So my first assumption was that the end indicates the whole thing is Cobb's dream. The kids are the exact same age, wearing the same clothes. And all he does is see their face; he doesn't run up and embrace them. And earlier he said he just wanted to see their faces one last time. Right?
OK, then I think back to his wife thinking that the "real world" was just a dream. If that was the case, couldn't they have tested it? In any dream, the participants can make things happen -- streets bend, weapons appear, etc. And eventually the projections turn on the dreamer. Now you could argue that the people who were after Cobb as a fugitive were projections coming after him, but it was only a select few, not the whole mob. Plus, this only happened after his wife died and set him up. It should've been happening all along.
So if it wasn't a dream, why were his kids the same age, in the same clothes, sitting in the same spot as the last time he saw them???

Re: Another movie post: Inception (SPOILERZ!)
Not to mention, if it really was a dream, he wasn't in "limbo" so couldn't he have been woken up in the real world, wherever that was? And he'd been there awhile, so if he was just laying somewhere with no one around, his real body would be starving and pooping himself and dying after just a few days.
I love science fiction, but not when the fake science doesn't add up.
"As of page 2 this might be the most boring argument ever. It's making me long for Rape Day." - Mouse
I remember thinking that he was stuck in limbo after watching. My basis was more that everyone else woke up from each level of subconciousness and he just randomly woke up on the plane. He was 4 levels deep at the time and I thought he should have to go back each level for it to be real like everyone else.
Anyway, I've researched this ending and there is no wrong or right which kind of annoys.
They would have at least had time to change clothes. And probably not been squatting in the same place, same position as the last time he saw them.
There is a right answer to the question and it is that it was supposed to be a dream, but Christopher Nolan left some obvious plot holes.
"As of page 2 this might be the most boring argument ever. It's making me long for Rape Day." - Mouse
I read something from Christopher Nolan saying that whether it was real or not wasn't the point; the point was that he didn't care anymore to see if the top fell or not and that he was just enjoying seeing his kids' faces. Idk.
"As of page 2 this might be the most boring argument ever. It's making me long for Rape Day." - Mouse