Batman and Harley
Quinn (2017) – As you well know, I’m in the midst of a grand Batman: The Animated Series rewatch,
which is rather opportune timing for this film, which has been regarded as
Bruce Timm’s extension of and return to the definitive interpretation of
Batman. I’m a little surprised to see this one getting a lukewarm reception,
because I had a pretty good time with it. It’s no Mask of the Phantasm, to be sure, but it’s a fun 70-minute romp
through a playfully immature adventure which sees Harley Quinn (Melissa Rauch)
team up with Batman (Kevin Conroy) and Nightwing (Loren Lester) to stop Poison
Ivy and the Floronic Man from turning the world’s populace into plant people.
On story details, Timm is delightfully irreverent, recognizing that the value
of the film is not in a mythic plot but in the giddy good fun of its
absurdities, like a self-aware appearance by Swamp Thing or the bdum-tsch
finale which leaves ’em laughing just like Harley would want. I’ll never say no
to more Conroy & Lester (though I’ll not bother scratching my head over the
continuity), and Rauch is suitably squawky in her debut as Harley. There’s been
some consternation over the more risqué moments of the film, to which I say
it’s a far cry from the egregious prologue to The Killing Joke, played off in a way that’s more “Oh, you” than
“Oh, no!” Between Killing Joke and Gods and Monsters, Bruce Timm seems to
be easing his way back into the DC Animated waters, to which I say, welcome
home.
Batman vs. Two-Face
(2017) – This pseudo-sequel to Return of the Caped Crusaders will probably be overshadowed by the passing of Adam
West in June 2017, though it’s quite good and prefigures a new animated
franchise that will likely not come to pass. (Suggestion, though: ask Jeff
Goldblum to take a stab at the role!) Batman
vs. Two-Face introduces Harvey Dent to the world of Batman ’66 (he never appeared on the show), portrayed by William
Shatner, who is surprisingly strong as Two-Face even if he’s stereotypically
Shatnerian as the milquetoast district attorney. I was a little surprised to
see the film take on an original story rather than adapt Harlan Ellison’s
famously unused script for a Two-Face episode (though you can read a comic book
adaptation), and I was more surprised at how quickly the episode moves through
Two-Face’s origin, reform, and relapse, even if the resolution to the film’s
big mystery is fairly predictable. This film is a little less light-hearted
than its predecessor, which reveled in the campy delights of the West/Ward
television show, though there are still wonderful gags to behold (like a fun
exchange between Julie Newmar’s Catwoman and an attorney voiced by Lee
Meriwether). I think I was expecting Batman
vs. Two-Face to bring the bifurcated baddie into the groovy go-go world of Batman ’66, but I think the opposite happened;
the villain, voiced by a top star who could have played the role at the time,
ends up overshadowing his environment – perhaps because Shatner chows down on
the cartoon scenery – and gives us instead a Two-Face movie with Adam West’s
Batman in it. That does it for this week’s edition of “Monday at the Movies.” We’ll see you next week!
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