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Batman and Harley Quinn review
Posted : 2 years, 11 months ago on 7 May 2021 10:38
Bloody brilliant and loads of fun! This is how you do comedic superhero stories not that live-action Suicide Squad or Harley Quinn Birds of Prey crap. The Batmobile flatulence scene or Harley doing Hanging on the Telephone at a dive bar for henchmen is worth the price of admission alone!
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A bitter disappointment
Posted : 6 years, 4 months ago on 22 November 2017 06:03
Designed to feel like a natural extension of the iconic Batman: The Animated Series, and part of the DC Animated Universe at large, 2017's Batman and Harley Quinn should be something of a can't-miss prospect, but instead it's another total letdown that deserves to fade into obscurity. It's evident that Batman and Harley Quinn was devised to ride on the coattails of the success of Suicide Squad, which served to give the character of Harley Quinn newfound popularity. Alas, the result is too campy and tonally inconsistent, lacking in proper mystery and suspense. It may have its charms, particularly in the visual style, but Batman and Harley Quinn comes up short in terms of action and contains too many ill-advised scenes worthy of scorn.
When Poison Ivy (Paget Brewster) and Jason Woodrue/The Floronic Man (Kevin Michael Richardson) rob S.T.AR. Labs, they steal information about Swamp Thing's creation and take a scientist hostage to replicate the formula. Investigating the crime scene, Batman/Bruce Wayne (Kevin Conroy) and Nightwing/Dick Grayson (Loren Lester) fear that the pair plan to devise a biological weapon to transform all life on Earth into plant hybrids. With the fate of humankind at stake, the Dynamic Duo reluctantly seek out Ivy's former partner in crime, Harley Quinn (Melissa Raunch), for assistance. Although Harley has made an effort to go straight and leave behind her former life, she agrees to help find Ivy and Woodrue before the duo can execute their devastating plan.
The teleplay is credited to animation veterans James Krieg and Bruce Timm, the latter of whom was one of the key masterminds behind Batman: The Animated Series and should be capable of a lot better. It's somewhat surprising and frankly disappointing that Harley Quinn creator Paul Dini was not involved in the production in any capacity, especially given his considerable ties to The Animated Series and his iconic Harley-centric stories. At least the Caped Crusader is given the chance to use his superlative detective skills here, but make no mistake: this is the Harley Quinn show. The plot exists to support Harley's full-blown zaniness as Batman and Nightwing serve as the straight men to her antics. There's an extended fart joke in the Batmobile that's atrociously undignified for everybody involved and feels utterly juvenile. This type of humour has admittedly been seen in some of the comics, but Harley is more effective when dealt with maturely (see "Mad Love"). Even worse, there's an awkward sequence in which Harley seduces Nightwing which only brings back uncomfortable memories of that sex scene in 2016's Batman: The Killing Joke. Meanwhile, there is not one but two out-of-place musical interludes, during which Batman is even seen tapping his fingers. Admittedly, the songs themselves are catchy enough, but all of this material is painfully self-indulgent, slowing down the pace of the story and taking away any sense of urgency.
Visually, Batman and Harley Quinn harkens back to the style of Batman: The Animated Series and The New Batman Adventures, bringing back the old-fashioned character designs, though of course it all looks more noticeably digital as opposed to hand-drawn. The animation is impressively stylish and fluid, and it is genuinely exciting to see the likes of Batman, Nightwing and Harley presented in the bygone style of The Animated Series for the first time in a number of years. The original score (credited to three composers with longstanding ties to DC animation) is admittedly effective as well, with a light-hearted central theme that suits the material.
Ultimately, one of the biggest issues of Batman and Harley Quinn is that of tone. Director Sam Liu has overseen a number of darker DC animated movies, including Batman: Year One and Batman: The Killing Joke, but the script aims for screwball comedy, even evoking the 1960s iteration of Batman. It feels like Liu was not on the same page as the screenwriters, and therefore a number of infantile scenes are mixed with dark, violent set-pieces, such as the admittedly thrilling climax. When Batman and Harley Quinn is locked in action mode, it does work more often than not, showing what the movie had the potential to be. The ending, though, is a total letdown - the movie ends abruptly, and the final shot is intended to be cute, but just comes across as out-of-place and corny beyond all belief. Did the writers just lost sight of who these characters are?
