Wonder Woman

Reviewer: Alyice Edrich

The Cartoon

Wonder Woman Animated Movie, 2009

The Plot

The Gods have allowed Ares to bring death and destruction to the Amazon people and the Queen will have no more. Determined to save what remains of her culture and the lives of her people, she stands up against injustice and is rewarded with a child, Princess Diana—a child who will one day save mankind from itself.

Starring

Keri Russell, Nathan Fillion, Alfred Molina, Virginia Madsen, David McCallum, Marg Helgenberger, and more.

The Review

As a young girl, I never read the DC Comic’s version of Wonder Woman, but I was hooked to the televised series! I loved that Wonder Woman was a strong, brilliant woman who also knew how to show her feminine side. I loved that she could stand on her own two feet, make a good life for herself—a life that didn’t involve settling for anything less than what she believed she deserved, and still find time to treat others with respect and dignity.

Fast forward today, I still have not read a DC Comics comic book version of Wonder Woman. Partly because I didn’t want my idea of Wonder Woman to be disillusioned by a comic book version that was sure to be entirely different from the televised series—especially after my son showed me an image of Wonder Woman losing her arm in battle. So when I heard about DC Universe and Warner Brother’s teaming up to make an animated movie, I was a little leery to say the least.

Yet, what I discovered is that while the televised version does differ from the animated version, both are strong women fighting for what they believe in and we could use more storylines like that!

I am told that in Wonder Woman, the animated movie, the storyline differs slightly from the comic book version, but not by much. It’s supposed to have been lighted up for young viewers and modernized just a bit. Die hard comic book readers will have to confirm this, however, as I still have no intention of reading the comic books—well, maybe one day.

The movie starts off with a battle between the Amazons and Ares, the god of war. The Queen of the Amazons is angry with Ares for forcing her to conceive a child with him that desires to wipe out the Amazon civilization as she knew it—and all of humanity as well. Determined to put an end to the war and save the remaining lives of her sisters, the Queen fights Ares head-on. Only as another Amazon falls, Ares grows stronger. Determined to end his reign forever, she takes off after her biological son—killing him and thus, defeating Ares.

Ares is changed and sentenced to a lifetime of imprisonment with the Amazons as guards. The Amazons are exiled, by choice, to a protected, mystical, island known as Themyscira where they’re given the ability to live on forever. It’s a peaceful place, but after several centuries, some of the Amazons begin to get restless and yearn for something more—including Diana, the Warrior Princess—who just so happens to have been given to the Queen as a gift from the Gods, not from traditional relations between a man and a woman—thus guaranteeing her supernatural strength and agility. (I’ll have to admit that this surprised me. I much prefer the idea of her having been more out of love between a man and a woman.)

During a moment of weakness, the Queen touches a device that lets down the cloak and force field and allows a WWII pilot to crash on the island. At the same time, Ares convinces one of the Amazon women that he’s in love with her, and she with him, and that in order for them to have the life they desire, she must kill one of her fellow sisters, free him, and help him find safe passage to the underworld, where his uncle can remove the chains that bond him and set his powers free. Through a series of events, the Queen realizes that Diana must live amongst the modern world and bring salvation back to mankind. And thus the story of Wonder Woman, super-hero begins.

As a caveat, younger children may not want to see a mother slicing the head off her son—even if it’s animated.

Your Task

Watch Wonder Woman the movie with your children and talk to them about the role her character plays in our world—not just as a super-hero but as an individual willing to stand up and fight for what she believes in, then talk about other “ordinary” men and women who’ve been able to change the course of history simply because they believed in something better and were willing to work hard towards making their visions (their dreams) a reality. With older children, you may even want to discuss the storyline in greater detail: the Amazons against Man, Mythology against Modern thinking, and women versus men in their fight for equality and mutual respect.