Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to "Tales of the Longbox" here on Reaction & Review. Tonight, guys, I'm gonna be covering a movie from 2019. That movie is "Wonder Woman: Bloodlines".
I'm gonna be perfectly honest with you guys, I know almost next to nothing about this movie. The only bits of information that I know of is that it's another one of DC's direct-to-video animated films and that it also came out as part of a combo pack which features "Wonder Woman: Commemorative Edition", which is the 2009 animated film I reviewed last year in my previous "Tales of the Longbox" marathon. Although the version I reviewed then wasn't the Commemorative Edition, it was just the standard version that I had reviewed. I've long since traded that version of the movie in for this combo pack, which has both that movie and this one that I'm going to watch for this series.
Really, guys, I don't have much to say for an introduction here other than that. I'm hoping for this film to be good, and, so far, Wonder Woman has a pretty good batting average for me when it comes to her films. I know someone might bring up "Wonder Woman 1984", however, I have not seen that movie yet so I can't comment on it. I'm just gonna focus on this movie for now and see if it's any good. And the only way I'm gonna find out is if I shut up and I push play, and I'm gonna do that right now. So, without further ado, it's time to kick back, relax, and check out "Wonder Woman: Bloodlines".
7 minutes later
OK, guys, I know continuity in the DC universe can vary in different timelines, but this is the first one where I can think of where Wonder Woman has to fight her mother, Queen Hippolyta, in order to leave the island with Steve Trevor. It's possible that she may have had to do that in the comics, but still, it's new to me she has to fight her mother of all things.
9 minutes later
OK, I have a question here. So throughout the time that Diana's been staying with Vanessa and her mother, Vanessa has slowly transformed her lifestyle from being a regular teenage girl to, almost, becoming a goth chick. Has Diana not even told Vanessa's mother about how much her daughter's physical appearance has changed? I get that Diana probably wouldn't understand it, seeing as how she's still getting used to our culture and all, but I really think she should've at least noticed the signs of how much Vanessa's appearance has changed. Just something to consider is all.
5 minutes later
So one of the villains of this movie is Dr. Poison...interesting. Last time I saw her was back in the live action movie from 2017. That's sorta cool. I'm curious to see how this movie will actually handle her here.
10 minutes later
All right, I have another question here. So, as I've mentioned once or twice beforehand, I'm not exactly the biggest expert when it comes to Wonder Woman, but how exactly did she get her invisible plane? I'm asking this mainly because they're introducing it here in this movie, and she's not flying it I should mention, so I'm curious as to how she originally got it? I always believed it was some kind of secret technology made by the Amazon's. Granted, I know the Amazon's aren't exactly known for being the most technological group out there, but it's just something that I never quite understood about Wonder Woman's invisible plane. Just curious is all.
3 minutes later
So Vanessa's new identity and form in this movie is that she's now known as Silver Swan. And judging by her appearance and fighting style, she's basically the Falcon from Marvel Comics, only with more mechanical attachments to her body. That's...interesting. Not exactly creative, mind you, but at least it's something a little unique that makes her stand out.
16 minutes later
All right, I was sorta hoping that I wouldn't have to comment on this, but I feel like now is the time to bring this up. Why are there are so many shots of Wonder Woman's ass? I bring this up mainly because there have been a lot of shots where they show off her ass while in her costume. I don't know if this was an intentional thing or not, but it's just something that could be considered distracting. And it is a little bit, if I'm being honest here.
The Review
Well, guys, that was "Wonder Woman: Bloodlines". Let me go ahead and shut the movie off here...OK. So, where to start here? Well, I am willing to say that, despite a few minor things here and there, I actually did really enjoy this movie. Now mind you, I wouldn't say that it ranks up there with other DC animated films such as "Justice League: Flashpoint Paradox" or "Suicide Squad: Hell To Pay", however, that does not take away on how well this movie stands on it's own merits. It is a pretty good film.
Now with that said, let's actually get into it here by first talking about the writing. I want to start off with something that stuck out at me at the most. See, as I've already mentioned beforehand, I'm not really the biggest expert when it comes to Wonder Woman's mythos. I never really found her backstory very interesting when compared to a few other superheroes from DC Comics. So I don't really attune myself with her stories all that much. That being said, there is one thing I wanted to bring up in regards to her home of Themyscira. Now I'm not gonna try to spoil too much here, so I'll try my best to keep it to a minimum.
So after Wonder Woman's first fight with Vanessa as Silver Swan, she's taken to some place called Cale Pharmaceuticals, which was the company that Vanessa's mother formerly worked at. And as she's being taken into medical care, it's been revealed that the armor she has implanted in her is something of a virus that's slowly killing her from the inside. Diana believes that the only thing that can help Vanessa is something called a "purple healing ray", which is something that helped healed Steve Trevor's injuries from way early on in the movie. The only thing is, she doesn't know where Themyscira is anymore. So throughout a decent portion of the film, they're trying to figure out a way on how to get to Themyscira, which is where the healing purple ray comes from.
