Sorry, I realize the VO actress is trying her best - but the voice here for Harley just doesn't work for me.. <--- And that voice was (IMO) an integral part of the character.
Batman and Harley Quinn animated movie
- Thread starter Sparkle Fabulosa
- Start date
It seems that Bruce Timm sees this movies as part of the original Batman: Animated Series timeline, although unofficially:
https://geektyrant.com/news/bruce-t...et-in-the-batman-the-animated-series-universe
https://geektyrant.com/news/bruce-t...et-in-the-batman-the-animated-series-universe
I haven't seen the movie yet, but I would assume that this means it would take place after the death of the Joker and the incident with Tim Drake detailed in the Batman Beyond movie?
I don't know if she worked on this movie, but I don't know of a better place to put this, since I doubt it deserves it's own thread.
Voiceover director Andrea Romano, who has worked on a lot of the DC animated movies, along with B:TAS, Avatar: The Last Airbender, Netflix's Voltron: Legendary Defender, the current TMNT series, and the original Ducktales is retiring.
Voiceover director Andrea Romano, who has worked on a lot of the DC animated movies, along with B:TAS, Avatar: The Last Airbender, Netflix's Voltron: Legendary Defender, the current TMNT series, and the original Ducktales is retiring.
I didn't doubt it. This woman is an industry legend, who's worked on anything and everything and gave us some of the best voice casting ever. Conroy is considered by many to be the definitive Batman, same for Hamill's Joker, and the voices she found for some of the original characters, such as the Animaniacs, made those characters. So, yeah, I gave this news its own thread earlier tonight.
Why is it sad that DC has more than one popular female character? It's not like WW and Harley are competing for an exclusive spot. We live in an age where pop culture is finally starting to recognize that there's room for a lot of female superhero characters to be popular at the same time.
There's nothing inherently interesting about the Harley Quinn character, her history has always been problematic being the Joker's sidekick and abuse victim.
I disagree. What's interesting is how she's broken free of that past and asserted her independence. That's the main thing that's defined her character in the comics in recent years, and it's the approach this movie is taking as well -- it's set after she's finally broken free of the Joker (and there's a prequel comic series showing how that happened).
Besides, how is it a good thing to condemn a character for being a victim of abuse? Victims don't deserve blame, their victimizers do. What made Harley sympathetic in her B:TAS days was our hope that she would find the strength to break free from the Joker. In her modern portrayals, she has. (Which was why the Suicide Squad movie mishandled her -- she underwent no growth, ending up just as much in the Joker's thrall as she'd started. One hopes the Gotham City Sirens movie, or SS2, whichever comes first, will show her finally breaking free as her comics counterpart did a long time ago.)
In any case, it's a good thing that there's a wide range of popular female characters that appeal to different tastes, rather than just your own. The more, the better.
I despise the Joker and Harley relationship that continues to be popular with some fans even though its abusive. Some female fans think the Joker is so cool. Doesn't help that the recent Suicide Squad movie made that couple even more popular with the public, it portrayed Joker as heroic in his plans to "rescue" Harley.
Was. Didn't you read what I just said? You're griping about the past. The modern portrayal of Harley (outside of the movies) is as a survivor of abuse, someone who's left that past behind and achieved indepdendence.
And you can't condemn a character for the way a misguided few fans misinterpret the intent. There will always be some fans who completely miss the point. To paraphrase something Adam-Troy Castro said on Facebook the other day, there are bullies who like Harry Potter, Star Trek fans who object to diversity, and so on. Some people are just idiots.
I think the only time this "relationship" ever worked was in it's inception on the old animated series (from a storytelling perspective anyway, the relationship itself was always twisted.) Mostly because that version of Joker is more clown than psychopath (though still clearly abusive) and you could sort of frame it as over the top and cartoonish with a shockingly dark undertone. Though honestly, whenever the plot wasn't directly about the two of them (Mad Love, Harley's Holiday, etc.), the relationship angle is kind of obfuscated and she's more of a comic side-kick than anything.
