Synopsis: Spawned from an original story by animation icon Bruce Timm, Batman and Harley Quinn brings legendary voice actor Kevin Conroy back to his most famous role. Poison Ivy and Jason Woodrue (a.k.a. The Floronic Man) embark on an ecological quest to save the planet—and, unfortunately, eliminate most of humankind along the way. To save humanity, Batman and Nightwing are forced to enlist Harley Quinn to catch Poison Ivy, Harley’s BFF and frequent partner-in-crime. But Batman’s patience is put to the test by the unpredictable and untrustworthy Harley during the twists and turns the reluctant companions face during their bumpy road trip. The result is a thrill ride of action, adventure and comedy no Batman fan has seen before.
Review: The reviews for Batman and Harley Quinn are mixed, because the tone is mixed. Writers Bruce Timm and Jim Krieg decided to throw Batman: The Animated Series and Batman ’66 into a Cuisinart with a few R-rated dashes to see what would happen. As the synopsis says, the result is something that no Batman fan has seen before.
That’s not a bad thing. I personally enjoyed this film as a one-off experiment. Kevin Conroy absolutely rocked as straight man Batman inhabiting Harley’s world. The scene in the henchmen bar with Harley’s cover of Blondie’s “Hanging on the Telephone” is worth the price alone. Additional high points were a marvelously deconstructionist cameo by Swamp Thing and a great bit of pop culture commentary in the end credits sequence.
All that said, I’ll reiterate that I enjoyed this film as a one-off experiment. As much as they may be exploring alternative ways to lighten Batman’s tone in the wake of Adam West’s death, the approach in Batman and Harley Quinn won’t appeal in the long term.
You can purchase Batman and Harley Quinn on DVD, Blu-ray, and VOD now.
Cast
Kevin Conroy, Melissa Rauch, Loren Lester, Paget Brewster, Kevin Michael Richardson
Director
Sam Liu
Writers
Bruce Timm, Jim Krieg
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- Story8.0
- Performances10
- Animation10
