Kick-Ass Disturbs Roger Ebert:

I find it strange because Ebert, as a reviewer, is not one to get disturbed. Or perhaps, Ebert prefers disturbing elements in movies to be shown for what they are and not whitewashed into "fun." (Which would explain Ebert's praise for among other very disturbing films, Good-fellas, A Clockwork Orange, and Pulp Fiction.)

Long story short: Ebert doesn't like a profane 11 year old girl killing bad guys and nearly getting killed herself.

Interestingly this is "Robin" (from Batman and Robin).

Alan Moore has noted Watchmen took (disturbing) elements that were always implicit and hiding underneath the surface of comic books (even when they appeared goody two shoes) and made them explicit.

In the TV shoes and movies, Robin was always played by someone over 18. In the comic books, the various Robins have been well under aged.

Frank Miller once noted if Batman were real, he'd be brought up on, among other things, endangering the welfare of a child charges.

And back in 1988 the Jason Todd Robin was brutally beaten to death by the Joker.

None of the live "Robins" in the big or small screen have well portrayed Robin. It will be interesting to see how the new Dark Knight franchise handles Robin, if at all.

But the animated Batman has already gone there. And, yes, it was arguably disturbing. But perhaps Ebert would like it because it's not a fun, comedic whitewash.