In the original Tim Burton “Batman” from 1989, when young Bruce Wayne’s parents are killed, their assassin looks down at the little boy who will grow up to save Gotham and asks, “Hey, Kid, have you ever danced with the devil by the pale moon light?”

In the most recent version of the story, Mr. and Mrs. Wayne are shot by a bum who steals their wallets and then scampers away into the night.

Not nearly as cool.

This is the essential difference between the fantastic Tim Burton “Batman” movies and the most recent installment, Christopher Nolan’s “Batman Begins.”

Starring Christian Bale as the reclusive, tortured Bruce Wayne, “Batman Begins” shows the story of how the winged superhero came to exist.

Unlike the colorful and delightfully campy Burton films, which were driven by vibrant cinematography and comical characters, Nolan’s “Batman Begins” is distinctively darker, both in style and content.

A significantly more serious film than its predecessors, “Batman Begins” illustrates the tortured history of the hero, from his tumble down a bat-infested hole as a young Bruce Wayne, through his training with a Ninja cult master in the far East, to the battle with his first villain, The Scarecrow.

Bale is fantastic as young Batman, taking him from a cocky, embittered rich kid to a heroic and selfless young man in an almost seamless performance.

Michael Caine is surprisingly perfect as Alfred, whose benevolent nature and slightly tongue-in-cheek energy provides some greatly needed comic relief and is arguably the best part of “Batman Begins.”

The essential flaw of this movie is its oppressive seriousness. Yes, the film is based on the “Batman: Year One” comics, which are intended to be far more serious and dramatic than the traditional “Batman” comics, but Nolan’s interpretation is far too heavy.

At certain points it seems as though Nolan, having spent all his creativity on “Memento,” called in Jerry Bruckheimer for advice and wound up with a bunch of speeding cars and fiery explosions.

An adventure like “Batman” should have been left to a more imaginative director like Darren Aronofsky or David Fincher, both of whom were actually candidates to direct “Batman Begins.”

But if one can manage to differentiate “Batman Begins” from their expectations for another Tim Burton masterpiece, the film can be relatively enjoyable — for an action movie.

Despite some fantastic performances from Bale, Caine and a few others, satisfaction will best be achieved through low expectations.