City of Ember

Watching director Gil Keenan's production of Jeanne Duprau's children's novel 'City of Ember' I couldn't shake the sense that something was missing. There's entertainment value within this story of young teens seeking to save their underground city of the future before it is plunged in permanent darkness, yet I didn't find myself emotionally involved. This is one of the best looking films I've seen in recent years, with fascinating costumes that have a practicality to their designs, impressively constructed sets and CG imagery that enhances the visuals rather than overwhelm them. Yet the entire production feels a bit stiff and by the time things start to loosen up, the story has progressed a great deal, nearing its conclusion.

The city of Ember is a haven constructed several miles underground as a refuge for survivors in the event of a global catastrophe. To save mankind scientists devised the city to protect its citizens for almost two centuries. Though the city's builders devise a plan that will one day return the people to the surface of the earth, the passage of time causes those secrets to fade from memory and into legend. Two hundred years pass and the citizens of Ember have grown so content in their productive lives, that attempts or even talk of journeying into the unknown are outlawed. The citizens know only of their world of glittering lights and their popular Mayor (Bill Murray) promises that their way of life will continue for another two hundred years.

The biggest problem in Ember is the city's power shortages and they appear to be increasing. Recent school graduate Doon Harrow (Harry Treadway) wants a job as an electrician's assistant because he thinks he can fix the city's electrical generator. While Doon settles for his assignment as a pipe worker (under the tutelage of a narcoleptic Martin Landau), his school mate Lina Mayfleet (Saoirse Ronan) is utterly content with her new job as a messenger. Orphan Lina's great love for the city and its people is only surpassed by her love for her little sister, but like Harry, she still yearns for something more and has a powerful sense of curiosity. Harry inherited his curiosity from his crackpot inventor father (Tim Robbins) and when Lina makes a startling discovery, the teens think they may have found a way to save Ember.

As a descendant of one of Ember's former Mayors, Lina stumbles upon a mysterious metallic box hidden in her eccentric grandma's closet. The cryptic message inside is severely tattered, but it appears to be instructions involving the evacuation of the city and a return to the surface. When Lina and Harry discover additional clues in connection to the plan, they attempt to notify the proper authorities. Little do they know that the powers that be have their own plans for saving Ember and it involves saving themselves.

At times 'City of Ember' feels like a mash-up of elements from 'The Goonies' along with the post-apocalyptic setting of '12 Monkeys'. Murray and Robbins manage to provide the familiar quirky support they are known for, but center stage belongs to Ronan (a recent Oscar nominee for 'Atonement') and Treadway. Both actors hail from England and Ireland respectively and provide flawless American accents as well as portray likable and intelligent characters. It's just that at times there's little excitement in what these kids are doing. Their pursuit for the truth carries little momentum and the fact that the forces that appose them seem cartoonish and of little threat doesn't help. Their characters have a sense of purpose, but there's little excitement to be had in what they are going after. Things do begin to pick up when the kids discover just what the master plan of the builders was and the methods to escape, but by then the story is nearly over.

There is much to appreciate in the quality that went into this film which is Kenan's follow-up to his superior animated debut 'Monster House'. This is in fact a beautiful film to look at and a completely absorbing and realistic world that's stands ahead of some of the more recent and similar efforts in the genre. The performances are also good, its just that for children, the story and the pacing needed to be pumped up just a little bit with a sense of awe added for good measure.