While it may not be the world’s greatest film, “Spider-Man: No Way Home” made me giggle, grin, cheer, cry and get hyped for further journeys into Marvel Cinematic Universe’s multiverse that it sets up. This third installment of the solo adventures of Tom Holland’s Spider-Man/Peter Parker is the best out of the three, and the best of the live-action Spider-Man films we’ve had in the last 20 years (“Into the Spider-Verse” is still the best Spider-Man film though).

It has the highest stakes, the greatest impact on the MCU as a whole, and it allows Holland to fully find his Peter.

If you were really concerned about spoilers, you’d have probably already seen it, but I’ll try and keep them to a minimum anyway.

The film picks up exactly where we ended “Spider-Man: Far From Home,” with a newscast of J. Jonah Jameson (J.K. Simmons returning to the character) showing doctored footage of the previous film’s villain, Mysterio (Jake Gyllenhaal), announcing that Spider-Man killed him and that his name is Peter Parker.

With all of the world now aware of his identity, and with the pretty damning evidence that he apparently killed Mysterio, many have turned against him and his friendly-neighborhood Spidey ways. While having half the world against you is bad enough, colleges that Peter applied to have all turned him down as well as his best friend Ned (Jacob Batalon) and girlfriend MJ (Zendaya) for spots at all their schools due to their association with Peter.

Desperate, Peter seeks out Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) to perform a spell that would make everyone forget he’s Spider-Man, which would mean the universities wouldn’t know and they’d not hold his super-heroics against any of them. But the spell goes awry and cracks in the multiverse appear, allowing in a few key villains from other Spider-man franchise films of the last 20 years including Doc Oc/Dr. Otto Octavius (Alfred Molina), The Green Goblin/Norman Osbourne (Willem Dafoe), Electro/Max Dillon (Jamie Foxx), Sandman/Flint Marco (Thomas Hayden Church) and The Lizard/Dr. Curt Conners (Rhys Ifans). Naturally all of them are after Spider-Man, but not this Spider-Man.

Doctor Strange is able to capture a few of them, and instructs Peter to do the same so they can send them all back to their own universes to duke it out with their own Peter Parkers, but when our Peter realizes that by sending them back, they’ll all die, he decides to try and help fix their experiments-gone-wrong personas and return them to their universes not as the villains but as the men they were before.

Easier said than done when there’s a multiverse cracking at the seams.

It’s fantastic to see a Marvel movie firing on all cylinders like this. Between Holland’s infectious do-good naivety, Zendaya’s sassiness, Batalon’s never-say-die attitude and Molina and Dafoe’s classic villainy, it’s hard not to grin from ear to ear if you’ve been a fan of Spider-Man movies through the years.

This truly is a love letter to fans of the character. With so many in-universe and out-of-universe characters popping in, it’s an endorphin rush to see them on screen for even just a scene or two, but it never feels too forced. The fact that we see the villains from previous franchises helps “No Way Home” a great deal. We already know these characters, so we don’t need to know their entire backstory or dastardly plan to thwart the spandexed hero, and therefore the movie can just focus on the task at hand and deepen Peter’s own character arc, as well as the possible redemptions of these supposed villains.

While the script is still pretty by the numbers for Marvel, it’s still delightful. I found myself slipping easily into the MCU once again, eager for those post-credits scenes to whet the appetite of what’s next from the factory churning these out. Regardless of the formula and the simple volume of films that we have from Marvel, it’s very hard not to be giddy for what’s next after something as fun and also oddly heartwarming as “Spider-Man: No Way Home.”

“Spider-Man: No Way Home”

148 minutes

Rated PG-13 for sequences of action/violence, some language and brief suggestive comments.

4 stars

Movies to put on your radar for the first half of 2022 (assuming there aren’t delays)

“The Tragedy of MacBeth,” Jan. 14 — The black and white adaptation of the Shakespearian tragedy is helmed by a Cohen brother (Joel, to be exact) and stars powerhouses Frances McDormand and Denzel Washington as Lady M and the Scottish king.

“Moonfall,” Feb. 4 — This sci-fi film sees the moon hurtling toward the earth after a mysterious force knocks it out of orbit and it’s up to a few scrappy astronauts to save the world. It’s also got aliens.

“The Batman,” March 4 — Robert Pattinson dons the cowl and heavy eye makeup as his turn as the caped crusader in this dark and gritty standalone that looks like it’s in the same vein as 2019’s “The Joker.”

“Turning Red,” March 11 — Like all Pixar films, this latest looks adorable and heartwarming as it tells the story of a girl who discovers she has developed the family curse of turning into a giant red panda when she gets too excited.

“Downton Abbey: A New Era,” March 18 — I can almost guarantee this won’t be good, but I’ll still be first in line to see it with a cuppa in my hand.

“The Lost City,” March 25 — With a stacked cast that includes Sandra Bullock, Channing Tatum and Daniel Radcliffe, and a plot that is reminiscent of “Romancing the Stone,” but with a bigger budget and a more bonkers premise.

“The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent,” April 22 — Nicolas Cage plays Nick Cage in a wild action comedy as he’s hired to work a birthday party and is then recruited by the CIA.

“Bob’s Burgers: The Movie,” May 27 — Based on the Fox animated comedy, little is known about the plot, but it really doesn’t matter if it can be as good as the show. is.

“Untitled Elvis Presley Project,” June 24 — The story of the King from the perspective of his manager Colonel Tom Parker, played by Tom Hanks.

“Lightyear,” June 17 — Chris Evans lends his voice to the astronaut who was the inspiration for the TV show, which was the reason for the toy in the “Toy Story” universe. Despite its confusing origins, it still looks good.