Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1906 in DVD
• Released on: 2009-02-23
• Rating: Parental Guidance
• Format: PAL
• Subtitled in: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 92 minutes

Synopsis
For generations, the people of the City of Ember have flourished in an amazing world of glittering lights. But Ember's once powerful generator is failing... and the great lamps that illuminate the city are starting to flicker. Now, two teenagers in a race against time, must search Ember for clues that will unlock the ancient mystery of the city's existence, and help the citizens escape before the lights go out forever.

Customer Reviews

"Similar to the Goonies"? Pfft!
It isn't. So if you run across that comparison, please disregard, and feel free to expel air from your mouth quickly and noisily. A "harumph!" or a "pfft!" or maybe a "pshaww!". The Goonies is iconic and flawless; the reason City of Ember is compared to it is both involve teenagers who go on an adventure and much of it is underground. But that pretty much describes The Descent, too, and that's nothing like The Goonies, either. I digress a little...

City of Ember starts off at the End of the World (see? The Goonies is set in the 80s) and leading scientists and society's top mucky-mucks have built a city underground so the human race can live on. They realise that within a generation or 2, all memory of the outside world will have been forgotten, so they put all the information into a sealed box that will open automatically in 200 years time. That box is handed down from mayor to mayor (in a lovely sequence that shows the box being placed in different sets of hands, as the box slowly ages and becomes antiqued) until one day something goes awry, and it gets lost.

A long, long time later - we're not told how long, could be decades, could be centuries - society is still living uderground, and the conditions are bad. The generator that provides light and electricity is on its last legs, the food is fast running out, and much of the knowledge left by the mythological Builders who created the city has disappeared. The box, meanwhile, has sprung open and lies undisturbed at the back of Lina Mayfleet's closet, a 12 year old girl who is one of the film's 2 primary characters. It's at this point that the adventure really begins.

It sounds good, right? And it is. But it's not as good as The Goonies! Pfft. Both teenage leads are excellent, and Bill Murray shows his standard good form as the city's corrupt mayor. The set design is wonderful, and once the film gets going, it speeds along at full tilt. The only problem is, it seems to take an awfully long time to get going, and the adventure part is comparatively brief, so it seems to lack depth. Equally, in adventure films like this, there needs to be puzzles of some sort: something to engage the audience and get them involved, and City of Ember has nothing like that, at all, which adds to the sense that it lacks depth and substance.

All that being said, it's still jolly good fun and really quite wonderful to look at, and while you're watching it, you'll certainly be entertained.

Too tepid for 4 stars, but a very acceptable high 3.

And 5 for The Goonies.

By-the-numbers kids' fantasy
On the surface, The City of Ember has everything you would want from a family fantasy/sci-fi adventure: Mysterious and detailed setting, two strong young actors in the leads, quality supporting cast of A list actors and B list character actors, wonderful production design, high production values and a solid novel on which to base the script.

But sadly, and ironically for a film about a city deep underground, the surface is about as deep as it gets.

This film fell flat, in the same way that Eragon did and to some degree, The Golden Compass. All the individual elements that should make a quality, successful film are present, but they're just not tied together very well.

The pacing is very poor, and the script doesn't allow either of the competent leads to shine as they might have done with better writing or direction. Many of the human elements like the dementia of a family member, or the lack of basic knowledge left by generations of isolation are brushed over, and many of the characters are nothing more than caricatures of "good" or "bad" people.

I didn't hate this film by any means, but I wished it could have been so much more: It just ticked the boxes and sat back waiting for the paycheque, when what it really needed was passion and the sense of wonder the book used so well. Definitely one for a rainy afternoon, but certainly not good enough for a special family treat.

Very evocative and engaging
I rented this film the other day having not read the books (or heard about them at all).
My choice was based on the cast (Tim Robbins, Martin Landau, Toby Jones and Bill Murray amongst many others)- I'm also a fan of fantasy/magic/escapist stories.

I was NOT disappointed. The cast was predictably excellent, in particular the two young leads. The story itself was unoriginal in its premise but gripping nonetheless.
Most of all what made the film for me was the strange city of Ember itself. I loved the idea of an underground city depending on its generator to survive. It was visually a lovely film and the last few scenes were very moving. Oh, and the voiceover was perfect.

As far as the beginning being slow- I didn't find that at all. The beginning sets the scene for the story to unfold and introduces the viewer to the city- the mayor, the way the kids are apprenticed, their day to day life, their job etc.

All in all I was hooked and am now in the process of buying the books!