City of Ember (2008)

I’m a big fan of bleak children’s films (been waiting for years for The Mouse and His Child to come out on DVD for years), so City of Ember seems an obvious fit for my tastes. Based on the children’s novel by Jeanne DuPrau, the movie concerns Ember, a deteriorating underground city which is home to the decedents of the survivors of an unspecified ecological disaster 200+ years earlier. Ember’s purpose should have been served by the time the films main narrative picks up, but a combination of ignorance and corruption keeps the settlements denizens ensconced underground, when they should be moving top side to start the world over. Two tweens (the good Saoirse Ronan, and the interchangeable Harry Treadaway) however stumble upon the remains of the city’s exist instructions and the conspiracy of complacency perpetrated by large gutted mayor Bill Murry (in a rather ambiguous performance where I can’t tell if he’s having fun or phoning it in, but such is Bill Murry).

Much of the film doesn’t bear close scrutiny, the city’s exist plan seems very poorly throughout and designed by an engineer for an amusement park, and a lot of details and character motivations seem lacking. That being said the film is well paised, the set design is fantastic, Martin Landau’s present, and I was genuinely curious as to the resolution of the mystery. An imperfect, uneven film, but I was still thinking about it the next day and am even considering reading the book, so it certenly got something right. I’d say see it if for no other reason then its willingness to break the mold of most children’s movies, and be a little smart. Thumbs up.