'Bout f*cking time Wo-Wo got her own gig! After three other made-for-video animated movies, DC Universe put together the first origin story involving one of their Big 3, Wonder Woman, which is great since Josh "Whedonverse" Whedon dropped the ball on the whole live-action film deal. Unlike Superman: Doomsday, Justice League: New Frontier, and Batman: Gotham Knight, this one isn't continuing from an already established storyline. It takes the original premise of Wonder Woman from the 40s, and resets it for the 21st Century.

A few thousand years ago, the Amazons were under the subjection of Ares, the Greek god of war. Queen Hippolyta leads her sister-warriors in a battle to liberate themselves from Ares, and their bastard son, who like all good mothers, Hippolyta beheads. The Amazons are freed, and allowed to live on a secluded island called Themyscara(aka: Paradise Island), but must keep watch over the now less than powerful Ares who they keep imprisioned. Shoot ahead to modern day where skirtchasing pilot Steve Trevor crashlands on the island and is taken in by Diana, the daughter of Hippolyta brought to life from clay. The Amazons determine that Steve is not a theat, and hold a tournament to see who would be the one to take him back home. Diana disguises herself as a common warrior, and wins. But, its discovered that Ares seduced his jailer Persephone, and the two of them made their escape off the island. Diana now has to deliver Steve back to America, but at the same time find Ares. Once back in the States, Steve offers to help Diana. After a few drinks, they are attacked by a demigod working for Ares. Diana stops him, and learns that Ares is at an ancient temple leading to Tartarus. Diana and Steve fight Ares and Persephone in the temple, but are unable to stop them from entering the underworld, where Ares gets his uncle Hades to restore his godly powers. Steve takes the injured Diana to a hospital, where they explore their feelings. Ares then leads an assault on Washington D.C. with an army of monsters. Diana rushes to stop him, but is outnumbered. Fortunately, the Amazons arrive, and go all 300 on Ares' forces. Not even the combined might of zombie Amazons, and Ares' now more empowered strength stops Diana and the others from defeating him. Diana returns with others to Themyscara, but Hippolyta realizes that the Amazons should continue to learn more about the "world of man", and appoints Diana as their emissary. Diana now goes incognito as a regular American citizen with Steve knowing her true identity, which is now dubbed Wonder Woman. The film ends with her taking on the supervillainess, Cheetah.

This was actually one of the better DC Universe selections. The animation was truly exceptional from the first two American-animated movies(Batman: Gotham Knight was all anime), and the story moved along really well. The only real downside was that alot was cut out for the sake of meeting Warner's 75 minute time limit. I dunno why, but all their OVAs have to be no more than 75 minutes, maybe to fit into a 90 minute airtime on Cartoon Network or something. Because of this though, there's quite a few corners that get shaved, like no explanation of where the technology for the invisible jet came from or how Diana even knows how to pilot it, and how a powerless Ares made it off Themyscara and all the way to Cuba with no boat or anything.

The voice acting was pretty fair too, especially Nathan "Captain Hammer" Fillion as Steve Trevor. The character designs were also good. I liked the fact that they went back and made Hippolyta a brunette unlike on Justice League and the original Wonder Woman TV series where she was always blonde. Ares seems like a villain from a Yoshiaki Kawajiri animated film. Artemis looks pretty buff, like she usually does in the comics. Diana appears to be alot taller and athletic than in most other animated incarnations of her. Aside from the colossal design she had in Justice League: New Frontier, this version has her as a real warrior type, and not just a buxom chick in a swimsuit.

Aside from the short runtime on it, Wonder Woman is a very satisfying superhero movie, animated or otherwise. The whole focus on this was mainly on Wonder Woman's mythological ties, and since she's a myth-based hero like Thor, Hercules, and Captain Marvel, at least most of the plots she's involved with are about gods and demons. Since this movie got most of that taken care of, if they end up doing some kind of contuation from it in say Wonder Woman 2, they'll hopefully be able to focus a little more on the actual superhero side of the character. Definately want to see Wo-Wo take on Villainy Inc.!

And so Greek Myth is raped once more...
Ironic that Aries was the god of the very Spartans you're saying these cartoon Amazons imitate.

Do they only have the one breast each? :)

The WW DVD has had rave reviews from all over the wonderweb.

According to my local DVD shop though, it seems it's not available in the UK. Whose bright idea was that?!

I picked up the special 2 disc dvd, I watched it, and let me say,I can't wait to watch it several more times.
This movie is awesome and really funny also. It's just a great modern spin, and solid story from begining to end.
Wonder Woman has never been cooler or looked better then she does in this.

I really hope they make a sequel to this, maybe after Green Lantern or what ever comes after that.
Hear that Bruce Timm?? This Wonder Woman DVD needs a sequel.

Everytime I see anything from Warner Bros. DC Animated Line I am very happy and Wonder Woman was no exception. This was exactly what I was hoping for with the film and it has joined all the other great DC DVD (Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker, Justice League: New Frontier, etc.) on my shelf. Next is Green Lantern which I'm sure will be every bit as good. After that I hope they start doing some of their B-list heroes.

After watching the Justice League Unlimited series I would love a DVD starring the Question.

Nathan Fillion Nathan Fillion Nathan Fillion Nathan fillion..... What, I like anything with Nathan Fillion... shutup! I will NOT let Firefly go. (Nathan Fillion played as the love interest, I believe.. Or, something)

The movie was great, simply for the fact that they didn't play around. They frakked people up in that movie, and none too gently either. It was refreshing to see a show that didn't put Wonder-Woman as overly "dike-ish", but still left her pretty large in terms of size and stature. Plus, it had a good bit of off-color humor and pretty good one liners.

However, it still left me with some questions I've never really had answered. Who are WW's arch nemesis? And how exactly, did they manage to convert a delta wing craft into a rear swept wing, make it invisible, AND teach her how to fly it? Hera must have really put some effort into that one.

Watched this. Excellent OAV movie. Because of my good experience with this one, I'm going to hunt down all the other DC-line OAV's that were mentioned in this thread. Oh, Batman: Gotham Knight as well, of course.

1. Didn't pull many punches for an American cartoon. Violent deaths galore.
2. This is the best design for Wonder Woman to date, hands down.
3. Heh, Ares sure does look like Yoshiaki Kawajiri villains.

Best Wonder Woman incarnation. Great dvd. Green Lantern looks kick azz as well!!