Wonder Woman: Bloodlines (2019)

I subscribed to the DC Universe service initially out of curiosity, but I actually do like that most of DC’s direct-to-video animated movies end up there sooner or later. As such, I was pleased to see the latest, originally released in October of 2019, was added recently. And hey, it’s the first in this continuity’s series to be Wonder Woman-focused.

So, how was Wonder Woman: Bloodlines?

Opening at a period five years in the past, we see Colonel Steve Trevor (voice of Jeffrey Donovan) getting attacked by a Parademon. His jet goes down over Themyscira, and he’s rescued by Diana (Rosario Dawson), daughter of the queen. However, due to the crime of being a man, Steve may never be allowed to leave, so Diana does the only reasonable thing: she steals some ancient armor and weapons to smuggle him out. Her mother Hippolyta (Cree Summer) tries to stop her, but after a brief scuffle, Diana prevails, only to be reminded she will forget where the Island is as soon as she leaves as part of a magical failsafe for anyone who departs Themyscira. From there, she moves in with Julia and Vanessa Kapetelis (Nia Vardalos and Marie Avgeropoilos respectively), learning about the outside world and becoming a superhero.

When the five years are up, Vanessa has grown bitter, falling in with a number of Diana’s enemies and becoming the Silver Swan. Can Diana not only save the world but also redeem Vanessa?

So, this story was very much a Wonder Woman story. Diana was tough, compassionate, and as interested in healing the people attacking her as she was stopping them. She actually does overcome a couple opponents here just by caring for them. True, not everyone can be handled that easily, but she does succeed that way often enough in ways that, say, Superman can’t. The plot further mixes standard superheroics with Greek mythology, and I do have to give the casting some minor credit for making sure the two Kapetelises were voiced by actresses of Greek descent. It really doesn’t make any difference from a vocal standpoint that I could pick up, but it was a nice touch.

And this is a DC direct-to-video animated movie, so naturally the action scenes move very well, showcasing the power of the characters and having them make some very smart moves during the course of any fight scene. True, Diana’s one big move to steal her final opponent’s chief power was something I saw her do once in a Greg Rucka-penned comic, but it’s still a smart move.

On the down side, I don’t like the way this animation style handles torsos for some reason, and Dawson, who isn’t a bad actress most of the time, sounds rather flat in her line reading. I’d say she might have been going for stoic, a common trait often associated with the Amazing Amazon, but a lot of recognizable name actors do the same in other DC movies. Dawson doesn’t seem to show much emotion, and that’s too bad. She doesn’t compare well to the tough-but-compassionate take of longtime Wonder Woman voice actress Susan Eisenberg or the live action Gal Gadot. I don’t know if its Dawson or the voice direction on these movies, but Donovan and Adrienne C. Moore (as Etta Candy) both manage to do much better with their respective roles. Regardless, it did hurt the movie a bit.

But I would imagine a DC fan or a Wonder Woman fan would be fine with it regardless.

Grade: B-