Fanboys Anonymous

Batman and Harley Quinn is the latest in the line of animated DC direct-to-video films. Is it worth the watch or it is something that should be skipped?

Batman and Harley Quinn
Directed by Sam Liu
Written by Bruce Timm and James Krieg

STARRING:
Kevin Conroy (Bruce Wayne / Batman), Loren Lester (Dick Grayson / Nightwing), Melissa Rauch (Harley Quinn), Paget Brewster (Poison Ivy), John DiMaggio (Swamp Thing & Sarge Steel), Kevin Michael Richardson (Jason Woodrue / Floronic Man)

I don't quite get what they were going for here. Is it the worst thing ever? No. Is it good? Not really, especially in comparison to the better movies that have come out in the recent block of the past bunch.

This is just strange every couple of minutes and a good amount of that is how they valued jokes over everything. Some of them are great, but after a while, it just gives me the feeling that they were more concerned with making themselves laugh than making a better story.

For instance, the ending is so premature and pointless that I couldn't help but immediately think that I just wasted part of my time and that the writers couldn't figure out what to do at the end and said "screw it."

Music was a major negative for me. Why did we have two full musical performances? Was there some kind of contractual issue they were fulfilling? The batoosie joke would have worked if it was the only joke going on, but after so, so many other ones, I just got frustrated, and then they continued to add more.

What was so strange about that was how they'd pepper in serious moments, which meant they weren't sure what tone they wanted to really have. You can't go from having "ow, my balls" on the screen one minute and then having Harley tell the dying doctor to look up her bubbie in heaven without it feeling like you've shifted in too much of an extreme.

As far as the voice acting goes, Kevin Conroy and Loren Lester are just perfect as always. I like Paget Brewster as Poison Ivy, too. All the rest weren't up to par, to me, including Melissa Rauch as Harley Quinn. Sure, she sounded enough like Harley, but I'd have just preferred Arleen Sorkin.

I don't really have too many positives to say about this, particularly when thinking of the overall picture. These movies come about only a few per year and I'd like for them all to be as good as possible, but this felt like a poor use of the resources that could have been applied much better and HAVE been applied much better in the past.

Now that we've gotten that out of the way, it's time for some specific thoughts that ran through my mind during the course of the film:

• DC spent a few years begging everybody to like Cyborg, inserting him in everything even if he didn't fit in there. Now, it seems like Swamp Thing is their go-to character they're trying to familiarize people with.
• I love that Nightwing is getting some play time. He's such an underutilized and underrated character.
• I LOVE that they went there with the Superbabes restaurant being a superhero themed Hooters. That's hilarious.
• LOL at the reference to the mullet Dick Grayson used to have. Nice jab.
• Glad to see they kept the sexual appetite of Harley Quinn as well as how Grayson is a total man-whore, too. Funny reference to the idea of Batman and Robin being homosexual.
• Booster Gold being on Watchtower duty was a kind of funny gag, making fun of the other heroes.
• The nuclear option is puppy dog eyes?
• Well this isn't going to help Swamp Thing's popularity out at all.
• Do I buy a television show being given to Harley Quinn? Absolutely. Look at how long the Kardashians have been in the public eye with their crap.

There are far, far better options. Take your pick with any of the other ones and you're better off.