Outside of that it's ranged from tone deaf to just bloody awful. Mind you, the same applies to 'Suicide Squad' as a whole, so in that particular instance I'm not so bothered, because the whole film was flaming shite on a stick.
But yeah, As @Christopher points out, a lot of the more recent depictions have had Harley as a post-Joker character more than a person perpetually trapped in an abusive relationship and even then, show the relationship for what it is.
Whichever way you cut it, Harley is not a well person and there are scant few heroic characters out there who are openly mentally ill and struggling with it. I think that is something that needs to be well represented just as much as anything else.
Bit of a tangent, but a new Harley Quinn and Batman comic was reviewed by Io9 and they seemed impressed. Here are the parts that stuck out to me...
^ I read the first chapter yesterday. Very enjoyable and looking forward to more. It's so nice to see Harley (Joker and Ivy too) in their animated designs and costumes.
The movie was released digitally today, so I watched it.
The plot felt like nothing. It more or less seemed like Harley was just annoying Batman and Nightwing for an evening. There were times when Melissa Rauch's tone softened but most of the time she sounded like gravel. I didn't like the actress voicing Poison Ivy either.
It felt like it was trying to be an episode of The Animated series.
Then there's all the unnecessary sexualization...
The fart jokes were really low too.
A big disappointment for me.
The plot felt like nothing. It more or less seemed like Harley was just annoying Batman and Nightwing for an evening. There were times when Melissa Rauch's tone softened but most of the time she sounded like gravel. I didn't like the actress voicing Poison Ivy either.
It felt like it was trying to be an episode of The Animated series.
Harley singing at the bar was deja vu to her singing in the series. Except that song, "Say We'll Be Sweethearts Again" was actually a nice little jazz number and suited her character. The song in the movie is painful to listen to or even watch.
Then there's all the unnecessary sexualization...
Harley and Nightwing's implied sex was so out of place. Harley bending over to show her butt. Why?
The fart jokes were really low too.
Batman kissing Harley at the end even as a thank you was odd.
A big disappointment for me.
The movie was released digitally today, so I watched it.
The plot felt like nothing. It more or less seemed like Harley was just annoying Batman and Nightwing for an evening. There were times when Melissa Rauch's tone softened but most of the time she sounded like gravel. I didn't like the actress voicing Poison Ivy either.
It felt like it was trying to be an episode of The Animated series.
Then there's all the unnecessary sexualization...Harley singing at the bar was deja vu to her singing in the series. Except that song, "Say We'll Be Sweethearts Again" was actually a nice little jazz number and suited her character. The song in the movie is painful to listen to or even watch.
The fart jokes were really low too.Harley and Nightwing's implied sex was so out of place. Harley bending over to show her butt. Why?
A big disappointment for me.Batman kissing Harley at the end even as a thank you was odd.
I wanted a Batman/Wonder Woman team up movie instead of this, now I'm super glad Wonder Woman had absolutely nothing to do with this movie. Perhaps it's best that Wondy keeps getting ignored while Bruce Timm screws up the rest of the other DC ladies like Batgirl in Killing Joke, and Harley Quinn in this movie.
Thanks for the review.
This movie was just...ugh. Bruce Timm's work has been going down hill for awhile (the last thing he did that I liked a good deal was the Justice League: Gods & Monsters movie, which was a good alternate universe story) and this is just about the bottom. I mean, I guess its not as bad as The Killing Joke content wise, but Rauch's voice drops this movie a bit lower. Its like Timm is trying to get out all this "mature" stuff he couldn't do when working on kids shows, but he's not really very good at it.
This was a big disappointment. I'll always like Timm's older work, but from now on I think my general expectations for his work going forward will be fairly low.
This was a big disappointment. I'll always like Timm's older work, but from now on I think my general expectations for his work going forward will be fairly low.
