City of Ember - Flucht aus der Dunkelheit

This infamous box office failure is one of those films I never fancied and after finally giving it a chance I understand why.

With a fantastic cast including Bill Murray, Tim Robbins and Saoirse Ronan this family friendly adventure tale tells the story of an underground society governed my a selfish greedy Mayor who is hiding several truths from his people.

Bill Murray feels wasted, considering he's the movies antagonist he is barely present and when he is it feels like the role could have been given to anybody.

Ronan is great as always the same as Robbins, but a stellar cast couldn't save City Of Ember.

It's not that it's a bad film, it's just too far from being a good one. The story is played out poorly, it all looks kind of hokey and in my opinion it needed to be longer.

City Of Ember was a huge commerical bust and lost its studio a fair few pennies, I'm sure that the fans of the book were not happy either.

The Good:

Very impressive cast

The Bad:

Looks worse than it should

Murray is wasted

Things I Learnt From This Movie:

I want a giant moth

"City of Ember", director Gil Kenan's follow up to his horror-lite for preteens "Monster House", is a fun ride that's well worth the admission price if only for the superb production design and the likable leads.

Lina Mayfleet (Saoirse Ronan) and Doon Harrow (Harry Treadaway) are two of the inhabitants of the City of Ember - an underground city designed to house humans for two centuries as an unspecified disaster takes place on the surface. But as the 200 years have passed, the generator that powers the city gradually falters, causing more frequent blackouts and scarce provisions.

When no one would listen to them, especially the city mayor - Mayor Cole (the effective yet underused Bill Murray) - it then becomes up to Lina and Doon to find the exit that leads to the surface, which is infinitely easier in theory than in practice, considering the plethora of puzzles and riddles they would have to solve.

Without having read the film's source material - Jeanne Duprau's novel - there's no way I can say if the script holds up to the narrative of its literary counterpart, but here's where the film mainly falters. The film feels like a rushed end product crammed to fit within the confines of a typical family flick. Exposition is kept in the sidelines and character development seems more of a ploy to advance the plot than genuine attempts in sculpting something more than cardboard-cut supporting characters.

But despite the narrative faults, Kenan imbues such a magical quality to the dank environment. And for a film lacking impressive turns from its more mature and established actors (including Tim Robbins as Doon's father), upcoming stars Ronan and Treadaway's animated performances save the day, right from a sweeping introduction of the claustrophobic city to a touching finale that finally affirms the characters' quest for light amidst the darkness.

Overall, this was an "okay" film; not bad, but nothing that memorable. I enjoyed the sets of the subterranean city and the teen kids were likable, but it took a little long before anything happened and when it did it was a little too far-fetched with poor special-effects. Nonetheless, the visuals and acting were fine and supporting performances by the always-goofy Bill Murray and Tim Robbins were somewhat entertaining.

The most intriguing actor, to me, was Saoirse Ronan, as "Lina Mayfleet." At first she minded me a bit of Peggy Ann Garner in "A Tree Grows In Brooklyn," but maybe two years older. Ronan has a plain but expressive and intelligent face, a la a very young Cate Blanchett. She looks like she's on her way to a good career.

Her counterpart, the male teen "Doon Harrow," was played nicely by Harry Treadaway.

Although it's a nice, safe family film, I think a lot of kids will be bored by the time anything happens, and adults will be so-so on it. I stuck around for the visuals, mainly, but was disappointed in how amateurish the action scenes in the last 20 minutes looked.

When moving from book to motion picture, there are a myriad of problems associated with such a task, one of which comes from those die hard fans of the original story. Fortunately for myself I have never taken it upon myself to read the source material on which this movie is based upon, nor had I even heard of it until now. As a result I found City of Ember to be a gratifying and sensually enticing experience with brilliant performances, an endlessly captivating story and pace, and a great mix of fantastical environments and characters which pave way for subtext that is grounded in simple allegory of our own, current world. To be sure, there are moments when the film dabbles in and out of tired clichés, most of which we have seen countless times this year alone in other children's adventures; yet what distinguishes this from, say, The Chronicles of Narnia or The Spiderwick Chronicles is through its mature themes and presentation that keeps the older viewer in mind. In this respect, City of Ember is a solid family film that most audiences should enjoy regardless of age, gender or anything else; good entertainment, and a wonderful story to remember at that.