The primary attraction of Batman and Harley Quinn is, naturally, the presence of Conroy and Lester, who slip back into their respective roles once again with absolute ease. Even though they can only do so much with the sloppy material, they undeniably commit to the characters. On the other hand, Raunch - who's best known for her role of Bernadette in the long-running sitcom The Big Bang Theory - is a foolish choice for Harley. Trying her hardest to replicate the distinctive voice of Arleen Sorkin from Batman: The Animated Series, Raunch's performance is distracting - she's screechy and uncharismatic (you can hear too much Bernadette in her voice, as well), which is a real letdown in a movie which brings back Conroy and Lester.
Batman and Harley Quinn is actually the thirtieth motion picture produced as part of the long-running DC Universe Animated Original Movie franchise which kicked off in 2007. (It's worth pointing out that the two Adam West-starring animated features are not considered part of this series.) It's perhaps wise that the movie is more standalone, emerging as separate from the main continuity of the franchise, making it feel more like a one-shot comic. Nevertheless, there's just no getting around the movie's shortcomings, making it a bitter disappointment considering the talent and potential, enjoyable though it may occasionally be. For those that choose to stick around, there's an extended scene at the end of the credits involving Harley that's somewhat amusing.
5.4/10
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Another Strike for DC and Warner
Posted : 6 years, 7 months ago on 9 September 2017 05:02
[English Version]
Altough DC has made some mistakes in the live action territory, the stuff on their animation territory where mostly pretty damn good and enjoyable. For example, in TV Series, had stuff like the 90s Batman animated series, Justice League Unlimated, Green Lantern The Animated Series, Young Justice, etc. Whereas on animated Films they where stuff like Justice League A New Frontier, Justice League Gods And Monsters Superman vs the Elite, Batman the mask of the Phantasm, Batman Under the Red Hood, All Star Superman, and so on and so for.
But since 2014, with the release of justice league war, they had been a severe decay of the qualityt of the DC animated FIlms, since (excepting one o two movies) their share the same universe and also same directors/actors/writers with every movie, because of this, now the movies have less creative freedom/control than before, making the quality of the films varieted from quality bad (JLDark, Son of Batman), mediocre (Judas Contract, JL War, Batman Bad Blood), to decent and in rare cases actually good (Batman v Robin, JL v TT, Throne of Atlantis).
So, as you can see, I had some positive expectations to Batman and Harley Quinn, since Bruce Timm had alreadey made a good animated film in the past with JL Gods And Monsters, their had no so many creative limitations, most of the original cast would be back and it had the feeling of the old animated show, it has all the ingridientes to be something decent, right?..............Now you can imagine what a let down it was.
To start with the positive side of things, the animation and directing is decent (a little stattic sometimes but with pretty decent in the action scenes), voice acting is mostly good and matches with the caracthers (except from one point I would talk later on), the soundtrack is competent but forgetable, some of the jokes are well delivered, the presentation of the plot in their first couple of minutes or so is good and....nothing else. Aside from that, everything is a complete mess.
The most obvious failure of the movie is one the trio of protagonists: Harley Quinn. The reason of why is in the film is stupid and little is deepened in it, since it is just to find where poisin ivy is (but wait, batman is not a detective? their had the batcave and various clues that their can use to track ivy down!! And even if Batman asks to help an ex-villain, this would be the last resort for him, which the movie does not specify at any time, plus there was little chance that Harley Quinn knew where Poison Ivy was and which was her plan). Leavin that aside, most of the jokes or "punch-lines" that she saids are horrendus sexual jokes or pubert humour (aka the farting scene in the batmovile), most the problems of the 3rd act are causing by her so both Batman and Nighwing need to be Babysitting her though most of the film, and not to mention the horrible choice for Voice Actor that is Melissa Rauch.....yes, you heard me right, Melissa Rauch aka Bernadette from The Big Bang Theory. She gives an awful perfomance, with a squeaky annoying voice like a Looney Toone, and that does not even come close to tara strong's perfomance or any of the other in the main cast. This is specially obvious when she tries to be dramatic but fails by having always that tone of voice.
As the plot itself: Its pretty bland and generic, but it drag to long by scenes that serve no propuse (most of then made by harley quinn, like one scene where she punch a guy that left her waiting in a party when she was a tennager), with an inconsistente tone though it (sometimes wants to be funny, sometimes dramatic, sometimes just action, but none of that has a good transition between them). All of this with the generic villian that are Poisvon Ivy and Floronic Man, that just want to live in a world in only plants and no humans, starting with Gotham City with science (because yes, science can do that), Not to mention the rest of characters that are 1- a joke or 2-only serve to move the plot faster.
