Wonder Woman (2009) vs. Wonder Woman: Bloodlines

[Gaius]

We've gotten two Wonder Woman solo animated movies and was wondering which of the two you prefer?

I'd give my vote to Bloodlines. It tries to cram a lot in, often to it's detriment, but I think it's a mostly enjoyable effort and I think it got the main three (Diana, Steve, and Etta) characterized much better than the 2009 film did.

[PopQuezy]

I chose Bloodlines. I think I'm one of the few here who genuinely loves the movie, and I've watched it several times since I bought it last year.

For me, the film nails Diana's character. She has a great amount of sass, compassion and inner struggle. I think the film, in its own little ways, does a good job with showing the difficulties of being an individual in a world that demands conformity. Diana's line about, "It's not a good thing to be different," and Steve's immediate response, "it is to the right people." Perfectly and succinctly states one of the foundational aspects of Wonder Woman that I truly love and magnetizes me to the brand. She is about loving people especially the ones society says we shouldn't. When others do not love you for being different, Wonder Woman will. And the fact that she herself does not perfectly fit into this world allows for an endless amount of empathy for others.

I know other people commented on how much of Wonder Woman's storylines were compressed into this film, but personally, it didn't bother me. It especially doesn't bother me since that's the only Wonder Woman film we'll get in that timeline. For me, it atleast allowed the movie to move at a consistent pace with not much downtown to lose engagement. I also thought it used the time well. I got enough information to understand the stakes and relationships for the characters without getting bogged down in extraneous details.

Next, I really loved seeing so many Wonder Woman villains. Seeing a team of villainous women with no morals, scruples or regard for human life was exhillerating. I loved the depiction of Dr.Cyber and hope we can get her in the comics. I also loved the depiction of Dr. Poison and think both Bloodlines and the 2017 film show the character is completely unhinged who enjoys spreading anarchy through her poisons and monstrous creations (Medusa). She is the type of character that should be a staple in the Wonder mythos.

Lastly, I liked Vanessa and Diana. As I said in the actual thread for Bloodlines, I left the film hoping Vanessa could be a sidekick to Diana as Silver Swan or at least a supporting cast member as Vanessa. I thought there was the perfect mixture of contempt, confusion and regret in the Vanessa character that made her both villainous yet someone I was happy to see be redeemed by the end.

P.S. I know, I know, but one last thing. This may be controversial but I liked Hippolyta's characterization in this film. Regal but hard and commanding with an exterior coldness that hides her immense love for Diana. My favorite line of hers is when she says in response to Phillipus trying to take back her statement regading Medusa killing Wonder Woman, "You MEANT what you said!" Hilarious.

As for the 2009 film, I liked it at the time, but it doesn't really hold up for me. It feels very much a product of its time especially how it tackles chauvanism and misogny. Steve is downright unwatchable for me. I hate the scene of Diana randomly giving the little girl sword fighting lessons in the park. I understand it from a narrative standpoint, but something about it feels empty and forced. I also hate the Ares/Hippolyta offspring in the film. Mostly, I think it was needed for the time and great for the time, but I expect more from Wonder Woman adaptations now than I did in 2009.

[Gaius]

As for the 2009 film, I liked it at the time, but it doesn't really hold up for me. It feels very much a product of its time especially how it tackles chauvanism and misogny. Steve is downright unwatchable for me. I hate the scene of Diana randomly giving the little girl sword fighting lessons in the park. I understand it from a narrative standpoint, but something about it feels empty and forced. I also hate the Ares/Hippolyta offspring in the film. Mostly, I think it was needed for the time and great for the time, but I expect more from Wonder Woman adaptations now than I did in 2009.

I feel the same way about the 2009 film. I liked it for a while because it was the first WW-centric thing I really got into but in hindsight it does a lot of things I was afraid a possible live-action film would end up doing; Steve being a prick/creep and Diana/Amazons apparently needing to be called out for their misandry.

[Psy-lock]

2009 for me. Better story, better animation, better action, better Amazons...My only major issue with it is the horrid Etta cameo. Bloodlines is ok, but feels too much like three movies crammed into one, so everything comes off half-assed.

