Batman & 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

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?!"

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.

So I saw the movie yesterday and I've gotta say that I was pretty disappointed. I've been a DC fan for almost 15 years and Harley Quinn is one of my favorite characters. This movie didn't really do her justice. She was constantly on edge and very snappy. Now I understand that this was a different take on her but since it was a Bruce Timm movie I had hoped to see his version of her (gleeful, naughty, goofy and aggressive when needed). I understand that this was aftermath Harley, she's been through a lot and will not let anyone walk over her. I suppose that's realistic. But it wasn't enough for me to truly enjoy the movie. This was because of multiple reasons.

The script writing was meager and kept going from serious to gag. I wasn't sure what this movie wanted to be. It could have been both but it just switched it up too fast and often. The plot was pretty generic and there were a lot of OOC moments for some of the characters. I could have given this movie much more credit but sadly the abrupt and anti-climatic ending made me seal the deal. This movie was okay, not great.

To prevent being a complete sour puss I will add what I did like about the movie. I loved the animation style, it made me feel very nostalgic.Some of the jokes were pretty funny and I did enjoy the fight scenes.There's also a fair amount of easter eggs referring to Adam West his Batman. So should you watch this movie? My answer is yes, because this is just my opinion and you might like it either way ;)

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.