Overall, my whole family enjoyed the film, especially my two daughters (ages 9 and 3), and I definitely recommend it for a family outing.
That said, it definitely lacked some of the magic of the first film, and seemed at times too busy with an incoherent story. Many of the previous film's characters had too little screen time, and the new characters were just not as compelling (loved Amy Adams' performance, though). Moreover, as fun as Hank Azaria was as the villain, he simply couldn't measure up to the performances of Dick Van Dyk (sorry about that misspelling; the correct spelling was rejected as a profanity!) or Mickey Rooney from the first film.
Don't Miss: Octavius and the 'giant' squirrel - hilarious!
Although it ran at least a half-hour too long, Dark Knight lived up to all of my expectations, and was the best super hero movie sequel since Spider Man 2. Heath Ledger's performance was indeed excellent, and not just hype due to his untimely death.