The scenes where actual war-god ass is kicked are kind of fun, and I'd be lying if I said that the climactic battle didn't excite me just a little, but everything else falls flat. The romance between Diana and Steve is unconvincing since the movie's so short that they barely get to spend time together, and the fish-out-of-water stuff with Diana's experiences in the normal world are just lame.
It also doesn't help that the voice work is largely uninspired. This is a cast that, put in the right live-action movie, would be capable of winning Oscars: Russell, Fillion, Madsen, and Molina, plus Rosario Dawson, Oliver Platt, and Marg Helgenberger. That Fillion is the only one of these extremely talented people who manages to do a halfway decent job is confounding. Fillion injects the same amount of charisma and energy here that he does in everything he's in, but everyone else, including Waitress co-star Russell, is pitiful. Every time Madsen's Queen Hippolyta spoke, her dialogue dripping with overwrought, almost Ed Wood-ian hamminess, I wanted to die.
The animation is also nothing to write home about, which certainly wasn't the case with the earlier DC stuff. I get that these are quickies designed to get the nerds' money, but from an animation studio as legendary as Warner Bros., it's not unreasonable to expect better. The Wonder Woman character design is odd; her hair frames her head so that it always looks like it's jutting out at sharp angles. Which is kind of distracting. The animation looks better in the final action scenes, but maybe that's just because I finally stopped rolling my eyes long enough to pay attention.
Perhaps the most annoying thing about these DVD movies is that there's no sense of continuity. Lucy Lawless voiced Wonder Woman in Justice League: The New Frontier, which I guess is acceptable because even in comics continuity that story is considered one of many alternate universes, but I'm kind of sick of every character cycling through two or three voice actors. Which brings me back to my original point: Why abandon the original animated universe, when it was already so established and beloved, with a roster of excellent voice artists?
Not to mention that those actually had substance, a concept that seems as alien to Wonder Woman as Steve's horndoggery does to Diana.
Article comments
1 - El Bicho
you are right. I saw some comic boys raving of this, yet when I saw, I found it terrible and juvenile
2 - kanezona
After Superman: Doomsday & Justice League: the New Frontier, I was pretty sceptical going into the film. But by the end of the movie, I have to admitt that I thought to myself, "Christ! This film really rocks!!" The combination of action and comedy was spot on! A real roller coaster ride! Now I'm hoping there will be a follow-up film.