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Movie Review: City of Ember
'City of Ember' has an odd glow
By Associated Press Writers
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Finally, a post-apocalyptic utopia movie for the entire family.
"City of Ember" is a weird little hybrid of socialist manifesto and wholesome sci-fi adventure, which ought to make it a tough sell, despite its strong cast and the backing of Tom Hanks' production company, Playtone. This is not exactly "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" redux.
The younguns who populate the underground city of Ember learn on Assignment Day what job they'll perform for the rest of their lives, based on a slip of paper they pull randomly from a sack — mundane stuff like potato peeler and warehouse clerk, "For the good of all mankind," as the city's motto goes.
Some people work in the generator that keeps the town running, keeps the bulbs in those golden, overhead lights shining bright. Others, like perky Lina Mayfleet (Saoirse Ronan), are messengers who scurry from one side of the city to the other conveying inane tidbits of information.
But since the Builders of Ember only created the city to last 200 years — figuring the darkness that forced them underground would have subsided by then — the generator is falling apart, and humanity as they know it is in trouble.
Thankfully, Lina finds a magical metal box that the Builders left behind, and she and her pipeworker pal, Doon (Harry Treadaway), set about unlocking its many mysteries in hopes of saving the world. The thing was stuck at the bottom of a closet, hidden behind her batty grandmother's many balls of yarn, and it has one of those digital readouts that all the bombs had in the "Die Hard" movies and other action-packed pics of the 1980s.
Gil Kenan's film is overstuffed visually but has an intriguing tangibility about it. This is not surprising, since Kenan also directed the clever "Monster House" from 2006, an Academy Award nominee for best animated film. Ember itself resembles an art deco back lot that's fallen into disrepair, which gives it an odd, sad beauty; unlike many kid-oriented action movies, this one is not obviously smothered in computer-generated effects. (At least, not until the end.) The interiors and costumes are intentionally roughhewn and cobbled together, like "Waterworld" at the center of the Earth.
You just wish as much care had gone into character development. We never get to know anyone all that well; it's as if they're all just cogs in service of the concept. Caroline Thompson, who also wrote the wonderfully inventive "Edward Scissorhands," wrote the screenplay based on Jeanne DuPrau's novel. DuPrau grew up in the 1950s amid the threat of nuclear war, which inspired her work; the external threat in "City of Ember" is never so pressing or well-defined.
If anything puts the city in peril, it's the selfishness and greed of the mayor, played by a villainously low-key Bill Murray. He's one of many big-name stars who feel woefully underused. Tim Robbins is in maybe a handful of scenes as Doon's frustrated inventor father; Mary Kay Place plays a friend of Lina's family who tries to keep her safe; Toby Jones barely speaks as the mayor's right-hand man, and the misuse of Martin Landau, as Doon's doddering boss in the pipeworks, is just shameful.
Then there's the adorably energetic Ronan, she of the beguiling wide eyes, who was an Oscar nominee earlier this year as Keira Knightley's nosy little sister in "Atonement." Better things surely must be in store for her. Perhaps the Builders can see to that, as well.
