Fantastic visuals and an amazing voice cast take it farther than it may have deserved to go, but it’s still a largely enjoyable experience.
Batman: The Animated Series is an unmatched masterpiece that is still one of the best comic adaptations twenty five years later. Batman and Harley Quinn is the first DC animated movie in years to directly call back to that show, circa The New Batman Adventures. Consequently, it is one of the most beautiful DC animated films in a long time. When the red-tinged skies of Gotham City reappear, you could almost convince yourself that this was a lost episode. And then the movie begins.
To be clear, Batman and Harley Quinn does have its dramatic moments and it executes them well. However, the film comes down hard on the comedic side, and that’s where it becomes hit and miss. There are times when the story is genuinely funny, and then there’s an extended fart joke in the Batmobile that serves no purpose whatsoever. It’s actually a pretty undignified moment for both of the title characters. And as useless as that scene was, it was immediately followed by back-to-back musical interludes.
It’s almost as if Bruce Timm and his co-writer, Jim Krieg, wanted to push the limits of this film by adding as many things as possible that would never be acceptable on Batman: The Animated Series. That includes Two-Face’s twin henchmen assuming an unmistakable sexual position and Harley’s seduction of one of the film’s leads. Those moments and scenes could have been left out entirely and the film wouldn’t have missed them at all. Instead, they’re indulgent and slow down the pace of the story.
As for the story itself, Poison Ivy (Paget Brewster) and the Floronic Man (Kevin Michael Richardson) team up to transform all animal life on Earth into plant hybrids by using the research that Alec Holland created before he became Swamp Thing. With few leads on the duo, Batman and Nightwing turn to Harley Quinn for help locating her friend, Poison Ivy. Kevin Conroy and Loren Lester were masterful in their reunion, and Melissa Rauch was a worthy Harley. There’s absolutely no problem with the performances in this movie. Everyone involved brought their A-game, including John DiMaggio as Sarge Steel and another DC character, whose cameo appearance is both awe-inspiring and kind of hilarious.
This movie really is more about Harley Quinn than Batman, and Rauch’s Harley feels like she could be a more heroic figure...but she is still prone to moments of insanity. The best aspect of the movie was the friendship and even love between Harley and Ivy, but they only get a few minutes together onscreen. Their fights were also well-staged, and the film also deserves praise for using a D-list villain like the Floronic Man as a genuine threat to the future of humanity.
Batman and Harley Quinn appears to have been created primarily for nostalgic purposes, and it was genuinely thrilling to see classic Harley back in action alongside Batman and Nightwing in the style of the animated series. That world and that aesthetic are timeless, and it looks even better with modern animation techniques. However, the film’s scripted shortcomings and the many jokes that didn’t land keep Batman and Harley Quinn from becoming a truly great movie on its own terms.
The Verdict
This film is surprisingly self-indulgent when it comes to going off on tangents and scenes that don’t push the story forward or even develop the characters. The movie is also completely unbalanced between comedy and drama, which undercuts some of the story’s best moments. Make no mistake, this is a gorgeously rendered tribute to Batman: The Animated Series and the voice cast was top notch. But Batman and Harley Quinn just doesn’t stand up to the best episodes of that show. It’s a pretty good cover band, but that’s all it is.
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