Wonder Woman gets animated

I sat down this evening to go through the two-disc special edition of the WONDER WOMAN DVD animated feature that came out this week. The feature itself was top notch. Gail Simone and Michael Jelenic lay our a compelling version of Wonder Woman's origin that stays very true to the original works of William Moulton Marston. The voice work in this piece was an absolute joy. Keri Russell was very enjoyable as Diana, and great the character strength as well as femininity. Alfred Molina was remarkable as the voice of Ares. Molina brings a sophistication to the character that could have easily been portrayed as a frothing beast. I have to say, I think the show was stolen was Nathan Fillion as Steve Trevor. Fillion's comedic timing is flawless as always and he delived a standout performance that played very well again Russell's Diana.

The story itself was just what I wanted from it. It was packed with great action sequences. Diana is depicted as a great warrior, but also as a woman of great compassion. She's very guarded of herself in the world, especially against the often hilarious advances of Trevor, yet at the same time she's at heart a very gentle soul. There's an incredibly charming scene with a little girl that just reeks of Simone's influence that brought a smile to my face.

The two disc edition is worth the little bit extra for the documentaries. They delve greatly into not only the history of the character, but her place in mythology and the Feminist Movement. They also talk a great deal about Marston, who was truly ahead of his time in the character's creation. I did find Dan DiDio's appearance in the extras talking about DC's progress attitude towards it's characters to be highly hypocritical considering his current mandates on many of the intellectual properties. Also, a few of the experts they talked to came off as kooks. However, it's well balanced out by the sheer amount of great information presented.

It's a great addition to my DVD collection. Kudos to everyone who worked on it.

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