Our whole family went to see Avatar together and everyone agreed: An Amazing visual treat with a good story and wonderful characters and creatures! We look forward to future sequels (how can they not have a sequel to this?) and think Avatar will be the Star Wars of this generation. James Cameron's passion for this story is obvious. I called it "Dances with Wolves meets Aliens" because of the story line but it's certainly got more than that going on in it. I would definitely recommend this movie though children under 12 might find it overwhelming or too intense.
I haven't seen all of the Batman movies though I've seen a few. I don't always like superhero-type movies. However, I really did like The Dark Knight. While it definitely has a very creepy and dark overtone, there are still glimmers of hope kept alive by key characters and some of the decisions made by other characters in the movie. I really wanted to see this because I think Heath Ledger was one of the most gifted actors around. He was incredibly scary and yet, provided good psychological insight to how The Joker became who he is. The acting world will definitely miss all that Heath had to offer. My son is twelve and we usually restrict him from seeing PG-13 movies but we let him see this one with us. He agreed it was very creepy but he did like it very much. There were some scenes that, in my opinion were awfully intense for a PG-13 movie. If those few scenes had been handled a little differently, I would have felt totally comfortable with my son seeing the movie. Nonetheless, the film angles, lighting, effects, and editing were all excellent and the movie is well worth seeing on the big screen.