"I Am the Night" Re-Watch: "Batman and Harley Quinn"

 The New Batman Adventures

This is it. The last of the animated films set in the B: TAS universe. Next time, we will look at the comic continuation of B: TAS, but this is it for things to watch. So, let's get right into it, shall we?

"Batman and Harley Quinn"

Harley Quinn: "Harley Quinn reporting for duty, sir."

Batman: "God help us."

Harley Quinn: "You think I'm just some dizzy airhead that don't know nothin'. Do you know what I am?"

Batman: "My punishment for dropping out of med school."

Poison Ivy has had it with humanity. Working with Jason Woodrue, the Floronic Man, she's decided to change everyone into plant people, but it could end up killing everyone. Batman and Nightwing need to stop her fast, so they track down her best friend, Harley Quinn, who is trying to live a non criminal life. Will Harley suit up and help the Dynamic Duo? If she does, will Harley's annoyances finally cause Batman to break his no killing rule? And what's going on with Nightwing and Harley?

Harley has a message for hecklers.

Right up front, I'm going to say, I'm not sure if this movie is 100% canon to "Batman: The Animated Series." Bruce Timm has said it is and lots of things in the movie point back to the show, so for me, I'm going to say that it is canon. 

Like "Mystery of the Batwoman," I had never seen "Batman and Harley Quinn" and it was an interesting experience. It's like a love episode of "Batman: the Animated Series," but much more adult. It's a lot more sexually explicit than the series ever was and there is swearing. I have to say, I was pearl clutching a little bit throughout and I am definitely not a prude. But, hearing cartoon characters you've never heard say "ass" suddenly say "shit" take a little getting used to.

It's always nice to have Kevin Conroy and Loren Lester back as the voices of Batman and Nightwing. Other voice actors have done great jobs, but for as long as I live, these are the voices I will think of. These are the only classic voice actors from the animated series that show up. I was kind of bummed that we didn't at least get Tara Strong as Harley Quinn, but instead she is voiced by Melissa Rauch who played Bernadette on "the Big Bang Theory." It's hilarious that her "Big Bang" co-star, Kaley Cuoco voices Harley on her super adult solo series on HBO Max. I remember that people didn't love Rauch's take on Harley, but I think it works really well. It's no Arleen or Tara, but no one will ever stack up to them. It didn't grate on me, it was consistent, overall I think it was pretty great.

The plot of "Batman and Harley Quinn" is flimsier than wet Kleenex. It is just a delivery system to get Harley with Batman and Nigthwing and for hilarity to ensue. There is so much padding here. Honestly, the plot of this movie could have filled a regular 22 minute episode of B: TAS. Barely. I wish they had focused as much on legit conflict as they did on the comedy. 

The Dynamic Trio.

Luckily, the comedy is pretty solid for the most part. The funniest portion of the film is when Harley directs Batman and Nightwing to a roadside dive that is populated by former henchmen of Batman's rogues. They are looking for a former employee of Ivy's who may know where she is headed. There are lots of great inside jokes to B: TAS. There is the giant robot clown yachty Joker henchmen from "The Laughing Fish" dancing with Randa Duane, the femme fatale from "Heart of Steel." It's a lot of fun and I definitely paused to see how many more side characters I recognized. There were the ginger twins from the first Two-Face episode that were singing and kind of flirting with each other? That's a choice. They even paid homage to the 1960's "Batman" series with two of that series Catwoman henchmen in the scene. One even tries to put the moves on Bats with a little Batusi. I mean, shoot your shot, my guy. Who can blame you? Harley sings some Blondie and of course there ends up being a roadhouse brawl, which I kind of wish we would have seen more of.

My other favorite bit in the movie was the conversation with Booster Gold in the Batmobile. I am a huge Booster fan so him being on monitor duty at the JLA watchtower was good stuff. Nighwing mouthing disparaging things about Booster is great as was the crumpling of paper to mimic static. What really makes this bit though is Booster's deadpan "That sounds like paper." Comedy gold.

There are a lot of little things that I thought were really funny. Harley continually mocking Nightwing for his old mullet, even calling him Nightwig "on accident." The flirtation between Harley and Nightwing was... weird, including the kinky sex it is heavily implied they had, but it was almost worth it to have Harley refer to it as Nightwing "Captain Kirking" her for information. Not every joke is a winner, I could have particularly gone without the farting jokes. That just feels like too far for Batman.

I think the movie handles the character of Harley very well, for the most part. They don't go the seemingly reformed criminal teams up with good guys only to backstab them route, which I really enjoyed. The movie shows it has heart underneath all the crude jokes when Harley comforts Doctor Goldblum as he dies. The action in the movie is on par with what we've come to expect from B: TAS and it's offshoots. My favorite part of the movie may have been the after credits scene where it's revealed that Harley has started her own Dr. Phil style show. But instead of giving out psychiatric advice, she makes her guests cross a "Wipeout"-style obstacle course in order to win a free year of therapy all the while shouting self help platitudes at them. It was truly hilarious.

The movie kind of falls apart at the climax. It was like the writers of the film, Bruce Timm and Jim Krieg, remembered at the last minute they had to wrap this sucker up. They really built up the Swamp Thing appearance and the gag that he isn't going to do anything once he shows up really falls flat. As does Harley getting through to Ivy by crying. Like, why didn't she just do that from the jump? And, setting the Floronic Man on fire? Coupled with the double cheek kiss, it's all just a little too cutesy. 

Despite the mess of an ending, "Batman and Harley Quinn" is a fun, bawdy romp through the B: TAS universe.

Grade: B

Next up, we close out B: TAS for now with the comic continuation, "Batman: The Adventures Continue."

What do you all think of "Batman and Harley Quinn?" Love it? Hate it? Indifferent? Let me know in the comments.