Batman and Harley Quinn

Batman and Harley Quinn is a 2017 American animated superhero film produced by Warner Bros. Animation and distributed by Warner Bros. Home Entertainment. It is the twenty-ninth film in the DC Universe Animated Original Movies series, and is directed by Sam Liu and written by Jim Krieg and Bruce Timm. It premiered on July 21, 2017 at San Diego Comic-Con International[2] and was released into participating theaters for one night only on August 14, 2017.[3] The film was released on digital on August 15, 2017 and on DVD and Blu-ray on August 29.[4]

Batman and Harley Quinn
Theatrical release poster
Directed bySam Liu
Screenplay byBruce Timm
Jim Krieg
Story byBruce Timm
Based onBatman by Bill Finger and Bob Kane
Harley Quinn by Paul Dini and Bruce Timm
StarringKevin Conroy
Melissa Rauch
Loren Lester
Paget Brewster
Kevin Michael Richardson
Music byMichael McCuistion
Lolita Ritmanis
Kristopher Carter
Edited byChristopher D. Lozinski
Production
company
Distributed byWarner Bros. Home Entertainment
Release date
Running time
74 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Box office$2.1 million[1]

Plot

Batman and Nightwing discover that Poison Ivy and Floronic Man (Jason Woodrue) have teamed up. Much to their reluctance, they decide to look for Harley Quinn (Ivy's best friend and Joker's usual sidekick) to find out where the duo is hiding; however, Harley has gone off the grid since getting paroled. Batman leaves finding Harley to Nightwing, while he gets information from A.R.G.U.S.

At A.R.G.U.S. HQ, Batman learns that Ivy and Woodrue stole the information on Swamp Thing's birth and kidnapped a scientist named Dr. Harold Goldblum, who could help them replicate the process and turn everyone into plant people.

Nightwing finds Harley working as a waitress at a restaurant. Tailing her, Nightwing angers her, since she wants to live a normal life, but her past as a super-criminal prevents her from getting rehired as a psychiatrist. Eventually, the two kiss each other and start tickling each other – until Batman walks in on them – with the result being that Harley decides to help.

Harley leads them to a popular hangout for henchmen, where she gets the location of Ivy from one of her old minions named Shrubby. The trio head to Blüdhaven, where Ivy is saddened to see her friend helping Batman. Woodrue fatally wounds Dr. Goldblum to keep him quiet before he and Ivy escape as their lab catches fire. However, the dying Dr. Goldblum reveals that the duo is heading to Wainwright Swamp in Louisiana, where the correct swamp chemicals are.

Contacting A.R.G.U.S., Batman, Nightwing and Harley head after them to convince Ivy to stop her mad plans, realizing that even the slightest miscalculation could result in the extinction of all life on Earth. Harley resorts to crying to convince Ivy, who is finally swayed by their relationship. Swamp Thing appears, informing Woodrue that he would threaten the Green with his concoction; however, he will not interfere. Batman and Nightwing wonder how to stop Woodrue, until Harley points out he is a plant and asks if they have a match. Grateful, they both give her a kiss on the cheek and Batman just sets Woodrue on fire.

In a post-credit scene, Harley has gone back to being Harleen Quinzel and she now has a reality game show on television, where she makes contestants run an elaborate obstacle course to win a year of therapy from a professional in a scathing indictment of the American insurance system.

Voice cast

Production

The director is Sam Liu, who has directed prior DC animated films. The film is an original story written by Bruce Timm partnered with Jim Krieg.[5] Kevin Conroy voices Batman and Loren Lester voices Nightwing, both of whom voiced those same roles in Batman: The Animated Series and in The New Batman Adventures. It is designed in the classic style similar to The New Batman Adventures, with Bruce Timm stating that the film is essentially a "48 Hrs." style antics version of Batman and Harley Quinn teaming up. Notably, the film is much more comedic than the original series, with co-writer Jim Krieg stating "This is kind of a strange, red-headed nephew of Batman: The Animated Series, but don't show it to your kids thinking that it's Batman: The Animated Series, it is its own thing, kind of extrapolated."[6]

The score was composed by Michael McCuistion, Kristopher Carter & Lolita Ritmanis, which was released on CD by WaterTower Records as an exclusive with FYE.[7]

The animation was outsourced to DR Movie in South Korea.

Tie-in media

On July 31, a five-issue prequel series called "Harley Quinn and Batman" was released on a bi-weekly basis via Digital Download. Written by Ty Templeton and drawn by Rick Burchett, the plot follows Harley as she looks to separate herself from the Joker and become a full-fledged super-villain in her own right. Afterwards, a seven-issue series (which shares the same title of the film) was released on a weekly basis (also for Digital Download) starting on October 23. This serves as an anthology series that takes place after the events of the movie and is worked on by various writers.[8][9][10] Both mini-series were collected into a trade paperback and released on March 7, 2018.

