Futuristic tale ‘City of Ember’ good family fare for all but the youngest

By Harry Forbes, Catholic News Service

NEW YORK (CNS)—”City of Ember” (Fox Walden) is an imaginative futuristic tale about a doomed underground city created as a haven for civilization after the earth becomes uninhabitable.

Its citizens know nothing of the world above, nor that the city’s generator—the source of all their light and power—was only designed to last 200 years, a period now ending. This vital fact had been stored in a metal box and passed on from mayor to mayor over the decades, but the box has long been lost.

The townspeople do know there were once “Builders” who created their city, and to whom they defer with almost godlike reverence. Indeed, on the Great Day of Singing—for so their rituals are delineated—a gospel-like choir sings a pseudospiritual to their imagined deity.

Now, with power blackouts and other anomalies a daily occurrence, brave orphaned teenager Lina Mayfleet (Saoirse Ronan) and her brilliant young friend, Doon Harrow (Harry Treadaway), son of inventor Loris Harrow (Tim Robbins), try to discover the secret way out before the city’s failing generator breaks down completely.

All the young people of Ember are given their life’s profession on Assignment Day, Lina becoming one of the town’s messengers, and Doon a Pipeworks assistant. Doon relishes the job, working under the tutelage of Sul (Martin Landau), as it will put him close to the generator which he is sure he can fix. But his access is blocked by the creepy Looper (Mackenzie Crook).
Bill Murray plays Mayor Cole, who’s clearly a shady character from the get-go, and ditto his obsequious henchman, Barton Snode (Toby Jones). Marianne Jean-Baptiste plays Clary, the city’s resident greenhouse owner who helps replenish Ember’s rapidly diminishing food supply.
With an intricate and quite believable production design, crisp cinematography by Xavier Perez Grobet, and a highly eclectic cast which includes Mary Kay Place as Lina’s kindly guardian, first-time feature director Gil Kenan’s well-paced adaptation of Jeanne DuPrau’s novel imparts good values.

Even in moments of extreme danger, Caroline Thompson’s script shows us that Lina and Doon never lose sight of their loved ones—in Lina’s case, her dotty grandmother (Liz Smith), who once knew the significance of the secret box, and her baby sister, Poppy, for whom she cares.

With minimal violence and no sex or language issues at all, this makes excellent family entertainment for all but the youngest viewers who might be frightened by a particularly scary monster and some other scenes of peril.

The USCCB Office for Film & Broadcasting classification is A-I—general patronage. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is PG—parental guidance suggested. Some material may not be suitable for children.

Harry Forbes is director of the Office for Film & Broadcasting of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. More reviews are available online at www.usccb.org/movies.