Batman movies have been many things. They’ve alternated between silly or serious, grown-up or fantastical, and always with a unique style separating from them each other.
But what if a single movie could be a silly, serious, grown-up and fantastic mash-up of every Batman that's gone before? That's the joy of The Lego Batman Movie.
If you have kids, you may be familiar with Lego cartoons – and their varying quality. Even if you don't have kids, the gloriously fun animated Lego Batman Movie is simply a riot. It's widely available to rent online, or you can stream it for free on Amazon Prime Video – but it's leaving very soon, so don't hesitate.
This version of Batman is the cocksure Lego model voiced by Will Arnett, first seen in 2014's The Lego Movie (also a riot, but that's an article for another time).
Having overseen the animation on that earlier film, Chris McKay took over the director's chair for this Bat-themed 2017 spin-off.
Also involved are co-producers Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, the guys who directed the first Lego Movie as well as Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs and the Spider-Man Spider-Verse.
Arnett's gravelly-voiced Batman was a scene-stealing star of the earlier movie, and makes an even better leading man.
He's endlessly hilarious in a movie that's bursting with laugh-out-loud gags. And he's backed up by eye-popping animation that deserves to be seen on a top-end home cinema system, so you can appreciate the dizzying array of sight gags, the delightfully-rendered realism of this toy-like world – check out the shimmering texture on Batman's "plastic" cowl – and a whirlwind of epic action scenes.
Cynics might point out these films are extended toy adverts, which is true. But that toy is Lego, which is built on the idea of building anything you want. A toy designed to feed limitless imagination, with no regard to boring stuff like the laws of physics - and especially no boring stuff like continuity.
So while live action versions of Batman have to establish their own realistic world, where the tone and the characters and the batsuit have to stay pretty much consistent across that particular run of films or TV, the Lego version has no such constraints.
In fact, this is the one place where every version of Batman joins the party. Only this movie can riff hilariously on everything from the absurdity of the 1960s TV series to the self-importance of Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy. In this world made of bricks and imagination, everything is canon.
That all-encompassing celebration of the caped crusader's long and colourful history is a springboard for tons of great jokes. But that history is more than just an excuse for nostalgic gags and retro design, including possibly the coolest Batmobile on film (it's certainly top three).
It's a rare Batman movie in which, instead of being an origin story, shows a Bruce Wayne who has been Gotham's protector for decades, leading the city to question how much difference he actually makes. And the Joker's scheming is driven not by general evilness but by a need to connect with his emotionally-isolated nemesis.
In fact, it's amazing how much depth is in this animated adventure. The dark knight's emotional journey goes beyond the usual big screen brooding, as Bruce is pulled in opposite directions by his overwhelming loneliness versus his fear of losing the people he loves.
Meanwhile Robin, Barbara Gordon and Alfred the butler all have their own family issues to resolve. It's pretty affecting stuff for a toy advert.
While it's a lovingly tribute to past Bat-ventures, Lego Batman is also very much its own thing. And it's awesome.
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