So to conclude, this by far one of the worst DC Animated films I ever watched. I even think that is one of the worst adptation that DC had produce so far, even when the Batman animated Series was some weak episodes, they always manage to be at least decent with some good moments, this movie doesn't have that!
Save your time and do not see it.
Final Score: 3.5/10
[Spanish Version]
A pesar de DC ha cometido algunos errores en el territorio de live action, las cosas que ha hecho su territorio de animación son en su mayoria bastante buenas y disfrutables. Por ejemplo, en la serie de televisión, había cosas como la serie de Batman de los 90s, Liga de la Justicia Ilimitada, Linterna Verde la serie animada, Justicia joven, etc Mientras que en las películas de animación donde cosas como Liga de la Justicia Una Nueva Frontera, Liga de la Justicia: Dioses y Monstruos Superman vs Elite, Batman, la máscara del Fantasma, Batman Under the Red Hood, All Star Superman, y así sucesivamente.
Pero desde el 2014, con el estreno de la peli Justice League War, ha habido una severa decadencia de la calidad de las películas animadas de DC, ya que (con excepción de una o dos películas) comparten el mismo universo y también los mismos directores/actores/ escritores con cada película, por eso, ahora las películas tienen menos libertad creativa / control que antes, haciendo que la calidad de las películas variando de mala calidad (JLDark, Son of Batman), mediocre (Judas Contract, JL: War, Batman Bad Blood) decente y rara vez buenas (Batman v Robin, JL v TT, JL: Trono de la Atlántida).
Por lo tanto, como puedes ver, tuve algunas expectativas positivas para Batman y Harley Quinn, ya que Bruce Timm ya había hecho una buena película de animación en el pasado con JL Gods And Monsters, no tenía tantas limitaciones creativas, la mayoría del elenco original estaría de vuelta y tenía la sensación de la vieja serie animada, tiene todos los ingredientes a ser algo decente, ¿verdad? .............. Ahora usted podra imaginar lo decepcionante que fue.
Para comenzar con el lado positivo de las cosas, la animación y la dirección son decentes (un poco estatístico a veces, pero con escenas de acción decente), la actuación de voz es en su mayoría buena y coincide con los personajes (excepto de un punto que hablaría más adelante) la banda sonora es competente pero olvidable, algunos de los chistes están bien entregados, la presentación de la trama en su primer par de minutos por ahi es buena y .... nada más. Aparte de eso, todo es un completo desastre.
El fallo más obvio de la película es uno de los tres protagonistas: Harley Quinn. La razón de por qué está en la película es estúpida y poco se profundiza en ella sólo para encontrar donde está la hiedra venenosa (pero, que acaso Batman no es un detective? Tenían la baticueva y varias pistas que pueden utilizar para seguir hiedra! E incluso si Batman llera a pedir ayudar a una ex-villana, esto seria como ultimo recurso para el, cosa que la peli no especifica en ningun momento, sumado a que había pocas posibilidades de que Harley Quinn supiera donde Poison Ivy estuviera y cual era su plan), la mayoría de las bromas o "remates" que ella dice son horrendas bromas sexuales o humor puberto (aka la escena con los pedos en el batmovil), la mayoría de los problemas del tercer acto están causados por ella solo para que así Nightwing y Batman la tengan que estar "cuidandola" durante toda la pelicula, y ni mencionar la horrible elección para el actor de voz que es Melissa Rauch ..... sí, me escuchaste bien, Melissa Rauch aka Bernadette de The Big Bang Theory. Ella da un terrible actuación, con una voz chirriante y molesta como un Looney Toone, y eso ni siquiera se acerca a la perfección de tara strong o siquiera al resto del reparto de la peli. Esto es especialmente obvio y malo cuando trata de sonar dramática pero aun asi sigue manteniendo el mismo tono de voz, fallando en expresar este tipo de escenas.
En cuanto a la trama misma: Es bastante blanda y genérica, pero se alarga por escenas que no sirven propuse (la mayor parte de entonces hecho por harley quinn, como la escena donde golpea a un tipo que la dejó esperándola en una fiesta), con un cambio de tonos muy malo (a veces quiere ser graciosa, a veces dramática, a veces sólo acción frenética, pero ninguna de esas escenas tiene una buena transición o mucho enfoque entre ellos). Todo esto con el villano genérico que son Poisvon Ivy y Floronic Man, que sólo quieren vivir en un mundo sólo en plantas y sin humanos, comenzando con Gotham City por que pueden hacerlo con ciencia (por que si, la ciencia hace eso). Ya ni hablar del resto de personajes que o son un chiste o solo sirven para mover la trama mas rapido. Y el final de la peli............ OH MI DIOS EL FINAL! ES JODIDAMENTE TERRIBLE! BvS NIVEL DE MIERDA
Así que para concluir, esta es, con mucho, una de las peores películas animadas de DC que he visto hasta ahora. Incluso pienso que es uno de los peores adaptaciones que DC había producido hasta ahora, incluso cuando la serie de Batman animado fue algunos episodios débiles, siempre logran ser al menos decente con algunos buenos momentos, esta película ni tiene eso!
