Immediately, one of my biggest issues with a lot of the DC animated films was solved within the first few frames, because you can tell they put a lot of work into this animation.

The Long Halloween won’t rise to the level of The Dark Knight Returns — a near-masterpiece among Batman animations — or Under the Red Hood, but it’s right behind them.

If you're a Batman fan, I strongly recommend this film. It is among the best, if not THE best onscreen adaptation of Batman ever. ... It may be cliché of me to say this, but the film is quite literally the Godfather of Batman films.

It's engaging enough, and creates enough cliffhanging suspense to want to see what happens in the sequel, even for those who aren't fully versed in the DC Universe.