I took my 8 year old son, who, with some discretion in certain scenes, was able to sit through this longer than usual movie on the edge of his seat right along with me and my boyfriend (a long time Batman fan) --how could we not?! The movie itself is phenomenal but the experience of seeing it in the theater cannot be matched! I would recommend this movie even to new followers of the Batman series of films, cartoons, comics or whatever. Seeing Batman Begins will help answer some questions and give you an appreciation for the story as it continues to unfold--so you can 'get the whole picture' on the Big Picture (sorry, couldn't resist!). And ladies, I have to add that if for nothing else, you need to see this movie just to watch Christian Bale own this character and bring the 'man' to Batman...like I said, I can't wait to see it again!