Mixed reviews. You have to love them. You don’t know what you are getting yourself into when you go into a film that none of the critics can agree on. City of Ember wasn’t necessarily panned, it just hasn’t gotten exceptional reviews. I had not read a review raving about this film prior to taking my son to see it over the weekend. So I really did not have high expectations going in to this one.

I was pleasantly surprised at this film. It wasn’t one of those films that creates a lasting impression and it certainly will never go down as a classic. However, City of Ember was an entertaining take on Science Fiction from a child’s perspective. It is a film that was heavily marketed to younger viewers (my son claimed he had seen the trailer to this film several times, but I had never seen it…so it must have been on Nick or Disney Channel). The marketing must have worked, because the theater was crowded during the matinee showing. The crowd appeared to be around my sons age, ranging from seven or eight up to about twelve for the most part. Just a few years younger than the characters this film portrays.

City of Ember tells the story of an underground city built by “The Builders.” The builders planned the city to withstand unstated changes occurring in the world at a critical juncture in time. The instructions for leaving the underground city were sealed in a metallic box designed to open in 200 years. This box is passed from one city Mayor to the other over a century and a half. One Mayor dies unexpectedly and the box lies dormant in his closet for the remaining half a century, opening unnoticed in the closet. We pick up the story at a tumultuous juncture, when the city is undergoing severe difficulties. Powered by a giant generator, the city is wholly reliant on its continued functioning in the absence of adequate parts and knowledge. Blackouts, food shortages and a corrupt Mayor indicate that things are unlikely to improve. It is illegal to venture outside the lighted areas of the city which means that there is no way to know if anything exists beyond the cavernous walls of the subterranean society. A couple of recently graduated students hold the future of the city in their hands. Their combined knowledge might hold the key to the world beyond their city. Finding that world is an adventure filled with minor sub-plots that are sometimes interesting and at times a distraction.

City of Ember is based on a 2003 book written by Jeanne Duprau and adapted to a screenplay by Caroline Thompson. I did not read the book and can offer no comparisons between the two. Duprau wrote a sequel called The People of Sparks which may find its way to the big screen if this movie manages to do well. The plot does not contain much complexity and is a bit predictable, which makes it age appropriate. The characters are interesting in a Who-ville sort of way. The sub-plots are shallow and seem to be intended to provide details related to the overall story. I found the storyline to be engaging and the characters developed enough for my liking.

The characters in City of Ember included several actors that I am unfamiliar with. Tim Robbins was a familiar face, as the father or our main character Doon Harrow (Harry Treadaway). Bill Murray was another familiar face, playing a crooked mayor whose character was intentionally shallow. Murray was excellent as a corpulent disconnected Mayor whose grasp of hyperbole is matched only by our own real-life politicians. Treadaway did a solid job of selling his character without seeming too old or knowledgeable. His character Doon has a female friend named Lina Mayfleet (Saoirse Ronan). I did not recognize Ronan, either. Her character was a lively fleet-footed messenger who pieces together the puzzle pieces of this story. Ronan was credible as an innocent spunky young lady whose fear is tempered by her quest for answers. The cast was exceptional, providing believability to a make-believe world.

The special effects in this movie were okay. They weren’t spectacular, especially when it comes to the CGI. There was a water scene near the end of the movie that appeared very rough. It didn’t have the smooth transition that I’ve come to expect from CGI. The choppy herky-jerky scenes were a bit difficult to watch. There was an animated mole creature which was exceptionally well animated. The creature was a bit scary and provided some intense action scenes. The creation of an underground world presented an ominous task, but was done tastefully. The set had an underworld engineered feel that seemed right. The sets were interesting and well thought out.

One thing that bothered me about this film was that the city appears to be a mile underground in a recess deep inside a mountain. The poster for this film shows the main characters on a cliff overlooking the city, one appearing to prevent the other from falling. This scene did not appear anywhere in the movie. It makes me think that maybe the book ended a tad bit differently. Either way, we end up seeing a scene of the city from far above through a crevice in the mountain. There seemed to be a disconnect somewhere along the journey that did not make sense to me.

I left City of Ember with a favorable impression and hopes that the sequel will be committed to celluloid. My son and I agreed that it was a fun adventure with almost no objectionable material. The mole provided some harrowing scenes, but nothing explicit. The storyline was interesting, the characters were unique and the pretend city seemed plausible. In spite of the mediocre ratings this movie has received from critics, it is a fun diversion that is worth seeing at the theater. I would recommend City of Ember giving the film four stars out of a possible five.

This review is part of CaptainD’s Good Movie Write-Off 2.