i was really put off by the ads for this movie--they seemed to exploit heath ledger's death (joker as disinterred corpse). reprehensible stuff. but the film was actually quite smart, the performances effective, and the production value off the charts. not up to the hype, naturally--wish i'd seen it the first week--but still very good.
didactic, but with enough haunting images and moments (great use of hello dolly) to elevate the moralizing to artistic heights. a real challenge for kids, i would think--which is good. parents should rush to take their kids to the film and encourage the youngins to *think* rather than digest easily some other animated fluff.