Animated World of DC Comics: Batman & Harley Quinn (2017)

 Bruce Timm returns to his pride & joy, Harley Quinn, whom he co-created with Paul Dini nearly 30 years ago, in a comedy adventure that has Harley (Melissa Rauch, The Big Bang Theory) teaming with Batman (Kevin Conroy) and Nightwing (Loren Lester) to hunt down Poison Ivy (Paget Brewster, ex-Harvey Birdman, Attorney-at-Law, Dan Vs.) and her new partner, Jason Woodrue, aka the Floronic Man or Plant Master (Kevin Michael Richardson).

Batman & Harley Quinn is not your normal DCAU movie. In Timm's own description, he used the 1982 Eddie Murphy-Nick Nolte comedy-crime drama, "48 Hours", as an inspiration for this film.

Harley has been paroled, and has landed a job as a waitress. That's the good news. The bad? She has to wear a replica of a more recent costume on the job at a costume-themed eatery. A worst case scenario for anyone in her station, if you ask me. Nightwing tails her to her apartment, hoping to recruit her, leading to, well, I ain't spoilin'.

Meanwhile, at ARGUS, Batman pumps Sarge Steel (John DiMaggio, ex-Futurama, Kim Possible, etc.) for information on a missing scientist abducted by the Floral Felons.

Edit, 6/19/23: We've retrieved a clip in which twins Min & Max (Rob Paulsen) cover Hamilton, Joe Frank, & Reynolds' 1974 hit, "Don't Pull Your Love":

Holy obscurities!

Think of this as a PG version of "48 Hours". The one problem I have is with Melissa Rauch as Harley. If she's trying to duplicate the Noo Yawk accent Harl has, she might've found the wrong borough. But given that Harley's comic books have her living on Staten Island, could that be the accent she was after? If so, she sounds too Bronx for my liking. Hopefully, she's seen ex-castmate Kaley Cuoco's version of Harley.

Timm gets in a voice cameo as Booster Gold, and DiMaggio doubles as Swamp Thing in a brief bit.

Rating: A-.