From producer Tom Hanks and the best selling novel of the same name comes City of Ember, the family-friendly adventure now available on DVD!

Story
The film, based on the book by Jeanne DePrau, tells the story of the citizens of the subterranean City of Ember. Ember is a haven, designed to thwart an unnamed disaster which threatened the survival of the human race. After 200 years, Ember’s power is failing, leaving its inhabitants facing a dark and uncertain future. We follow two teenage Emberites, Doon Harrow and Lina Mayfleet in their quest to unravel the mystery behind the enigmatic Founders and their long lost escape plan.

Highlights
The two young protagonists Doon Harrow and Lina Mayfleet, played by Harry Treadaway and Saoirise Ronan, respectively, provide interesting and believable characters, balancing precariously between charmingly youthful and necessarily adult due to the demands of their quest.

-Tim Robbins plays yet another support grown-up role in a children’s/tween adventure (Zathura anyone?). He is a welcome addition to the cast, bringing with him a quiet dignity, tinged with quirky humor.

-Bill Murray’s Mayor Cole, is an ambivalent antagonist, not evil, so much as selfish and self-deluded. It is not a stretch to imagine a leader of with these qualities.

-Clever and visually appealing puzzles, somewhat reminiscent of those from the Myst video game series.

-A giant, carnivorous mole. Need I say more?

Special Features
– Flipper disc in both full screen (1.33:1) and wide screen features (2.35:1 ratio) with English 5.1 Dolby Digital and Spanish and French Dolby Surround with English, French and Spanish subtitles.

Overall
The film, despite good production values and engaging performance was overall something of a letdown. It felt as if we were simply not the target audience. Both the very beginning and the very end (two notably important parts of a movie) felt incomplete.

ComicsOnline gives City of Ember 3 out of 5 flickering and fading light bulbs.
 

 

From producer Tom Hanks and the best selling novel of the same name comes City of Ember, the family-friendly adventure now available on DVD!

Story
The film, based on the book by Jeanne DePrau, tells the story of the citizens of the subterranean City of Ember. Ember is a haven, designed to thwart an unnamed disaster which threatened the survival of the human race. Originally built to only last 200 years, Ember’s power is failing and it’s infrastructure is falling apart. At 200 years they were to venture back out into the old earth but the directions were lost over time. We so not know for how long past the 200 years Ember has been kept running but we do know it is well past the lifespan the city was originally set up for. The film follows two teenage Emberites, Doon Harrow (Harry Treadaway) and Lina Mayfleet (Saorise Ronan) in their drive to discover the reasons why the city is failing and thwart the crooked now overbearing role of Mayor Cole (Bill Murray).

Highlights
-This story’s main characters were both wonderfully youthful but also quite thoughtful and mature for their age, which was required for the changing of the ways of their people. This film’s story had many undertones of the classic ‘sheep like’ qualities of small cities/townships.

-The position of mayor was played skillfully by Bill Murray, who has in the last decade taken it upon himself to shed the comedy role and now seems to fill the antagonist’s role quite consistently. This being sais, although I haven’t liked any of his roles since going the way of serious he does do a very fine job of portraying where gluttony and sloth will take a politician in any society.

-Tim Robbins played a supporting role as Doon’s father, and also a previous escapee artist. He stood as a wonderful backdrop to a movie that, since it was based on teens, needed a strong adult face that lent validity to the teen’s quest.

Special Features
– Flipper disc in both full screen (1.33:1) and wide screen features (2.35:1 ratio) with English 5.1 Dolby Digital and Spanish and French Dolby Surround with English, French and Spanish subtitles.

Overall
The film was unfortunately not as good as I had wanted it to be. I am an avid fan of sci fi movies and many books turned into films. Unlike many I can appreciate what film has to offer and I do not hold it against a movie that it could not encase all of the books details. I did enjoy and appreciate that the film covered many aspects of society that are true in any time, place or age.

ComicsOnline gives City of Ember 3 out of 5 elaborate puzzles.