Ahorren su tiempo y no lo vea.
Nota Final: 3.5/10
Altough DC has made some mistakes in the live action territory, the stuff on their animation territory where mostly pretty damn good and enjoyable. For example, in TV Series, had stuff like the 90s Batman animated series, Justice League Unlimated, Green Lantern The Animated Series, Young Justice, etc. Whereas on animated Films they where stuff like Justice League A New Frontier, Justice League Gods And Monsters Superman vs the Elite, Batman the mask of the Phantasm, Batman Under the Red Hood, All Star Superman, and so on and so for.
But since 2014, with the release of justice league war, they had been a severe decay of the qualityt of the DC animated FIlms, since (excepting one o two movies) their share the same universe and also same directors/actors/writers with every movie, because of this, now the movies have less creative freedom/control than before, making the quality of the films varieted from quality bad (JLDark, Son of Batman), mediocre (Judas Contract, JL War, Batman Bad Blood), to decent and in rare cases actually good (Batman v Robin, JL v TT, Throne of Atlantis).
So, as you can see, I had some positive expectations to Batman and Harley Quinn, since Bruce Timm had alreadey made a good animated film in the past with JL Gods And Monsters, their had no so many creative limitations, most of the original cast would be back and it had the feeling of the old animated show, it has all the ingridientes to be something decent, right?..............Now you can imagine what a let down it was.
To start with the positive side of things, the animation and directing is decent (a little stattic sometimes but with pretty decent in the action scenes), voice acting is mostly good and matches with the caracthers (except from one point I would talk later on), the soundtrack is competent but forgetable, some of the jokes are well delivered, the presentation of the plot in their first couple of minutes or so is good and....nothing else. Aside from that, everything is a complete mess.
The most obvious failure of the movie is one the trio of protagonists: Harley Quinn. The reason of why is in the film is stupid and little is deepened in it, since it is just to find where poisin ivy is (but wait, batman is not a detective? their had the batcave and various clues that their can use to track ivy down!! And even if Batman asks to help an ex-villain, this would be the last resort for him, which the movie does not specify at any time, plus there was little chance that Harley Quinn knew where Poison Ivy was and which was her plan). Leavin that aside, most of the jokes or "punch-lines" that she saids are horrendus sexual jokes or pubert humour (aka the farting scene in the batmovile), most the problems of the 3rd act are causing by her so both Batman and Nighwing need to be Babysitting her though most of the film, and not to mention the horrible choice for Voice Actor that is Melissa Rauch.....yes, you heard me right, Melissa Rauch aka Bernadette from The Big Bang Theory. She gives an awful perfomance, with a squeaky annoying voice like a Looney Toone, and that does not even come close to tara strong's perfomance or any of the other in the main cast. This is specially obvious when she tries to be dramatic but fails by having always that tone of voice.
As the plot itself: Its pretty bland and generic, but it drag to long by scenes that serve no propuse (most of then made by harley quinn, like one scene where she punch a guy that left her waiting in a party when she was a tennager), with an inconsistente tone though it (sometimes wants to be funny, sometimes dramatic, sometimes just action, but none of that has a good transition between them). All of this with the generic villian that are Poisvon Ivy and Floronic Man, that just want to live in a world in only plants and no humans, starting with Gotham City with science (because yes, science can do that), Not to mention the rest of characters that are 1- a joke or 2-only serve to move the plot faster.
So to conclude, this by far one of the worst DC Animated films I ever watched. I even think that is one of the worst adptation that DC had produce so far, even when the Batman animated Series was some weak episodes, they always manage to be at least decent with some good moments, this movie doesn't have that!
Save your time and do not see it.
Final Score: 3.5/10
[Spanish Version]
A pesar de DC ha cometido algunos errores en el territorio de live action, las cosas que ha hecho su territorio de animación son en su mayoria bastante buenas y disfrutables. Por ejemplo, en la serie de televisión, había cosas como la serie de Batman de los 90s, Liga de la Justicia Ilimitada, Linterna Verde la serie animada, Justicia joven, etc Mientras que en las películas de animación donde cosas como Liga de la Justicia Una Nueva Frontera, Liga de la Justicia: Dioses y Monstruos Superman vs Elite, Batman, la máscara del Fantasma, Batman Under the Red Hood, All Star Superman, y así sucesivamente.
