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Australia Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
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Adam Resurrected Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
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City of Ember
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MPAA RATING: PG for mild peril and some thematic elements
Starring Bill Murray, Tim Robbins, Saoirse Ronan, Harry Treadaway, Martin Landau, Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Toby Jones, and Mary Kay Place
For generations, the people of the City of Ember have flourished in an amazing world of glittering lights - underground. But Ember's once powerful generator is failing . . . and the great lamps that illuminate the city are starting to flicker. Now, in a race against time, the citizens must search Ember for clues that will unlock the ancient mystery of the city's existence, and escape before the lights go out forever. (FoxWalden)
| GENRE(S): | Adventure | Family/Kids | Fantasy |
| WRITTEN BY: |
Jeanne Duprau (book)
Caroline Thompson |
| DIRECTED BY: | Gil Kenan |
| RELEASE DATE: |
DVD: January 20, 2009 Theatrical: October 10, 2008 |
| RUNNING TIME: | 95 minutes, Color |
| ORIGIN: | USA |
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
The average user rating for this movie is 6.0 (out of 10) based on 13 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Hamish S gave it a3:
Premise is okay but eventually more plot holes than you could reliably poke a stick at - you will ultimately be left disappointed by the potential and its eventual loss. Set design is nice, acting adequate but lacks a good film to tie it all together.
Tommy Boy gave it a0:
Walked out after the first 15 minutes. Could tell from the "get-go" this movie was going to be another Hollywood "craper". Got a pass for my next time movie outing. Note: If you leave a theater and your only into less then 20-30 minutes of the movie..most theaters will give you a refund in the form of a "Pass" to another movie of your choice at that time or another day.
Darren gave it a7:
If you go to see a kids movie, then expect to be entertained, drop your expectations for a super fantastic film. Some films exceed childish expectations and give you more than you paid for, others don't. I expected the film to immerse my childish mind into a world that I saw in the trailers. I thought the film did a great job of creating a world that was totally dependant on the light the generator was made for. It had enough suspense for an eight year old to forget the obvious plot holes and shortcomings. But most children don't look for faults, they look for peril, action and adventure. And for that goal alone, it was achieved. Were there plot holes, of course there were. Why would mankind put enough idiots in the city and hope that two kids were born to solve all the problems? How could a box that was in every mayors portrait be able to be lost and fogotten. Or that one person alone would only know what his one dial would be for and not the rest? For the good of mankind we'll have a bunch of idiots kept safe. I don't think that was the plan, but thats what they seemed to film. Overall, I enjoyed the film. I got lost in the city, and the fresh idea that mankind came up with a solution to the disaster that would come; rather than have the US come up with some plan to save the day and be all heroic.
7b gave it an8:
Great movie for pretty much any age - looking forward to reading the book to drink in even more of the details.
Im No Yank gave it an8:
Cant say that i have ever heard of the book over here in the real world(Europe) but i will say that it was a very entertaining movie Im not going to give it a 10 because it is not a showstopping blockbuster like Gladiator or A New Hope. but i will content on giving this a positive 8.
Chad S. gave it a5:
"Cities need a powersource/More than the elements provide/Since we built the generator/Power's been supplied." How apropos than an underground band should contribute lyrics(back in 1988) that explicates the allegorical religiosity of this underground city's belief system. Jeff Davis of the Los Angeles-based band The Balancing Act(former labelmates with R.E.M. when both bands were signed to the defunct I.R.S. imprint), wrote a song called "Generator"(from their swansong album "Curtains"), which expresses the predominant opinion of the townsfolk that the generator is a mechanical deity made by man. Every year, Mayor Cole(Bill Murray) holds a ceremony so the masses can pay tribute to the Ember City founders, in the form of ritualized singing that's unmistakably gospel, sans the Judeo-Christian content. To us, their celebration looks like something out of a pagan cult, but since this society is disconnected from the civilized world that preceeded the catastrophic event which sent the whole of humanity underground, this collective exaltation of a machine, a god machine(or what is commonly called, deus ex machina), is the closest approximation to organized religion they have. "City of Ember", unfortunately, soft-pedals its most intriguing story element. Lina Mayfleet(Saoirse Ronan) won't be participating this year in the festivities, not since she found the metal box, an artifact, akin to Pandora's box(or maybe The Holy Grail), which would agitate the veracity singers, if only they knew what the "goonies" were up to. "City of Ember" neglects to dramatize this ideological conflict in favor of an action-filled final act that depressingly regurgitates Spielbergian tropes from the mid-to-late eighties. Too bad. In an earlier scene, before Lina even discovers the metal box, she poses a real threat to the hegemonic values of the ruling class in her artwork, when the pint-sized heretic envisions the physical world as we know it, by guessing the sky, and guessing it's blue. How does she know this? If "City of Ember" made much ado about its deux ex machina, it could've intrigued like Tarsem's mind-blowing video for R.E.M.'s "Losing My Religion".
J C gave it a3:
An utter waste. Three points for the cast, which does what it can with one of the weakest screenplays ever adapted from a very good children's book. The special effects towards the end were laughable. The spirit and tone and themes of the book were completely lost or ignored. Skip the movie, read the book.
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