Movie Review:
City of Ember
Rated by 1 member
PG for mild peril and some thematic elements.
Recommended for ages 9 and up
Run Time: 95 minutes
Quick Take: Not a movie for kids scared of the dark, City of Ember leaves too many plot details in the shadows.
City of Ember Feels Like a Puzzle With Many Missing Pieces
Scary is what you make it.
A few weeks ago, I might have been scared silly by a story about post-apocalyptic survival. Today, I'd be more likely to run screaming from the American Girl movie about Kitt Kittredge during the Great Depression.
Time of world notwithstanding, Director Gil Kenan's parable (based on the children's book of the same name by author Jeanne DuPrau) plays to kids like a sci-fi fable, more likely to impress them with its cool, underground world (what kid who plays with blocks hasn't imagined living in one of their self-contained LEGO lands?) and heroic teens than its subtext of politics and doom.
The city is a dimly lit metropolis dug in hundreds of years ago by elders wishing to save their civilization after an undefined calamity. Centuries later, it's a crumbling, Dickensian disaster. Water's scarce, food is scarcer, and it's up to two industrious teens, Doon and Lina, to puzzle their way out of extinction.
With an impressive cast and an intriguing premise, Kenan conjures some thrilling moments. Ember is eerily played for maximum claustrophobic creepiness, with residents like scuba divers in an underwater cave -- when the lights go out, there's no place to go. If that doesn't creep the be-wutzis out of kids, there's always Assignment Day, the ceremonial rite when school-age kids pick from a hat the menial job that will define them for life. Even 7-year-olds will start realizing the importance of SAT test prep.
Secret doors and treasure maps will appeal to some kids as a sort of a dystopian Goonies. Beyond that, the movie never fully delivers. All the intriguing puzzles, clues and mysteries add up to ... not much. Despite the promise of a twist, and an idea that nothing is what it seems, it turns out everything is exactly what it seems, and less. Even the getaway seems muted, rolling to an anticlimactic final moment that doesn't so much arrive as just, stop. Those familiar with the books might be able to fill in the holes. The rest of us, alas, are left with almost as many questions as when we started.
Kids Will Like:
Fans of the book will enjoy seeing the story come to life. Sci-fi adventure is taken right from the novel and is tailor-made for kids. Look for lots of secret passages and hidden doors. A climactic getaway looks like the template for a new theme-park ride. The teens are the only truly sensible players in the movie, and end up playing the heroes. Girls will like the fact that Lina is portrayed as a smart, sensible, and equal partner to Doon.
Parents Will Like:
There's a nice message about doing what's right, even if it isn't easy. Parents of inquisitive kids may find the movie a nice jumping-off point for discussing everything from the environment to politics.
