 11:19 am #91524
    Holiday
    Participant

    I’ve waited for over a year to watch the Wonder Woman animated feature. But it’s taken so long for a legal Asian copy to arrive. I bought a VCD copy this weekend. But I couldn’t find myself finishing it. So I just read the plot on Wikipedia. The action was great, but I’m not impressed by the overall design. I’m not picky on the portrayal of the gods. An obese Hades and horned Ares are superficial details. But much of the leaps in animation do feel like it’s halfway to anime quality.

    It’s really unfortunate that I’ve been exposed to heroines like Lisbeth Salander (Millenium Trilogy), Lt. Alice Malvin (Pumpkin Scissors), and the heroines of Bleach before I watched this movie. Lisbeth acts hostile and aloof for better reasons. Lt. Alice Malvin is naive and little gung-ho. However, she proves she is very capable and nobly determined in her efforts to help people. Yoruichi is also noble and coolheaded, even though she’s depicted as too open-minded with nudity. Rukia is plucky, smart, and self-sacrificing. None of these charming qualities are evident in this animated Wonder Woman. I wasn’t expecting a bodhisattva but that is preferable to what I’ve seen. Linda Carter’s WW would sometimes act snooty but not as judgmental as Keri’s portrayal.

    The dialogue sounded too deliberate. They pushed the feminist ideas too often that it becomes overbearing. The world is threatened by the God of War. It’s hard to see what makes Steve and Diana good partners. That is more of what this movie tries to make them. But the constant arguing doesn’t succeed. If Steve Trevor was supposed to be funny by foiling the Amazon’s uptight behavior it was poorly placed. It’s like trying to tick off the Mother Superior. It would have been better if he shut up and let them do their thing. A different type of humor would have helped the story. Bleach’s Rukia and Ichigo are better suited, although they aren’t in the same position as Wonder Woman and Steve Trevor.

    And now back to watching clips of Saint Seiya: the Lost Canvas.

    April 11, 2010 at 10:11 pm #91531
    Buddy_Busen
    Participant

    I just finished watching it here and I have to say that I was quite disappointed as well. The almost complete absence of basic logic. Dialogue and character progression that seemed more a race to expose plot points rather than any kind of development between characters in any way that seemed remotely natural or even interesting. The whole thing felt like someone was on the loosing end of a bet to see if they could keep the running time to under 70 minutes. No time for the simple character moments that make them interesting, no reason to care about what’s happening. As a result there is plenty of time to notice the gaping holes in the so-called plot and wonder about the minor details like where did that invisible jet come from, why can’t Wonder Woman fly and just what does the god of war do? There seemed to be no grounding in the basic mythology on which Wonder Woman is based let alone any interest in staying true to the basic mythology within the Wonder Woman universe. Then there was the matter of the voice acting. It’s clear that on one who stepped near a mic was having any fun which is another disappointment as Andrea Romano, in charge of voice casting and directing, seemed also to be on the losing end of a bet to see how quickly everything could be recorded. The major problem with Wonder Woman is that no one seemed to take the time to think about what was happening and as a result left out all the good parts. I recognized a lot of the names in the credits from The Justice League, a show I thoroughly enjoyed which, even at it’s worst was far better, more engaging, entertaining and compelling in 22 minutes than Wonder Woman. Bruce Timm seems to have forgotten that it’s okay to take his time to tell a story, at least in this case. In short, Wonder Woman is as baffling as my review of it here. If you’ve made it to this sentence, you have my great thanks.

    April 12, 2010 at 7:23 am #91550
    Holiday
    Participant

    The issue of the Amazons’ isolation and progress is always a problem with the story. Persephone wanted to have her own family, yet they’ve hinted that they sometimes venture to the outside world. Why didn’t she just leave Themyscira instead of siding with Ares? It’s not like she was alone in her doubts.

    The invisible jet was stupid. If they could build that why build ziggurats and still use horses? Why weren’t there more of them when they stormed over to Washington D.C.?

    Since when was the capital along the coast? Is that Earth so different from the real world

  • Author
    Posts
Viewing 3 posts - 1 through 3 (of 3 total)
  • You must be logged in to reply to this topic.