So, I'm watching Batman and Harley Quinn again

General Discussion Movies & TV
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I was really excited when the movie was announced. Even bought the edition with the little figure. I remember how much i was disappointed by the movie. I like BTAS. A lot. As a kid I had a reoccurring dream where Penguin defended me from Freddy Krueger. Go ahead, Freudian geniuses.

So, why watch for my second viewing on DC Universe if I have the Blu-ray? To support the service and because it’s, oh, so convenient. :stuck_out_tongue:

Possible Spoilers:

In the first scene, I was reminded of a plot that felt so bland the first time around I kind of got bored of the movie.

The Harley bits where she’s gone straight are pretty fun. I like her attitude and career choice when on parole. And the fact that she carries a weight in her bag and a Joker gift I don’t want to spoil, it sticks to her character.

Then the Nightwing cometh. I thought the harassment of Harley was meh. Handled very poorly. A few minutes later I’m watching Nightwing kick her ass because she doesn’t want to return to a life of criminals and vigilantes. She wants to earn an honest dollar and Nightwing roundhouses her in the face because Batman is a crap detective in this and can’t figure out something Harley, which I am a fan of but she isn’t exactly a rocket scientist but just really smart, barely knows herself?

That’s kind of evil, Nightwing. Yes, you’re fighting crime and saving lives, but, dude, maybe Poison Ivy got careless somewhere? C’mon, Batman!! Ras (I forget where the apostrophe goes) would be disappointed with the Detective.

I hope that I’m forgetting some details and twists which redeem the film, but so far I don’t like it… Again.

I rather they did Harley’s story in those three months of parole. maybe some character arc of Harley fighting the urge to go back to a life of crime, or her learning how to be decent again until a crime makes her intervene with violence and then she feels conflicted. It could be a BTAS film noir.

See? That took like two minutes to spitball. Dumbing down Batman and making Nightwing an incompetent (I mean, seriously, using a flyer to hunt an ex high profile villain?) abuser of power makes me dislike them, which is hard to do, and makes them feel meaningless and it makes me want to continue watching BTAS instead.

But I told myself I was going to watch it again and I don’t like not giving a full view over memories of my first watch and a few minutes of a second round. I’m going to finish it. Maybe I’m wrong? Maybe this gets really good later and I forgot that.

I probably won’t update this thread with my thoughts on the full second viewing until later tomorrow. It’s 3 AM and I’m only 15 minutes in. No sleep 'til finished!!

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Well, I for one have never watched Batman and Harley Quinn, as I could never find the strength to get through a movie I knew was going to roll my eyes straight out of their sockets. Reading your description alone really cements the idea to me that Batman and HQ should never have been a movie, or if it was, it should have been more of a take on Harley’s Holiday instead of Harlequinade (if we were to compare it to BTAS episodes).

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I love the DCAU, but yeah, they whiffed on this one. This is like one of those contractual obligation albums an artist puts out to get free of the label. Hard to believe Bruce Timm wrote the story and co-wrote the script. The only good thing I can say is at least all the bad stuff wound up in one movie instead a little here and there in the really good movies.

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There was an opportunity with Batman & Harley movie, based on their history. This one didn’t work out as expected, but I still gave it 3/5 stars and found it entertaining enough. Not rewatchable, unfortunately.

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I studied psychology in college. Carl Jung would have more to say about your dreams. Freud would have several theories on why you want to bang your mother. Freud, while an extremely well known historical figure for the science of psychology, none of his work is in practice in modern medicine. To put it in comic book terms, Freud was a crazy writer in the golden age whose work, while creative and memorable, has been explained away by the Crisis storyline and really has no factor in the modern age.

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I actually enjoyed this one. It is more light hearted than other DCAU flicks. It could have been better but there is fun to be had.

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@TravisMorgan
I actually wondered if there was some kind of obligation Bruce Timm had in making this, or if there was something corporate around the preproduction which forced the story into what we got. And, yes, I am grateful a lot of it is contained in one movie and isn’t being Incorporated into ongoing or other works.

@Todd_Russell
Yeah, although I ragged on it in my first post, I’m not saying I didn’t have moments when I had some fun. It’s just that it fails in many places to be a quality production. Still, if you want to watch something mindless and in cartoon, this one would work. It’s not going to impress you. It’s not going to be very entertaining even. But there are decent ideas sprinkled around which didn’t make this movie a complete waste. Especially now that it’s on DCU.

@JEREMY_of_218
Yeah, I know Freud is basically a crock and his work has no application in modern medicine. I was just making a joke. I do like your analogy. That was well done. I only studied abnormal psychology. And that was mostly to get a better understanding of my own psych issues.

