Wonder Woman (2009)

Movie review by Charles Cassady Jr., Common Sense Media
Wonder Woman (2009) Poster Image

Common Sense says

age 13+

Engaging animated superheroine tale has graphic violence.

PG-13 2009 75 minutes
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Parents say

age 14+

Based on 2 reviews

Kids say

age 11+

Based on 5 reviews

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A Lot or a Little?

The parents' guide to what's in this movie.

What Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that though Wonder Woman derives from a vintage comic-book character, the script is pretty up-to-date with the violence, including beatings, stabbings, decapitations, and blood flowing from a human sacrifice. Sexually suggestive lines include references to prostitution, seduction, and Wonder Woman's "rack." A brief scene of Amazons bathing topless (long, flowing hair covers their busts). Some Amazon women are shown skimpily clad or bathing. "Crap" is uttered (and treated) like an obscenity. Viewers with little knowledge of Greek mythology might be confused about fine details; ultra-religious households might be put off by the trappings of pre-Christian pagan worship. After returning a male fighter pilot back to Earth, the pilot tries to get Diana drunk on tequila as a means to seduce her; she outdrinks him, and over the course of the movie, he learns to outgrow his boorish womanizing behavior.

Community Reviews

Mattmchugh
Mattmchugh Adult
March 3, 2011
age 13+

A good take on the Wonder Woman story, but not for little ones

As an aging comic book geek, I quite enjoyed this. It's a good rendering of the current comic arc of the Wonder Woman character, which does away with whole secret identity thing and depicts her as kind of aloof and dismissive of male-dominated society, having come from a female one she considers superior. That's actually a pretty radical feminist concept, and this movie treats it seriously, but with a healthy dose of humor. It's interesting to have a female character so powerful and confident that frat-boy sexism is simply inconsequential to her. The story invokes a Saturday-matinee view of Greek mythology with combat and violence that's a bit more intense than you might expect in a cartoon. That, combined with a subtle but frequent references to sexuality (an evil child is referred to as a "product of unholy union") make this one a definite PG-13 -- but teens and above of both genders will find this a smart and snappy superhero adventure.
pete_in_ca
pete_in_ca Adult
March 5, 2009
age 14+

Designed for adults, NOT kid friendly

If you are watching with the kids, be forewarned that this is very similar to last year's Justice League also released by Warner Animation. This is also in the genre of darker, grown-up cartoons for the adults who remembered Superfriends and the Wonder Woman animated series and wanted a little more. The quips are grown up and in my opinion not for impressionable minds. The movie is great for adults, but the dialogue and violence prevents me from letting my child see it.
See all 2 parent reviews

What's the Story?

A Herculean helping of Greek mythology explains the origin of the 20th-century comic-book heroine WONDER WOMAN. Her mother, Hyppolite, fought a ruinous conflict against Aries, the war god. Mighty Zeus decrees that the Amazons be given an invisible island on which to dwell unmolested, with Aries, deprived of his powers, as their prisoner. On this timeless island Hyppolite "conceives" (literally molding from sand, without a father) a daughter, Diana, who grows up to become a foremost Amazon warrior. When a macho, modern-day USAF fighter-pilot, Steve, crash-lands on the island, the outraged-but-intrigued Amazons assign Diana to take him back to his world (New York City, it so happens). But Aries simultaneously escapes, and to prevent an apocalypse Diana -- with Steve as a guide -- goes into the modern world with an emblematic breastplate, magic lariat, and tiara as Wonder Woman.

Is It Any Good?

Like the Amazon archers themselves, this movie hits it targets more often than not, despite the familiarly basic TV-level animation. While a Wonder Woman blockbuster lingered on Hollywood's drawing-boards, this engaging, action-crammed animated feature reached the streaming marketplace first. Some sequences, like a jet dogfight, are truly kinetic and exciting, and the script puts modern wit, battle-of-the-sexes dialogue, and feminism into a lively cauldron with the ancient Greek myth -- well, DC Comics' selective notion of it anyway.

Setting Wonder Woman against a basically all-powerful god is bit of a stretch, even by the wobbly logic of superhero antics, and Aries is a one-dimensional baddie. But chauvinist Steve gets a zinger with his line that a nice-guy god would probably never even have a girlfriend, as Aries does. A sub-theme proposes that the self-reliant Amazon women go wrong by aspiring to remain chaste and aloof from romantic love; interestingly, the novelization (but not the movie) of Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith claims the Jedi Knights make the same mistake.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about the popularity of Wonder Woman, a character practically as iconic as another DC Comics mainstay, Superman. What's so appealing about her?

  • How can female superheroes with idealized bodies and skimpy clothing affect body image?

  • In terms of animated violence, how does this compare to other animated features, especially more recent offerings from the DC Universe? Is it too much for kids? How much of it do you think is necessary to the story?

Movie Details

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