Directed by: Gil Kenan
Written by: Jean Duprau (book), Caroline Thompson
Starring cast: Harry Treadway (Doon Harrow), Saoirse Ronan (Lina Mayfleet)
Supporting Cast: Bill Murray (Mayor Cole), B J Hogg (Mayor’s Guard), Tim Robbins (Loris Harrow)
What’s it rated?: PG for some action-suspense (and one mild sexual reference)
Genre: Adventure, Family, Sci-Fi
Synopsis: When mankind is about to come to an end, a group of scientists decide to create and populate a city deep underground. The city of Ember is to last for 200 years after which its inhabitants are to retrieve from a strong box instructions to return to the surface. Over time however, the message is lost and life in Ember is rapidly deteriorating. Their power supply is failing and food is being rationed. It's left to two young adults to unearth the secret of Ember and to lead the way out.
My take: While the acting, CG, and scenimatography are pretty good in Ember, It’s story is rather lame and dull. There are several “rabbit trails” that you think are going to lead to a climax… but don’t. And this isn’t just a one-time thing, this happens again and again. I think the director and writers didn’t really iron out this story enough.
There are several messages communicated in this movie that aren’t excactly what I’d agree with; first of all is the simple, depressing, pessimism that is all too prevalent. Sure there is a bit of a resolution at the end, but the overwhelming message is that it’s too late, there’s no hope, so don’t try to fix anything. However this isn’t all bad, because the protagonists, Lina and Doon, actually try to find a solution to the problem despite ridicule from others. The next message I almost didn’t pick up, and I probably wouldn’t have without the help of pluggedinonline.com. It is this: the people living in the city of Ember seem to have no particular religious view, but I beg to differ. Apperently there is a quasi-religious celebration called the “Great day of singing”, where all the people of Ember gather to sing about the greatness of their massive generator. I don’t know about you, but this sounds like a religion to me and even though it’s not compared to Christianity, it’s depicts the religious leaders as fools and generally makes fun of all religion.
In conclusion, I’ll say again that the technical side of City of Ember was done pretty well, but the artistic element was somewhat lacking. That along with the subliminal messages sent through this movie make it not what I’d call a great film.
Story: 5 out of 10
Humor: Not really applicable, but for what there is: 6.5 out of 10
Suspense/Action: 6 out of 10
Overall: 4.5 out of 10
0 comments:
Post a Comment