"this animated adventure is thrilling and engaging from start to finish"

Following Batman: Hush, the latest entry in the DC Universe is Wonder Woman: Bloodlines, a retelling of the Wonder Woman origin in part, this animated adventure is thrilling and engaging from start to finish.

Wonder Woman: Bloodlines opens with familiar beats as Steve Trevor (Jeffrey Donovan) crash lands on the hidden island of Themyscira, the difference this time is that he is engged in a dog fight with Parademon’s, shortly after the Amazon's heal him with the purple healing light, Steve is taken into custody due to the ‘no man’ law by Queen Hippolyta (Cree Summer). In other recent iterations of the origin story this is different, and hearing his pleas, Diana breaks him out of the holding cell and leaves Themyscira, never to return.

Upon arriving in America and following their introduction by Steve, Diana (Rosario Dawson) befriends Julia Kapatelis (Nia Vardalos). At first everything seems fine, but over time Julia’s daughter Vanessa (Marie Avgeropoulos) becomes resentful and rebellious leading to the death of Julia, a casualty of a fire fight between Diana aka Wonder Woman and Doctor Poison (Courtenay Taylor).

What follows is a plot that involves acquiring the Amazonian technology found on Themyscira by the villainous Dr. Cyber (Mozhan Marnò) who seems to be the puppet master pulling the strings of Doctor Poison, leading to the willing upgrade of Vanessa into the villainous Silver Swan.

The animation of Wonder Woman: Bloodlines is beautiful, fitting nicely into the established Justice League: War continuity; I have said for years that whilst DC falter a lot when it comes to their live action films, they shine when it comes to Animation, it is fast paced and action packed, leading to a very satisfying climax involving some well known Greek Myths.

The voice cast led by Rosario Dawson are wonderful, those returning to voice their characters know their roles perfectly, and newcomers to the franchise Marie Avgeropoulos brings depth and angst to the role of Vanessa, she’s an addition that I'd like to hear more from as this franchise continues, similarly hearing Michael Dorn's destinct voice as Ferdinand the Minotaur was a welcomed addition, one that I hope pops up in more DC Universe adventures.