When disaster threatens the world, people survive in the City of Ember, deep underground and powered by a generator that gives light and heat to the city. The first Mayor of Ember is entrusted with a box, that contains instructions about what to do when 200 years are over, and Ember is reaching the end of its intended life. However, the box is lost, and over 200 years since Ember was founded, the people are beginning to run out of stored food, and the generator is dying.
I found the concept behind the film very interesting; Ember itself and the story behind it is a very nice idea. In mood, it reminded me of a cross between two of my favourite children's books. Visually, the make-do-and-mend feel was put across very well. The characters are often wearing threadbare or worn clothes, and all the machinery and buildings look like they are two-hundred years old, run by a society that doesn't have the expertise or resources to maintain them.
In addition, the feel of the society seemed about right. When the children come of age and leave school, they have an 'assignment day' where they do not choose jobs, but rather pick them randomly from a bag. There seems to be a strong community spirit, and for the most part the people seem to band together to make things work in the city. However, there is the normal kind of conflict that you'd expect with people living in close quarters. As a world, I found it worked very well.
The story follows Lina Mayfleet (Saoirse Ronan), a messenger, and Doon Harrow (Harry Treadaway), a pipeworker. When Lina finds the box and realises that they contain instructions about how to leave Ember, she and Doon try to put the torn instructions back together in order to save the people of their city.
Once you get past the stunning visuals, and interesting underlying concepts and society, however, I found City of Ember to be a fun film, but not as special as everything else might have implied. There were a lot of great actors (including Bill Murray, Tim Robbins and Martin Landau), and a lot of good acting, but the main characters didn't hold the plot together as well as I thought they should. Ronan and Treadaway did a very good job of getting the plot across, but I felt they were a little too much the all-American teen to really carry off the steam-punk style film.
The plot was a little thin, and at times predictable. I think the film was aimed at children much younger than I am, and having children as the main character tends to enforce this opinion. I would hope, though, that a film with as much conceptual promise as this one would give a little more to its adult viewers. It seemed to use every conceivable plot 'trick' to get the characters through to the film's conclusion.
Having said that, I did enjoy the film. It was a pleasant, easily watchable film and it was a fun plot, even if I felt it did not quite live up to the brilliant concepts and world. If you have an hour and a half and want something fun to watch, I'd recommend this film, but I wouldn't go into it with your expectations set too high. Although it's visually brilliant, it's a little on the shallow side, and it is probably much better when viewed by people under the age of fourteen.
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