Batman y Harley Quinn

I had a feeling that if they were going to make a movie where "Harley Quinn" is about half of the title, she would steal the show. And I was right! Unfortunately, the show which Harley stole was not not a very good one...

At first I didn't know how to feel about this movie. I grew up on the "Batman the Animated Series" cartoons which this movie spawned from. Those cartoons always took themselves very seriously, and explored themes that were pretty dark and complex for kids shows at the time. However, that show ran in the '90s, and it's 2017 now, and Batman has been pretty thoroughly explored and picked apart on TV and in film since then (see The Lego Batman Movie).

Maybe because of this, I think Paul Dini and Bruce Timm decided they would try a different route than what one might expect from the original cartoons: this movie DOES NOT take itself very seriously. Harley Quinn is good for that, she is making jokes and acting silly throughout. Batman and the main villains take themselves very seriously, but literally no other character in the movie does. About half of the jokes and antics are funny, and the other half fall pretty flat. Comedy was never the original series's strength though, in fact jokes falling flat was the norm. That normally wasn't a problem in the original series though, because the story, mystery, or character development was the focus, not the humor.

In this movie though, the story is pretty generic, there is no mystery, and there aren't very many new or interesting characters to develop. On top of that, the focus of this movie is shifted more onto the humor and to Harley Quinn's various antics, which makes it feel, well... really CAMPY. Honestly though, many of Batman's iterations over the years have been quite campy (RIP Adam West) so I would bet there would be many fans of Batman who would not see this as a problem.

Where it does become a bit of a problem is when some characters act VERY out of character with minimal explanation as to why. Without spoiling anything, one scene in particular has a character act EXTREMELY out of character for what I have to assume is only for the sake of "fan service" (if you see the movie you'll know what scene I'm talking about). Combine this fan service with the campiness and you come away from this film feeling as if you just saw someone's fan fiction brought to life. Admittedly it's not really BAD fan fiction, but it is very AVERAGE fan fiction.

Truthfully, even with all of that I could easily justify giving this movie a 7/10, or maybe even an 8/10 if you really enjoy camp. However, THAT ENDING THOUGH!!?!?! Without spoiling anything, the movie's ending is abrupt, overly silly, and anti- climactic. They really build up a character appearance and an epic fight, but the payoff is instead that the character leaves as soon as they arrive, a silly moment happens, and then the film pulls with a Looney Tunes-esque moment. It felt like suddenly Harley Quinn became the director and directed this final scene. It felt like I was trolled by Paul Dini and Bruce Timm. They might as well have played the movie out to the tune of Rick Astley's "Never Gonna Give You Up". I knocked two whole points off of my rating just for that ending!

It should also be noted that there are two stingers in the credits: one that happens a few minutes into the credits, and another that happens after they have ended. Both are pretty silly. In addition, after the final stinger, there is a short interview/behind the scenes look in which Bruce and Paul and others are asked about the origins of Harley Quinn, a look at what her real-life sociopathic disorder would be, and just a description of her as a character. It's good, as good as or possibly even better than the movie that came before it... In fact, I added a point back onto my score because it was good. Admittedly it did feel a bit like they were justifying some of the poor decisions being made in this movie (including the fan service one...) but still cool to know!

So overall, it's a very okay movie with some problems, but was still fun to see. 6/10

Funny animated film with surprisingly smart dialogs. I simply do not understand bad ratings and negative fan reactions! 🦇 Some lines of Harley Quinn are hilarious, and the scene at her apartment may be highlighted. The homage to the 60's series at the Shrubby's bar was very nice. The light approach of this film makes Batman's impatience quite funny too. For some surprising periods in the first part of the movie, it may be the most sexual DC film since Batman Returns!

I didn't take this movie quite as serious as some who've reviewed it here on IMDb. Their views are perfectly valid and insightful and I for one appreciate their efforts; I guess I just assumed this movie was going to be offbeat (due to the title) and went in just hoping to be entertained not to have a life-changing experience. Guess what?! I really was (entertained that is)! In my opinion, it was just the right amount of nostalgia for Batman The Animated Series (BTAS) of the 90's with a bit of modern WTF & OMG thrown in for good measure. I was genuinely shocked a couple of times (you'll know when you get to THAT scene) and laughed out loud at others (keep your eyes out for the Batusi!!) Thought I must admit, I really missed Arleen Sorkin's voice as Harley. Not sure what happened there WB?! I mean, it seems like a no brainer to bring her back if you bring everyone else from BTAS back (just sayin').

One way you might be able to enjoy 'Batman & Harley Quinn' more is if you just look at it as a really long "lost episode" of BTAS, not an addition to the DC Animated Universe. That's what I found myself doing. I didn't love every single episode of BTAS (gasp!) but I did love the entire series overall. There are people who will trash this film, stating that it somehow destroyed their childhood, but honestly, if that's the case then they took it WAY too seriously. It was exactly what the title implied; a crazy hybrid story that intertwines Batman (and Nightwing) with a Harley Quinn story. My suggestion is this: if you are hankerin' for an animated film, want to be entertained and maybe kill 75 min., watch this quirky, sometimes shocking flick.

Lighten up people, or as a great clown once said..."Why so serious?!"

I enjoyed this movie. The animation was simple, but it was clearly a particular style they were going for, and it was well executed.

The jokes I found were entertaining, and the dialogue good also. I like how it's not made for kids.

Well, there isn't much to talk about this movie. In fact, it's just a silly but entertaining animation (for the most part), it's far from DC's best, but is far from the worst too.

Although, I think that the movie will have a hard time to find his public, it has some sexual jokes in some parts, so I really don't know if is the best DC animation for kids, but, at the same time, it sounds like a fluffy dumb kid movie for the majority of his runtime, thus I don't think that is for adults too. Anyway, Batman and Harley is over all just a short and "ok" DC animation, will someday show up on the TV, you'll probably see, and may like, or might not.

Other things: The animation isn't great, but is better than some recent DC films (like Son of Batman, or Batman vs Robin). The structure itself is pretty basic, predictable and etc, you basically knows how the film will end (almost). Overall, I get it (kind off), but I really don't like the way that they approach Batman here, he gets his ass kick to almost everyone (so does nightwing), and he does some silly jokes as well.