[Largo161]

The 2009 film was unsatisfactory IMO, but I did watch it till the end. Couldn’t make it through Bloodlines.

[Batman Begins 2005]

Wonder Woman (2009). It's one of the five best DC Animated Movies. Just voted and tied it up to three a piece.

[Nyssane]

Both movies are not great, but I choose Bloodlines because despite its problems (dispatching Julia, Cheetah being a joke, and the "surprise" villain), the 2009 film took far too many liberties, such as:

Ares raping Hippolyta and fathering Thrax. WTF? This plot was ridiculous and unnecessary.

Etta Candy being a dumb blonde bimbo and completely misogynistic portrayal.

Random made-up amazons. Alexa? Persephone? There are tons of amazons and names from the comics and they chose to make up these characters? Need a backstabbing jailer? Use Alkyone or Dalma.

Steve Trevor holding his own against Diana in their first meeting is just insulting. Steve himself is so overly obnoxious and Han Solo-y that I don't know how Diana found him attractive beyond that dick.

[Koriand'r]

Bloodlines all the way! It's not the best but I don't outright despise it like the 2009 film. I'd rather have too much than not enough, especially when the not enough is grossly inaccurate bs.

[Dr. Poison]

Bloodlines was by far the better movie. In terms of writing, character design, voice-acting, and the usage of many characters from Wonder Woman's mythos, this movie exceeded the 2009 movie for me. I still cringe thinking about Ares' white mullet from the 2009 movie.

[Gaius]

Bloodlines was by far the better movie. In terms of writing, character design, voice-acting, and the usage of many characters from Wonder Woman's mythos, this movie exceeded the 2009 movie for me. I still cringe thinking about Ares' white mullet from the 2009 movie.

It's a minor detail, but yeah I was annoyed Ares never had his Perez armor in the '09 film. Especially since the story was a loose adaptation from the first Perez arc.

[SiegePerilous02]

Neither is great, but I went for Bloodlines. If nothing else, it's neat to see all those Wonder Woman support characters and villains animated. It's main flaw is that it is more of a teaser of what a distilled animated WW mythos could (her equivalent to BTAS or Spec. Spider-Man, or All-Star Superman) than something that works as a film. It was like 2-3 seasons of plot crammed into a short film. And yeah it's probably my bias talking, but the original planned movie revolving around Diana and Barbara would have worked better than what we got with Vanessa. As a result, Cheetah and Julia got short changed in a big way (the former a glorified mook cameo that they had to false advertise on the DVD box and the latter getting killed off) while Vanessa was an annoying stock angsty teen character. Their reasoning that Cheetah gets all the animated appearances was flawed because she's never actually had a starring role, and it's not like we were short on other WW villains in this that Silver Swan had to be represented.

On the plus side, while Steve and Etta were just ok, at least they weren't horrendous like they were in the 09 film. Ferdinand was a neat cameo. Hippolyta wasn't great, but at least she didn't get raped by Ares here. The rest of the villains had great designs and voices (especially Dr. Cyber, but all the villains had better voice acting than the heroes for some reason).

Medusa was both a pleasant surprise and a frustration because we were sold on a Villainy Inc. movie. In her case, it would have been an awesome twist in a tv series, but here it's out of left field.

[Agent 86]

Bloodlines. Even though it felt like three seasons of storyline crammed into a movie, it was a blast to see so many of Diana’s friends and foes.

[Agent Z]

The 2009 movie. It isn't the most accurate take (neither is Bloodlines and it takes way more liberties) but it is more competently made.

[WonderScott]

I like both in different ways. Steve was more interesting in the former versus the latter. The latter was more fun in action.

I enjoyed the number of Wonder foes in the latter, but didn’t agree with all their characterizations. It’s too bad these films are only 70 minutes long or so, because a lot more could have been done with the villains’ characterizations given more time to see them interact together.

[Frontier]

The 2009 movie. It isn't the most accurate take (neither is Bloodlines and it takes way more liberties) but it is more competently made.

I think a big difference is one was a straightforward origin story, so whatever issues you may take with how they adapted things, at least it knew what story it was trying to tell, while Bloodlines seemed to be trying to condense so much of the mythos into one movie.