Pero desde el 2014, con el estreno de la peli Justice League War, ha habido una severa decadencia de la calidad de las películas animadas de DC, ya que (con excepción de una o dos películas) comparten el mismo universo y también los mismos directores/actores/ escritores con cada película, por eso, ahora las películas tienen menos libertad creativa / control que antes, haciendo que la calidad de las películas variando de mala calidad (JLDark, Son of Batman), mediocre (Judas Contract, JL: War, Batman Bad Blood) decente y rara vez buenas (Batman v Robin, JL v TT, JL: Trono de la Atlántida).
Por lo tanto, como puedes ver, tuve algunas expectativas positivas para Batman y Harley Quinn, ya que Bruce Timm ya había hecho una buena película de animación en el pasado con JL Gods And Monsters, no tenía tantas limitaciones creativas, la mayoría del elenco original estaría de vuelta y tenía la sensación de la vieja serie animada, tiene todos los ingredientes a ser algo decente, ¿verdad? .............. Ahora usted podra imaginar lo decepcionante que fue.
Para comenzar con el lado positivo de las cosas, la animación y la dirección son decentes (un poco estatístico a veces, pero con escenas de acción decente), la actuación de voz es en su mayoría buena y coincide con los personajes (excepto de un punto que hablaría más adelante) la banda sonora es competente pero olvidable, algunos de los chistes están bien entregados, la presentación de la trama en su primer par de minutos por ahi es buena y .... nada más. Aparte de eso, todo es un completo desastre.
El fallo más obvio de la película es uno de los tres protagonistas: Harley Quinn. La razón de por qué está en la película es estúpida y poco se profundiza en ella sólo para encontrar donde está la hiedra venenosa (pero, que acaso Batman no es un detective? Tenían la baticueva y varias pistas que pueden utilizar para seguir hiedra! E incluso si Batman llera a pedir ayudar a una ex-villana, esto seria como ultimo recurso para el, cosa que la peli no especifica en ningun momento, sumado a que había pocas posibilidades de que Harley Quinn supiera donde Poison Ivy estuviera y cual era su plan), la mayoría de las bromas o "remates" que ella dice son horrendas bromas sexuales o humor puberto (aka la escena con los pedos en el batmovil), la mayoría de los problemas del tercer acto están causados por ella solo para que así Nightwing y Batman la tengan que estar "cuidandola" durante toda la pelicula, y ni mencionar la horrible elección para el actor de voz que es Melissa Rauch ..... sí, me escuchaste bien, Melissa Rauch aka Bernadette de The Big Bang Theory. Ella da un terrible actuación, con una voz chirriante y molesta como un Looney Toone, y eso ni siquiera se acerca a la perfección de tara strong o siquiera al resto del reparto de la peli. Esto es especialmente obvio y malo cuando trata de sonar dramática pero aun asi sigue manteniendo el mismo tono de voz, fallando en expresar este tipo de escenas.
En cuanto a la trama misma: Es bastante blanda y genérica, pero se alarga por escenas que no sirven propuse (la mayor parte de entonces hecho por harley quinn, como la escena donde golpea a un tipo que la dejó esperándola en una fiesta), con un cambio de tonos muy malo (a veces quiere ser graciosa, a veces dramática, a veces sólo acción frenética, pero ninguna de esas escenas tiene una buena transición o mucho enfoque entre ellos). Todo esto con el villano genérico que son Poisvon Ivy y Floronic Man, que sólo quieren vivir en un mundo sólo en plantas y sin humanos, comenzando con Gotham City por que pueden hacerlo con ciencia (por que si, la ciencia hace eso). Ya ni hablar del resto de personajes que o son un chiste o solo sirven para mover la trama mas rapido. Y el final de la peli............ OH MI DIOS EL FINAL! ES JODIDAMENTE TERRIBLE! BvS NIVEL DE MIERDA
Así que para concluir, esta es, con mucho, una de las peores películas animadas de DC que he visto hasta ahora. Incluso pienso que es uno de los peores adaptaciones que DC había producido hasta ahora, incluso cuando la serie de Batman animado fue algunos episodios débiles, siempre logran ser al menos decente con algunos buenos momentos, esta película ni tiene eso!
Ahorren su tiempo y no lo vea.
Nota Final: 3.5/10
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