Topping the box office this weekend and you just can’t get enough of this princess of power you may want to check out the recently re-released animated adventure that reexamines Wonder Woman’s origins and will satisfy everyone who loved the new film and wants more!
With Wonder Woman blazing a trail across the blockbuster box office and winning an all-new generation of fans with a big-screen adventure that has been a long time coming, it’s a good time to get caught up on what made the Amazing Amazon such an indelible icon for 76 years. The DC Comics super heroine stands as part of a pillar, the trinity above the rest of the pantheon, of which all others are measured up to. While Superman, Batman and the rest of the members of the Justice League represent our modern mythologies, Wonder Woman’s — Princess Diana of the Amazons — origins are deeply rooted in those mythic legends.
The current blockbuster film’s director Patty Jenkins has said she’d been waiting a long time to make her Wonder Woman movie and it’s evident in the care to the exploration of Diana (realized on screen by Gal Gadot) as a fully realized individual on her own very definite heroic journey. It makes for an intense origin story especially with Diana’s own connectivity to Greek mythologies. That same excitement of adventure is captured in the animated DC Universe Original Movie Wonder Woman now re-released in a special “Commemorative Edition” in time to celebrate the character’s 75 year history.
This animated film was first released in 2009 and stands up very well, especially given the number of films in the series that DC Entertainment has continued to produce since then, many of which have presented rebooted versions of the heroes to connect with their current comic book interpretations. This “Commemorative Edition” release includes the 74 minute full-length feature as well as an all-new special feature that explores the topic “What Makes a Wonder Woman”. The animated feature, like the current blockbuster, borrows heavily from the most popular era of the heroine’s backstory written by George Pérez.
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The big bad introduced in the animated feature is also Ares (voiced by Alfred Molina) who is the burden of the Amazons to keep watch over less the God of War escape and unleashes his brand of evil on the world. We know how the story unfolds, and a champion must be selected to escort Air Force pilot, Steve Trevor (fan favorite Nathan Fillion) back to Man’s World after his aircraft crashes on Paradise Island. A willful Diana (voiced by Keri Russell) requests the duty of being that envoy, but is kept from participating in the trials of selection, but when one of her Amazon sisters insists that Diana compete but not reveal her identity, a series of events are set in motion!
Diana of course proves herself the fierciest warrior among them, and her mother Queen Hippolyta has no choice but abide by their traditions, but while the Amazons were engaged in the competition, the God of War has seized on the opportunity to make haste with his escape! The world now needs a wonder woman more than ever! Though set in a very contemporary time, many of the same allusions to the desparitites between the sexes exist as well in the animated Wonder Woman. Diana can not understand why Trevor’s secretary plays helpless to attract his attention, and proves her own capability immediately.
The film’s climax, a glorious battle on Washington D.C.’s most historic monunets and the Capital is epic in scale, even if director Lauren Montgomery may have felt she needed more soldiers, more Amazons, more monsters and tanks — it just plays wonderfully and will resonate deeply with fans who just experienced the new blockbuster. The take away is simple, Wonder Woman is a figure that works in any media with a story that captures the imagination and generates an feeling of great hope. After all that is the character’s greatest strength — her ability to inspire across all sections. Wonder Woman’s time has arrived and it only took 75 years for the rest of us to catch up.
Check out the animated DC Universe Original Movie Wonder Woman Commemorative Edition available now in Blu-ray, DVD and Digital HD for $19.99 is rated PG-13 and released through Warner Bros. Animation. The package features an all-new documentary with commentary from Patty Jenkins and scenes from the new blocknuster feature film in theaters now, along with some of comics greatest creators connected to the Wonder Woman legacy.