Taking place almost exclusively within the confines of Ember, Gil Kenan here presents us with a vision of a dystopian future, where mankind has been forced to live underground in order to survive. Set many years on from this event however, much of the inhabitants of Ember are unaware of their origin and all the more scared of it as a result. However, in a time of desperation, two citizens Doon Harrow (Harry Treadaway) and Lina Mayfleet (Saoirse Ronan) go on their own quest to try and find an exit from the underground city, which doesn't go down well with gluttonous Mayor Cole (Bill Murray) who just wants his next meal in peace.

What follows from here is a story that isn't entirely unfamiliar (in fact, it's dangerously close to this year's WALL-E), and yet director Gil Kenan manages to take the script and turn it into his own compelling take on a tried and trusted concept. From the arresting opening monologue to the somewhat anti-climatic ending, there is barely a spot here that feels out of place or contrived for the sake of playing to the camera. The pacing, particularly during the middle act, could have been a little tighter, and you often get the sense that there's a lot of footage missing from this cinematic cut, yet as a whole, City of Ember does enough, and with the right amount of originality in tact, to cover up the rough edges. The ending, as I stated, is a little underwhelming and all too brief, but it at least feels coherent and natural to that which comes before it.

If there's one thing that Kenan manages to get across here however, it is the imagination and vision that is present in the script and story. Immediately, and most strikingly poignant during the opening sequence, the City of Ember itself is a sight to behold; from the countless lightbulbs that give the city its light to the murky tunnels that run underneath to provide water, the production values present are superb. Furthermore, the special effects work, although a little obvious during certain sequences involving humans, is noticeably strong; particularly when a giant mole-like creature appears. Not only does the creature look disgusting and completely frightening, but the director does well to stage the beast in such a way as to bring out its realistic characteristics; saying that I got flashbacks of Jurassic Park's raptors scene and a few from Aliens certainly wouldn't be a negative link to make.

Yet as good as the CGI actors are, thankfully the more traditional skin and bones performers aren't so bad themselves. As Hollywood unknowns (to an extent) Saoirse Ronan and Harry Treadaway give convincing performances in their lead positions and very rarely give attention to their ages. Sure enough, their roles aren't the most demanding of jobs, but despite their characters' underwritten nature both fulfil the requirements of leads nicely and with enough conviction to consistently carry the film forward. Of course, it's always good to have a familiar face around, and Bill Murray, playing the obnoxious and gluttonous slob Mayor Cole, is the one to provide such a role. Murray, although arguably underused as far as his talents go, does well to establish a character that nobody is necessarily going to warm to, and uses whatever screen time he has adequately to further the movie on and to back up his lead performers.

In the end however, all these elements simply come together to create one thing; an adventure. As just that, City of Ember is a very strong and convincing effort from director Gil Kenan who makes his live-action debut here. Sure enough there are countless rough edges present, and characters, although compelling in their quest, fail to resonate emotionally, but the overall adventure itself – that is, the tale – is one that will be sure to captivate imaginations and the attentions of many diverse audiences. With stunning visuals that complement the script's wonderful sense of imagination, fitting performances, and a very memorable, intelligent and socially relevant story, City of Ember is a fantastic slice of entertainment for all the family to enjoy.

• A review by Jamie Robert Ward (http://www.invocus.net)

Having just taken 129 eighth-graders who read the book to see the premiere, everyone left the theater disappointed with what director Kil Kenan and screenwriter Caroline Thompson have given us with this translation from the page to the screen. Thompson, an accomplished screenwriter, deserves more of the blame in their (and my) opinion.

Books rarely translate better to film and this one suffers for many reasons. Jeanne DuPrau's book is an amazing trove of metaphors (candles, the library, the seed, the Pipeworks, and the city itself). When works of literature work on multiple levels, the filmmakers should at least offer us more than one. In fact, this book could be a metaphor for metaphors -- there are things below the surface that exist whether we acknowledge them or not; it is our job to find the tools to excavate the "deeper" level of what exists for others only on the surface.

Having sacrificed the novel's intellectual depth, the film version does a great disservice to the dedicated reader: we are given special effects that defy logic and re-focus the story unnaturally and unnecessarily; there are included scenes of hyped-up action they are neither satisfying nor helpful with advancing the plot; we lose some of the intricate details of character development; there's an unnecessary inclusion of giant scary creatures that offer distracting (and bizarre) thrills; and the mystery of what Ember is is destroyed in the first minute of narration.

The design of the film is great, but as in design, the beauty is found in the details. I believe that the greatest details of the book are missing, hidden away like the people of Ember. Let them come into the light!