Batman and Harley Quinn (2017)

God help us

As an avid fan of the DC Animated Universe television shows, I was beyond excited when I saw that a new animated movie was coming out in its continuity. For the laymen in the audience, the DCAU consists of seven distinct series featuring the DC Comics superheroes, including Batman, Superman, the Justice League, and a few original characters. This fourteen-year-long series features some of the best screen versions of these characters, and the very fact that Batman and Harley Quinn exists is evidence of how beloved they still are today. Of course, whether the actual film in question is hard cannon is thankfully debatable, and I do mean thankfully; for if Batman and Harley Quinn does take place in the DCAU, then it's surely the lowest point of the entire franchise. What should have been a fun and breezy action comedy is nothing more than a dull, sleazy cartoon made for God only knows who. Despite being conceived by Bruce Timm (the architect behind the DCAU), the film's tone and sense of humor couldn't be further from the witty and sophisticated nature of the family-oriented shows that draws from. There are bright spots throughout throughout the film's scant hour and fifteen minutes, and I'll admit to laughing at quite a few in-jokes, but there are just too many insulting moments and ill-conceived concepts to declare the whole project as anything but a disappointing misfire.

We arrive in Gotham City, where Poison Ivy (Paget Brewster) and a plant-person called the Floronic Man (Kevin Michael Richardson) have teamed up to try and replicate the accident that created Swamp Thing (John DiMaggio), a different plant-person who was mutated after being doused in burning chemicals and jumping into a swamp. If they succeed, Poison Ivy and Floronic Man could contaminate the Earth's water supply and turn everyone into plant people, which in their twisted minds means saving the planet. Batman (Kevin Conroy) and former the Robin, Nightwing (Loren Lester), need help from the Joker's ex-sidekick and Poison Ivy's best friend Harley Quinn (Melissa Rauch) in order to find out where the evil duo are conducting their experiments. Harley seems to have changed her ways somewhat, trying to make ends meet by working in a Hooters-like restaurant where the women dress up as scantily-clad versions of female superheroes. She's reluctant to help Batman and Nightwing, but after realizing that Ivy's plan has the potential to kill every living thing on the planet, she agrees to help. Non-sequiturs ensue, including a trip to an evil henchmen-filled karaoke bar, leading to laughs and criginess along the way.

Right off the bat, the film's first misstep is Melissa Rauch replacing Arleen Sorkin as Harley Quinn. Her performance isn't necessarily bad, but it just does not suit the character. Tara Strong did well in the Arkham video game series, so I need to wonder why she couldn't voice her here. This is only worsened by how wonderful it is that the rest of the main characters are all voiced by their respective original actors (especially Loren Lester as Nightwing, who might just be the best he's ever been in the role). To a lesser extent, Kevin Michael Richardson is also miscast as the Floronic Man. Richardson is one of the all-time great voice actors (most well-known as Gantu from Lilo and Stitch), but there's a disconnect between the voice and face here that's hard to describe.

The second, and much more damning misstep, was the decision to go PG-13 with the content for the sake of it, not because the story would benefit from it. Sometimes restraint breeds greater creativity, and Bruce Timm and co-writer Jim Krieg were clearly given loose reigns when conceiving this film. It feels as though certain elements are there to show off the fact that this isn't airing on a kids' network, and that it's for "adults." Look! Harley's exposing her ass to Nightwing, who she's tied to a bed in quite the compromising position! Harley's shaking her tits around in the karaoke bar and constantly bending over seductively! FART JOKES! It's all in bad taste, and manifests as something like a male gaze-fueled fantasy featuring a hollowed-out version of one of the most beloved DC characters of all time. The DCAU is widely loved for pushing the boundaries of what was acceptable for an all-ages animated series (subtle innuendo, harder violence), but in trying to be more mature, this project is irritatingly immature.

The rather silly story could have worked to the film's benefit, but the horrendous pacing and B-grade animation quality only serve to make the film more boring than anything. Opening dialogue between Batman and a government agent is brutally stiff and unimaginatively staged, action throughout is fairly basic and packs little punch (despite some effective use of blood), and the occasional CGI is obtrusive. There's a nice moment where the original Batman theme music plays while the Batplane soars through the sky, but it's sullied by a bad 3D model of and jarring motion. The designs, however, are an absolute joy to see, especially when it comes to the henchmen karaoke bar scene. Gotham looks and feels like it did in the later episodes of the series, and just being back for the first time in eleven years was personally very rewarding.  However, that pacing really kills the mood; I'm talking about a film that spends two entire song's worth of time in that karaoke bar where little of consequence happens, but then it doesn't even bother to show its climax. Certain elements like Harley and Ivy's friendship, Batman helping Harley get a new job, and Nightwing and Harley's possible romantic relationship are all dropped with absolutely no resolution.

Now, let's get to those bright spots already. The "let's push the limits" jokes may tend to fall flat, but the in-jokes for DCAU fans are downright hilarious. A joke about Nightwing's horrible mullet from the series, a vocal cameo from one of the Justice League Unlimited members, and the expansion of the world by including Swamp Thing are just some of the better ideas thrown into this slog. There's also a really clever reference to Seduction of the Innocent, a real-world book that nearly ruined the comics industry in the 1950s. The Harley and Ivy friendship also works pretty well too, which is a shame since it gets pushed so far into the background. There's also an amusing post-credit scene I almost missed, which is ends the film on a much higher note, and sometimes you get those glimpses of the original magic of the series. I just wanted to see more.

I desperately wanted to like Batman and Harley Quinn, but it does so much disservice to fans of the original series and doesn't offer anything good enough to let it stand on its own. It's sloppily written, dull, and sleazy in equal measure, and only offers moments of fun to make it watchable at all. The voice cast gives it their all, but without the great Andrea Romano's guiding directorial hand, there's nothing special about the performances. I love that the character designs were painstakingly recreated, and character and action animation is fine. However, episodes of Justice League from fifteen years ago look better. It's been said in interviews that Warner Bros. was only interested in doing this movie because Harley Quinn was featured prominently in the live-action Suicide Squad movie, designed to ride that wave of popularity. If that's what caused the resulting attitude shift in Harley's character, then I still have faith that Bruce Timm could make another, much better, continuation of the DCAU. But if this is what he thinks fans want, maybe it's best to let it live in the past, and I suppose that's alright too.

3/10