@darkstarz25
Glad you enjoyed it. Opinions are personal, not fact, so I understand others will have different views than my own. If you enjoyed it and was entertained, then the movie did its job. I just wanted to express my own thoughts on it.

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Believe me, I can completely understand why you didn’t. As far as DC animated movies this is near the bottom of the pile. I am also really forgiving when it comes to movies. After watching many shot on video horror flicks from the 80s and 90s my expectations have been lowered.

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@darkstarz25
Haha. I can relate to that. I love bad horror movies. I also am very forgiving. There’s been movies I’ve seen in theaters which have low review scores, yet I leave completely pleased. Examples: I thought Dolittle was a lot of fun and was unjustly compared to the Eddie Murphy movies. I still watch Silent Hill from time to time even though I think it has a butchered plot and spotty dialogue. I thought Justice League was entertaining and Suicide Squad was very pretty. So, I understand the guilty pleasures of bad movies.

One thing I enjoyed from B&HQ was the bar scene where Harley sings Blondie. The twins, whose names I forget, singing was also fun. So, this movie isn’t worthless. Just not that good.

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Harley singing Blondie saved that movie!

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I feel like, with all the pieces they had in place here, this film should have been better than it was.

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I guess the whole farting jokes just put me off a bit. Not that those can’t be funny, but they just seemed really poorly out of place in this movie. I’d rather watch Harley split some lesser villain’s head with a mallet than fart in the backseat. Does the Batmobile even have backseats(?) This is just one tiny criticism, but there were several little weaknesses like these.

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I also am a huge fan of the animated series and when I saw this movie was a thing I was so excited. And like everyone else I was extremely disappointed. It was a fun movie in the beginning, but as it went on it just got worse and worse. The Nightwing Harley part in the beginning was horrible, from the fight in the alley to Nightwing tied up in bed. The whole plot with Ivy and Plant Master was not what we needed. The ending was it for me when Batman and Nightwing kissed Harley. I hated that. Although I did enjoy the Batman, Nightwing, Harley Quinn dynamic it was a fun tone for the first half of the movie. I actually review this on my podcast Half Past Sheev available on YouTube, Apple Podcast, Spotify, and Google Podcast. The review is on episode 7, I also review Batman hush and eventually many more DC movies.

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It’s definitely a rewatch movie. I didn’t like it the 1st viewing. I love it now.

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I found it a fun romp. It has some quintessential HQ moments. Moments that really dig deep into her character.
The scene where she is walking home from work doing the crossword in ink.
The fight with Nightwing was good, a way for her to get payback for everything that has gone on at work.
The prom date scene.
The scene between HQ and the dying chemist.
The fact that she kept believing she could get through to Pam, even though it meant having to resort to “the nuclear opiton”.
All of these were great post-Joker HQ bits. Better bits that she got in BTAS. They were all great looks into the humanity of HQ.
The fart scene I could have done without.

However, the sheer abandon when she covered Blondie made this a classic. Possibly the single best scene DC Animated has ever done. From concept to execution.

The use of comedy as a mechanism to show all of the elements and beats and aspects to HQ were done very well. Does it pay homage to the campier side of Batman, yes it does. It’s not Batman ‘66 level camp comedy. But, it embraces that Batman stories can be fun & playful. (I know just the idea that Batman stories can be fun and playful puts some people off. To each their own.)

It was great to see DC Animated finally take a crack at the comedy genre. HQ, Batman, & Nightwig :rofl: were good character choices to do that with.

I rate it in my top 5 DC Animated movies of all time.

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I was disappointed with Nightwing in this movie. The bed scene made me cringe so hard.

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I think the movie was fun,and i really enjoyed the car scenes.One of my favourite parts was when she told Batman “Focus Smocus”.I actualitate really liked how bossy Harley was in this movie,i wasn’t expecting that at all.The team the 3 of them created was very fun and good.What I didn’t like was that she had to fight with Ivy.

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In think that the fight with Ivy was needed to get us to something we haven’t seen before. “The nuclear option” can Harley strip away the facade of being HQ and have to confront Ivy that her best friend is one of the humans Ivy is poised to to away with. It is a very personal, ideological battle between HQ and Ivy. The “Pam, in understand your feelings, but there are those of us who believe in you and what you fight for. Are you truly willing to sacrifice your best friend and the person who really loves you, for the sake of wiping out all humanity. I found it a very touching moment for HQ & Ivy. That there bound of love for each other Is stronger than their occasionally severe personal objectives.

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