Release

Due to the financial success of The Killing Joke, the film was released in theaters for one night only through Fathom Events in the United States on August 14, 2017.[11] The next week, a combo set with a Blu-ray copy, a DVD copy, and a digital copy was released.[12]

Batman and Harley Quinn's theatrical release grossed $32,671 in Australia and $6,420 in the Netherlands, bringing its international total to $39,091. The film earned $971,323 from domestic DVD sales and $1,182,647 from domestic Blu-ray sales, bringing its total domestic home video earnings to $2,153,970.[1]

Reception

The film received mixed to negative reviews from critics with some praise towards the voice performances of Conroy and Lester, and throwbacks to the animated series, but criticizing the script, humor, Rauch's performance as Harley Quinn and the more risqué content which was never present in Batman: The Animated Series.[13][14][15] On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 45% based on 11 reviews, with an average rating of 5/10.[16]

Collider criticized the film's inconsistent tone, as well as its lack of resolution.[17] Tyler Smith of Battleship Pretension criticized the more explicit sexual elements, writing, "As Batman and Harley Quinn attempts to incorporate more explicit sexuality – what could be considered "adult content" – into the story, the film takes on the tone of a couple of 13-year-olds constantly high-fiving each other as they take turns writing risqué Harley Quinn fan fiction. I'm not exactly sure what the filmmakers were trying to achieve by treating the audience to gratuitous upskirt shots of Harley, but it certainly wasn't an attempt to make her a more well-rounded character. In fact, it's actually pretty dehumanizing."[18]

IGN's review of the film was more positive, citing the throwback elements, aesthetics and fight choreography, but commented that the film is "self-indulgent" in its humor and "unbalanced between comedy and drama".[19]

References
  1. "Batman and Harley Quinn (2017)". The Numbers. Retrieved January 1, 2020.
  2. World Premiere of Batman and Harley Quinn at Comic-Con International | Comic-Con International: San Diego
  3. Kennedy, Michael. "Batman & Harley Quinn Animated Movie Gets One-Day Theatrical Release". Screen Rant. Retrieved August 3, 2017.
  4. Hayman, Amanda (May 30, 2017). "Batman and Harley Quinn Release Date & DVD/Blu-ray Features Revealed". Screen Rant. Retrieved June 2, 2017.
  5. Howard, Kirsten (April 20, 2017). "Batman And Harley Quinn animated movie pressing ahead". Den Of Geek. Retrieved May 28, 2017.
  6. "BATMAN AND HARLEY QUINN Official Trailer Teaser + Featurette (2017) DC Superhero Animated Movie HD". April 5, 2017. Retrieved January 1, 2020 – via YouTube.
  7. Harvey, James. "Press Details, Artwork For 'Batman And Harley Quinn,' 'Batman vs. Two-Face' Soundtracks". World's Finest Online.
  8. Dyce, Andrew (July 15, 2017). "Harley Quinn & Batman Prequel Comic Revealed". Screen Rant.
  9. Whitbrook, James (July 5, 2017). "The Animated Batman and Harley Quinn Movie is Getting its Own Comic Series". IO9.
  10. Diaz, Eric (July 5, 2017). "BATMAN AND HARLEY QUINN GETS A COMIC BOOK PREQUEL…AND SEQUEL". The Nerdist.
  11. "Batman and Harley Quinn is coming to Theaters... for One Night Only". DC Comics. June 30, 2017. Retrieved July 12, 2017.
  12. "Batman & Harley Quinn Blu-ray". Blu-ray.com. Retrieved May 28, 2017.
  13. "Batman and Harley Quinn Gives a Big Middle Finger To the Beloved Antivillain". Gizmodo. Retrieved January 1, 2020.
  14. Schwerdtfeger, Conner (August 14, 2017). "Harley Quinn Deserves Better Than The Laughably Bad Batman And Harley Quinn Animated Movie". Cinemablend.com. Retrieved January 1, 2020.
  15. Roman, Julian (August 30, 2017). "Batman and Harley Quinn Review: A Campy, Sex-Fueled 90s Nostalgia Trip". Movieweb.com. Retrieved January 1, 2020.
  16. "Batman and Harley Quinn (2017)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved January 1, 2020.
  17. Trumbore, Dave (August 30, 2017). "Batman and Harley Quinn Review: An Insulting Waste of Time". Collider. Retrieved January 1, 2020.
  18. Smith, Tyler. "Batman and Harley Quinn: Atonal Mess". Battleship Pretension. Retrieved January 1, 2020.
  19. Marnell, Blair (August 16, 2017). "Batman and Harley Quinn Review". IGN. Retrieved January 1, 2020.
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