Batman and Harley Quinn

With the new mainstream popularity of Harley Quinn it was inevitable they were going to cash in, and with the forthcoming movie coming out were teased a future Quinn/Ivy team up with this animated DC venture.

Immediately I was struck with the inconsistency of the tone, it looks and sounds like the old Batman animated series but blood, swearing and over sexualisation of Quinn was present. But then the opening credits was like a Pink Panther movie, half the sequences were camp comedy and the whole thing felt like the original series on acid.

That's not saying it wasn't watchable, but its like that Family Guy/Simpsons crossover. It was like a Simpsons episode, with blood violence and rape jokes. Something about it just felt wrong.

Batman and Harley Quinn is a Saturday Morning cartoon with content thrown into keep adults entertained and they've been doing that a lot lately. What with Batman sleeping with Batgirl in the huge letdown that was Killing Joke (2016), Deadshot hooking up with Killer Frost in Assault On Arkham (2014) and here we have another such encounter.

Due to the mixed tone I really didn't enjoy this as much as I wanted to. It was like mixing the Adam West series with the Nolan Franchise and blending it with the animated TV show.

The Good:

Great voice work

Nice to see old school Harley Quinn again

The Bad:

Inconsistent tone

Most jokes fall flat

Ridiculous opening credits

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.

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.

The opening credits make it obvious it's going to be a lighthearted animation, but it is a bit silly. The tone of the movie was inconsistent and felt disjointed. As a result, you can't take the dramatic scenes very seriously, and most of the humourous stuff is out of character.

The best part was definitely the Nightwing and Harley scenes, and when Batman finds them. Another plus is Kevin Michael Richardson's voice acting - excellent, as usual.

An overly long music and dance scene was a bit ridiculous, but not as ridiculous as the ending itself.

Overall a refreshing break from the doom and gloom of the other animated movies leading up to and following this movie. Not the worst, but not the best either.

Well - i was not bored.

That is about the most positive thing i can say. The movie is drawn in the style of the old animated series - and the style does hold up well.

In terms of characters - i really cannot say much, because i am not into comics and my knowledge of those characters does not go beyond having occasionally watched some of the batman and justice league shows.

I like the design of Harley and Poisen. I guess the tree guy was meant to be menacing, but i never felt like he was. He was just a strong guy made of wood.

To me - Batman felt a little out of character. I did not know he would kind of conscript a criminal in his investigations. But then again - i am not really familiar with him.

All in all - it did not feel like a feature length "movie" - but rather like an extended Saturday show. Probably a must have for a completionist - but quite forgettable otherwise.