Review: ‘City of Ember’

Scott:

Let me start off my review by saying that going into this, I did not have high hopes for it at all. With that being said, I walked out of the theater in pure excitement as this really took me back to the fantasy movies of the 80’s such as ‘Labyrinth’ and ‘Dark Crystal’, except here you have no puppets.

The movie is based around 2 teens who have made it through school and it has now come time for them to get their “life assignments” in the City of Ember, which is an underground world powered by a generator, very bleak lights and surrounded by darkness. The world was created when the real world was ending, and they were only supposed to be there for 300 years, but when the case with all of the “clues” on how to escape the world gets lost in the shuffle of trying to survive, everyone just goes about their business oblivious to the everything else going on around them.

The 2 teens who the movie follows, Lina Mayfleet and Doon Harrow start to become curious about the inevitable collapse of their civilization, they realize that there is more than what meets the eye in the city they have called home for so long.

Tim Robbins plays Doon Harrow’s dad who is pretty much a mad genius inventor who at one point tried to hatch an escape plan with Lina Mayfleet’s dad. Bill Murray plays the fat, out of control Mayor of the city. The cast really delivers in this movie, and Gil Kenan did a fantastic job of making you feel the sorrow of the city. It really draws you in, and at times I felt like I was in the city with them. Although this movie is pretty bleak, i very much enjoyed it and will definitely take my daughter to see it.

[rating:4/5]