Batman and Harley Quinn animated movie

[Sparkle Fabulosa]

As someone who loves classic Harley, I'm so excited for this and I very much approve of her voice casting.

http://collider.com/batman-and-harley-quinn-movie-cast-characters-plot/

 

[kirk55555]

I'm glad Kevin Conroy and the original B:TAS Robin/Nightwing are back for this. But, I'm irritated that they went for another B-list TV actor instead of hiring a real voice actor. Last time I checked, Tara Strong is readily available, and she's the person who is basically the main voice of Harley Quinn now. This isn't a "New 52" based DC animated movie where most of the voice actors are B/C list tv actors, and if they're already bringing Conroy and original Nightwing back why not go with actual voice actors for the whole movie?

Contrary to popular belief, being a (good) voice actor is not easy, and just being a regular actor doesn't mean someone will do well as a voice actor (as Jason O'Mara proves by being a good live action actor in Agents of SHIELD but a terrible voice actor for Batman in the New 52 based DC movies). Some people can do both, like Mark Hamil, Nathon Fillion, most of the people Pixar/Disney casts in things, etc. But, usually normal actors hired for voice acting jobs because they have a bit of name recognition are mediocre at best, terrible at worst.

Still, I'm definitely interested in the movie. Hopefully Bruce Timm can make up for his involvement in the horrible Killing Joke movie. Plus, maybe Rauch will turn out to be one of the surprisingly successful actors trying voice acting (she does have a few voice roles on her filmography, but its all little kid stuff, and one role as a baby).

 

[Guy Gardener]

If Poison Ivy is there, then maybe Haley and Ivy's romantic relationship will be explored a little?

 

[Christopher]

Is there a reason they couldn't just bring Arleen Sorkin back along with Conroy and Lester? Can she not do the voice anymore? I've never heard of the person who's taking over the role.

And is this finally a revival of the DCAU? Or is it a separate continuity that just happens to use the same character designs?

 

[Sparkle Fabulosa]

I'm pretty sure Arleen Sorkin has retired from doing Harley's voice.

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[The Nth Doctor]

I like the concept of this but I'm disappointed they're using the style used in the last season of Batman: The Animated Series, which I never liked, particularly for Poison Ivy and Harley.

 

[kirk55555]

Yeah, I wish they were using the old school style and not the "New Batman Adventures" style. But, honestly, as long as we never have to see the NBA Joker design (which was so bad that they reverted the design in Batman beyond: return of the Joker's flashback segments, even though everything else kept the newer designs), it won't be a huge deal in my opinion.

 

[Christopher]

I like the concept of this but I'm disappointed they're using the style used in the last season of Batman: The Animated Series, which I never liked, particularly for Poison Ivy and Harley.

I think it's not exactly that style, since Nightwing has different hair. And Timm always liked to tweak his character designs over time, so there are probably some other subtle variations as well.

If you're referring to the New Batman Adventures character designs, I never saw any real difference between B:TAS Harley and TNBA Harley, aside from a bit of streamlining to fit the simpler style. Really, of all the characters, she was the one who was redesigned the least for TNBA.

 

[Sparkle Fabulosa]

I actually prefer Ivy's redesign but I agree that the Joker's redesign was horrible.

 

[kirk55555]

Yeah, ivy was ok. I hated Joker's redesign, and I hated Catwoman's. She went from an interesting design to a terrible Batman Returns Catwoman knockoff, which is weird because the same show redesign got rid of the Danny devito inspired Penguin design from Batman returns that they had been using.

 

[Dick Whitman]

Looks fun. I am sure main reason of changing Nightwing's hair was the previous long hair design was abandoned long time ago. In both comics and animation. I remember in the first issue of him ever getting a regular ongoing solo his ponytail was cut off by accident in a fight scene. It never came back after that.

 

[Christopher]

I am sure main reason of changing Nightwing's hair was the previous long hair design was abandoned long time ago. In both comics and animation. I remember in the first issue of him ever getting a regular ongoing solo his ponytail was cut off by accident in a fight scene. It never came back after that.

Well, sure, the fact that mullets went out of style a long time ago was part of the reason for the change. But the more fundamental reason is that no artist wants to stagnate and do exactly the same thing for 25 years in a row, no matter how much fans may want them to.

 

[Christopher]

I'm pretty sure Arleen Sorkin has retired from doing Harley's voice.

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Somehow I overlooked that sneak-peek video before. Okay, so Jim Krieg says it's not in the DCAU, but is a "red-headed stepchild" of B:TAS, "its own thing kind of extrapolated." Which is pretty much what I expected -- more just a general "Bruce Timm-style Batman" movie than a revival of that specific continuity.

I'm not sold on Melissa Rauch as Harley. She definitely looks the part, but that doesn't matter in animation (Loren Lester certainly doesn't look a thing like Nightwing). I'm not too impressed with her performance, compared to Sorkin or Tara Strong or Hynden Walch (from The Batman) -- but she does give it kind of a Mae Questal (Betty Boop/Olive Oyl) quality that's interesting.

 

[JD]

I love Rauch on TBBT, but I would have preferred Tara Strong for Harley. I know Arleen Sorkin is the original Harley, but after the Arkham games and Injustice Strong has pretty much become my default Harye.
The movie looks like a lot of fun.

 

[Noname Given]

I'm pretty sure Arleen Sorkin has retired from doing Harley's voice.

^^^
if that's indeed the case, it's a real shame because her portrayal of the voice was/is the character for me. No one has done it better.

 

[Christopher]

^^^
if that's indeed the case, it's a real shame because her portrayal of the voice was/is the character for me. No one has done it better.

Which makes sense, since Paul Dini based her on Sorkin to begin with.

 

[Sparkle Fabulosa]

I'm not feeling Melissa's deep voice for Harley. I thought she'd be using a bit of her "Bernadette voice" but I'll wait to see the whole movie before I make any quick judgements.

 

[kirk55555]

I watched the preview. It looks good, but Rauch's voice is weird. To me, she makes Harley sound a lot older then the character looks. Also, the animated seemed a bit off, but it might not be completely done yet.

Still, I'm excited. It could end badly, but hopefully its an entertaining movie that (for me, at least) redeems Bruce Timm after The Killing Joke film made my opinion of him as a creator lower quite a bit.

 

[Burning Hearts of Qo'nos]

I'm not personally a fan of Nightwing's new haircut...but to hear his voice again is a real treat! I'm also wishing that Harley's original VA could have returned, big disappointment there. Also, is it just me or does the animation overall feel a little...lazy? It's great to see the timmverse character designs again (albeit with tweaks and questionable use of the latter-day designs) but the animation itself seems to be lacking.

Anyway, I was really, REALLY hoping this would be a return to the DCAU. It has to happen someday. I can dream.

 

[Kai "the spy"]

I'm not personally a fan of Nightwing's new haircut...but to hear his voice again is a real treat! I'm also wishing that Harley's original VA could have returned, big disappointment there. Also, is it just me or does the animation overall feel a little...lazy? It's great to see the timmverse character designs again (albeit with tweaks and questionable use of the latter-day designs) but the animation itself seems to be lacking.

Anyway, I was really, REALLY hoping this would be a return to the DCAU. It has to happen someday. I can dream.

In previews to previous DC animated movies, they featured sketches instead of actual animation, because it was what they had finished at that point. The animation in this preview might very well be unfinished, there could be in-betweens left to insert to make the motions more fluent.