And it's here where I have to ask something about how Themyscira works. Now it's been stated in this film that once Diana leaves Themyscira, she's not gonna have any memory on where it's located. And I have to ask: Is that really something that happens in the comics? Where if you leave Themyscira, you're not gonna have any memory on where it is anymore? My original thought process was that it had been about 5 years after Diana left her home in order to pursue her own path with Steve Trevor, but I don't really ever recall if that was actually an established rule that was applied to Themyscira, or if that was something that's only established for this movie. I don't know, perhaps if I had read the comics, maybe I would've had a better idea on how Diana's home world actually works. I know it's only an all female island and that men are not allowed there, but that's all I know about it. Anything else is just something that I'm left in the dark on. So if anyone reading this can clarify that thing for me, please do. Because that's something that sorta bugged me as I was watching the movie.
That aside, I will say that our story here is pretty good. It sorta reworks Wonder Woman's origin story a little while also telling a slightly more original story. I say "slightly original", because it involves our other main character, Vanessa, who ends up being neglected by her mother when Diana comes over to stay with her and daughter. It then comes later to a point where Vanessa ends up doing some illegal shit involving our villains of the movie, who I will say are not all that interesting. I'll get more to that in a moment. But anyway, Vanessa herself ends up joining their side after an accident happens involving her mother and blames Wonder Woman for it. Now I would normally not like this sort of plot, where a character is having parent issues. And I state this, mainly because I've experienced that kind of shit involving Lara Croft and her father in the Tomb Raider reboot games. However, I will say that, unlike with Lara Croft, where they try to tell the same fucking story involving her having daddy issues again and again, this one is just regulated to just this one movie. So, at least there is that.
Our characters here are mostly really likable. Wonder Woman herself is pretty much what you would come to expect, as she is noble and caring, especially to Vanessa, even after the latter turns evil. Steve Trevor, while not as awesome as he was in the 2009 animated film, is still likable in this own way. Though admittedly, his comic relief in this movie isn't really all that funny. Especially when, again, you compare it to the 2009 film where he was just a charming, womanizing smartass. That said, the relationship he has with Diana is very good here. So, it's a little bit of a trade off that I'm willing to accept here. The villains, though, are really, *really* fucking bland and forgettable. Our main antagonist, Dr. Cyber, is not seen throughout most of the entire movie, aside from hearing her voice from a computer monitor. Dr. Poison is equally just as forgettable, since she really doesn't do much of anything here, outside of giving Vanessa her armor implants. Aside from that, the villains in this movie are incredibly forgetful. In fact, they're probably the most forgettable set of villains I've seen in *any* of the DC animated films I've seen up til this point. Which is a feat that I didn't think was actually possible, but here we are. This movie found a way to make their villains forgettable as shit.
So, overall, guys, the writing here is pretty good. Aside from a few things that aren't exactly great, such as the bland villains, I can certainly say that the writing here is mostly pretty good as a whole. As for the acting, most of it is also pretty good...minus Vanessa's voice actress. For the most part, she sounds rather stilted when delivering lines properly. I don't know if it was because of the script she was given or if she herself really kinda sucks at acting, but she was easily the weakest actress in this entire movie. The rest of the cast did a really decent job, though. So I can actually say that most of the acting is really competent here.
Animation in this movie is pretty good, though I will admit that there a couple of things I noticed about this movie's animation. The first thing is that some of the mouth movements feel a little stilted. And it mostly happens whenever characters aren't moving. Some of that felt a little wonky and awkward. Though really, that is just a minor problem if you were actually looking for it. The other thing, and I brought it up earlier, is when you get to see a lot of shots of Wonder Woman's ass whenever she's in her New 52 outfit. There are a *lot* of these and, like I said earlier, they can be rather distracting, especially when she's in battle. Again, I don't know if that was intentional on the animator's part and they just got really bored one day and decided to add those in for their own amusement or not, but overall, these shots are really distracting. That said, whenever she's wearing her more traditional outfit that she wears in the third act of the movie, you don't notice it very much, if at all. So I guess that's more of a positive if you're someone who's not into these sort of fanservice-y shots of Wonder Woman's behind.
Those two issues aside, the color palettes here really good, as they mostly do in a lot of the other direct-to-video DC animated movies. So that's always a plus. Sound-mixing here is fine, and the score here is also very serviceable. It's not memorable in any way, but at least it gets the job done.
Ultimately, guys, when all is said and done, can I recommend "Wonder Woman: Bloodlines"? For the most part, yes. Especially if you're a big fan of Wonder Woman. If you're interested in checking this movie out, I would recommend that you get the combo pack that also features the 2009 animated movie. Or if you can find it solo on DVD or Blu-ray, go ahead and pick up a copy, as long it's cheap anyway. As for myself, well, I did say earlier that I traded in my older copy of the 2009 movie in favor of the combo pack which has both that movie along with "Wonder Woman: Bloodlines". And I don't regret it, personally. I really enjoyed this movie enough to want to hold onto. And since I do have the other movie on this combo pack, I'm gonna go and watch it right now because I'm kinda in the mood to watch it again after reviewing it for this series. So I'm gonna go and watch that next as soon as I get done typing this review up.
Anyway, guys, with that, we come to the close of another Reaction & Review. Until next time, ladies and gentlemen, take care, and I will see you all later. Peace.
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