Batman and Harley Quinn appears in an aspect ratio of approximately 1.78:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. I felt consistently pleased with this strong presentation.
No issues with sharpness emerged. The movie always came across as tight and well-defined, so don’t expect any signs of softness. Jaggies and moiré effects also remained absent, and the image lacked edge haloes or artifacts. In addition, print flaws were a non-factor and didn’t appear at any point.
In terms of colors, Quinn went with a dark palette that favored blues and greens. The tones looked solid, as they showed positive richness and vivacity. Blacks were deep and tight, while shadows showed nice clarity. Across the board, the image worked well.
I thought the DTS-HD MA 5.1 soundtrack of Quinn opened up the comic book material well. This wasn’t a particularly ambitious piece, but it added pizzazz to the program.
The forward channels brought out the majority of the material. Music presented strong stereo imaging, while effects cropped up in logical spots and blended well.
The surrounds also contributed good information. For the most part, these reinforced the forward channels, but they also contributed a fair amount of unique material, instances that mainly occurred during bigger action scenes. The back speakers brought out a nice sense of space and environment.
Audio quality always satisfied. Speech was warm and natural, without edginess or other issues. Music sounded lively and full, while effects displayed good definition. Those elements seemed accurate and dynamic. All of this led to a positive presentation that deserved a “B”.
Like most DC animated Blu-rays, this one comes with multiple Sneak Peeks. The first previews Batman: Gotham By Gaslight. It goes for eight minutes, 30 seconds and features DC Entertainment Animation Creative Director Mike Carlin, writer James Krieg, and executive producer Bruce Timm.
They tell us about the source comic and aspects of the film’s story and character areas. It’s a promo piece but it’s an effective one.
The remaining three “sneak peeks” look at previously-released titles. Two separate “peeks” discuss parts one and two of Batman: The Dark Knight Returns. These fill a total of 19 minutes, 28 seconds and include comments from Timm, Carlin, casting director Andrea Romano, director Jay Oliva, screenwriter Bob Goodman, co-producer Alan Burnett, and actors Peter Weller, David Selby, Ariel Winter, Michael McKean, Michael Emerson and Mark Valley.
We get notes about story and characters as well as cast and performances. These become basic advertisement and not much more.
Finally, the “sneak peek” for Batman: Assault on Arkham runs seven minutes, 29 seconds and offers info from Oliva, Romano, producer James Tucker, screenwriter Heath Corson, and actors Troy Baker and Matthew Gray Gubler. We learn about the film’s story/characters as well as cast and various production elements. It’s another promotional piece, of course, but it’s more interesting than most.
Two traditional featurettes follow. The Harley Effect lasts 21 minutes, 15 seconds and provides notes from Timm, Carlin, co-creator Paul Dini and clinical psychologist Dr. Robin Rosenberg. “Effect” looks at Harley’s origins/development, aspects of the character and her use in this film. “Effect” offers a solid – and unusually introspective – take on its subject.
Loren Lester: In His Own Voice takes up 11 minutes, 46 seconds and brings us material from Timm, Carlin, voice director Wes Gleason and actors Loren Lester and Kevin Conroy. We get notes about Lester’s career, with an emphasis on his Batman-related work. This turns into an engaging piece.
We also get two cartoons From the DC Comics Vault. Both episodes of Batman: The Animated Series, we find “Harley and Ivy” (22:23) and “Harley’s Holiday” (21:15).
As expected, Harley takes the lead in these, though she shares the spotlight with Poison Ivy for the first. I like both, though “Harley and Ivy” offers the stronger of the two shows.
The disc opens with ads for Teen Titans: The Judas Contract and Justice League Dark. Trailers adds promos for the theatrical flms Justice League and Wonder Woman.
A second disc gives us a DVD copy of Harley. It includes the sneak peeks and trailers but lacks the other extras.
With Batman and Harley Quinn, we get an animated adventure that focuses on the Dark Knight and one of his most popular adversaries. Unfortunately, the movie seems thin and without much punch. The Blu-ray offers excellent picture along with largely good audio and supplements. Quinn isn’t a total dud but it disappoints.
Note that this version of Quinn is a “limited edition” that includes a Harley Quinn action figure. The same Blu-ray/DVD combo is also available on its own without the toy for $5 less.
