In June 2020, Wonder Woman 1984 - the sequel to 2017’s hit live-action Wonder Woman - will hit movie screens. This made the time right for the character’s second starring DC Animated Universe tale, 2019’s Wonder Woman: Bloodlines.

When pilot Colonel Steve Trevor (voiced by Jeffrey Donovan) crash-lands near the hidden island of Themmyscira, Amazon Princess Diana (Rosario Dawson) rescues him. Though Queen Hippolyta (Cree Summer) wants to keep Steve imprisoned, Diana declares this unjust and breaks him out of the hoosegow.

Diana also believes she needs to help act as a protector of humankind, so she travels with Steve to the US. There she lives with archaeologist Dr. Julia Kapatelis (Nia Vardalos) and her teen daughter Vanessa (Marie Avgeropoulos).

Because Julia fawns over Diana, Vanessa becomes more and more alienated. After Diana turns into the super hero Wonder Woman, Vanessa eventually turns toward the dark side and adopts the villainous persona Silver Swan. Wonder Woman confronts Vanessa’s menace and other threats as well.

Back in 2009, Wonder Woman made her DC Animated debut as the lead character. We got her origin story in that film, so it seemed odd Bloodlines told the tale again.

That said, Bloodlines offers a different spin, mainly because it makes the Diana/Julia/Vanessa relationship so important. From the very start, the film shows that it’ll focus heavily on family connections, so while the aspects with Trevor feel redundant, the rest goes in a different direction than the 2009 story.

Unfortunately, Bloodlines tends to follow these themes in a trite manner, and it doesn’t take a fortune teller to figure out pretty quickly that a resentful Vanessa will eventually go bad. The film batters us with the semi-neglect she experiences and doesn’t produce a particularly compelling tale of sibling rivalry.

In addition, Bloodlines loads itself down with too many villains. Along with Silver Swan, we find a bunch of other baddies as well.

Of course, these play smaller roles than Swan does, and none feel as integral to the plot. Nonetheless, we encounter so many that they bog down the action.

That seems counterintuitive, as you’d think a slew of villains would up the ante. It doesn’t, as the preponderance of antagonists means that none of them create a substantial impact.

It’d work better if the tale stayed more focused and dealt mainly with the Vanessa/Diana rivalry. With so many additional roles in tow, the movie’s primary theme gets lost along the way.

At its best, Bloodlines produces some decent action, but it doesn’t prosper as a basic drama. Though we get occasional moments of fun, the overall package falters.

Footnote: a mid-credits tag scene appears.

Wonder Woman: Bloodlines appears in an aspect ratio of 1.78:1 on this 4K UHD Disc. Overall, the image looked positive.

Sharpness seemed terrific. Virtually no sharpness materialized, so the movie remained accurate and concise.

No issues with shimmering or jaggies materialized, and I saw no edge haloes or noise reduction. Of course, I found no print flaws here.

With the palette of Bloodlines, we got a pretty broad, vivid set of hues. The colors seemed fine, as they represented their intended schemes, and the disc’s HDR added range and punch to the tones.

Blacks were deep and dark, while shadows looked smooth and clear. HDR brought out stronger contrast as well. This became a pretty great image.

When I examined the DTS-HD MA 5.1 soundtrack of Bloodlines, it created a fine sense of action. The movie packed a fair amount of battles and involving material, and it used the five channels to impart that information in a lively manner.

Explosions and fights filled the channels to create a full spectrum, and quieter elements fleshed out the room as well.

Across the board, the material sounded good. Speech remained distinctive and concise, without edginess, and music seemed vivid and full.

Effects appeared accurate and tight, with clear highs and some powerful lows. All in all, the mix worked nicely.

How did the 4K UHD compare to the Blu-ray version? Both offered the same audio, but the 4K UHD boasted the usual format improvements in definition and colors. While not a tremendous upgrade, the 4K UHD worked betetr than the Blu-ray.

All the set’s extras appear on the included Blu-ray copy, and under DC Showcase: Death, we find a 19-minute, eight-second animated short that focuses on Neil Gaiman’s work. He recast the Grim Reaper as a Goth girl in this moderately engaging but somewhat superficial adaptation.

A Sneak Peek at Superman/Batman: Public Enemies fills seven minutes, 48 seconds and provides notes from DC Comics Senior VP/Creative Affairs Gregory Noveck, casting director Andrea Romano, executive producer Bruce Timm, script writer Stan Berkowitz, director Sam Liu, and actors Tim Daly, Kevin Conroy, Xander Berkeley, LeVar Burton, John C. McGinley and Clancy Brown.

They tell us a little about the production and performances, but mostly they just tell us about the story and how great it’ll be. This program remains nothing more than promotional material.

A Sneak Peek at Justice League vs. Teen Titans spans 11 minutes, 31 seconds and includes Liu, producer James Tucker, DC Entertainment Creative Director Mike Carlin, writer Bryan Q. Miller, and actors Jason O’Mara, Taissa Farmiga, Jerry O’Connell, Rosario Dawson, Shemar Moore, Jake T. Austin and Jon Bernthal.

Some notes about characters and story emerge. However, most of the piece just acts to sell the project to potential viewers.

A Sneak Peek at Superman: Red Sun occupies 11 minutes, 21 seconds with info from Timm, DC Entertainment VP Ames Kirshen, voice director Wes Gleason, producer Jim Krieg, and actors Jason Isaacs, Diedrich Bader, Amy Acker, Paul Williams and Sasha Roiz.

Like the other “Peeks”, we get basics about the movie’s content and arcs as well as cast/performances. It’s another entertaining promo.

A featurette called The Cheetah: Ferocious Archenemy runs 10 minutes, 50 seconds and provides remarks from Dawson, Kirshen, DC Daily host Amy Dallen, and screenwriter Mairghread Scott.

As expected, “Archenemy” looks at aspects of the Cheetah role and her evolution over the decades. It becomes a decent overview but nothing special.

Finally, we get two animated episodes, both from Batman: The Brave and the Bold. We find “Triumvirate of Terror!” (22:46) and “Scorn of the Star Sapphire!” (22:46).

What connects these shows to Bloodlines? In “Triumvirate”, Wonder Woman and Cheetah play pretty sizable roles, while in “Scorn”, we get a quick cameo from Wonder Woman and Steve Trevor, though the story mainly focused on Batman and Green Lantern.

Three villains switch their targeted heroes in “Triumvirate”. That seems like a fun concept, but the episode proves surprisingly dull.

As for “Scorn”, Lantern and Batman team up to fight Star Sapphire. Like “Triumvirate”, this turns into a mediocre show.

The disc opens with ads for Batman: Hush and The Death and Return of Superman. Trailers adds promos for Joker, The Kitchen, genLock, Justice League vs. Fatal Five and Wonder Woman (2009).

Call me cynical, but I suspect Wonder Woman: Bloodlines exists primarily to prep viewers for the next Wonder Woman feature film. On its own, it comes with some decent action but the story and drama feel ineffectual. The 4K UHD offers excellent visuals as well as very good audio and a smattering of bonus materials. Bloodlines ends up as a forgettable superhero tale.

To rate this film visit the prior review of WONDER WOMAN: BLOODLINES