For the last few years DC has been killing it with their animated films, but there will likely never be anything as popular as the TV series Batman: The Animated Series. It set a new tone for Batman and firmly cemented Kevin Conroy as the fan favorite. Now Bruce Timm along with both original and new voice actors including Kevin Conroy, Melissa Rauch, Loren Lester, Paget Brewster, and Kevin Michael Richardson are teaming up for the new feature Batman and Harley Quinn, but can it capture the same magic of the series or will it fail to live up to the dark knight legacy?

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Batman and Harley Quinn follows Batman and Nightwing who are forced to team with the Joker's sometimes-girlfriend Harley Quinn to stop a global threat brought about by Poison Ivy and Jason Woodrue, the Floronic Man. Despite my dislike for the Harley Quinn character I was all in from the first trailer to this film just strictly based on it being connected to the original series. I was surprised to see that this film was way more comical than I had expected, but not all that surprised since the Quinn character is usually pretty ridiculous. Conroy and Lester step right back into their roles of Batman and Nightwing like they never left. The Big Bang Theory’s Melissa Rauch steps in as Harley Quinn and does a great job with the character.

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I will admit with making Quinn more comedic and less of the abused girlfriend of the Joker makes her a lot more interesting character. While the title suggests that this is just the dup team up, this is full on Bat-verse with Nightwing having just as much screen time and a new connection with Quinn that I am sure some will not like. There is also the addition of Poison Ivy and Floronic Man as the main villains that makes it work all leading up to another DC character involvement that most will see coming a mile away, but is still fun none the less. There is plenty of action and fun including an entire fart sequence, believe it or not that actually works.

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If I had any complaints it comes more in the lack of darkness like the old show missing that I was hoping for. Instead they opted for a fun action packed story that has its own connection to that old universe that is a welcome return. Hopefully this will not be the last time we get this look and style of the caped crusaders. In addition to the film this release includes featurettes, bonus cartoons and a sneak peek at the next animated feature Gotham By Gaslight.

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Grab your copy of Batman and Harley Quinn when it hits Blu-ray and Blu-ray Collector’s Edition that includes a Harley Quinn collectible figure on August 29th as well as available now on Digital HD from Warner Bros. Home Entertainment.