City of Ember (2008)

User Rating:

6.4/10   

Director:

Gil Kenan

Writers (WGA):

Caroline Thompson (screenplay)
Jeanne Duprau (book)

Release Date:

10 October 2008 (USA)

Genre:

Adventure | Family | Fantasy | Sci-Fi

Tagline:

Discover The Secret

Plot:

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.

Plot Keywords:

Message | Box | Escape | Steampunk | Graduation

Awards:

3 nominations

Cast

David Ryall	...	Chief Builder
Ian McElhinney	...	Builder
Harry Treadaway	...	Doon Harrow
Tim Robbins	...	Loris Harrow
Bill Murray	...	Mayor Cole
B.J. Hogg	...	Mayor's Guard
Toby Jones	...	Barton Snode
Lucinda Dryzek	...	Lizzie Bisco
Matt Jessup	...	Joss
Lara McIvor	...	Roner
Myles Thompson	...	Smat
Eoin McAndrew	...	Student #1
Rachel Morton	...	Student #2
Conor MacNeill	...	Student #3
Lorraine Hilton	...	Miss Thorn

MPAA:

Rated PG for mild peril and some thematic elements.

Runtime:

95 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

USA:PG (certificate #43559) | Ireland:PG | UK:PG | Singapore:PG | Philippines:G (MTRCB) | Hong Kong:IIA | Australia:G | Czech Republic:U | South Africa:10M | Canada:G (Manitoba/Quebec) | Canada:PG (Alberta/British Columbia/Nova Scotia/Ontario) | France:U | New Zealand:PG | Argentina:Atp | Portugal:M/12

Filming Locations:

Belfast Methodist College, Belfast, County Antrim, Northern Ireland, UK

Company:

Playtone

Trivia:

The word Ember also refers to the embers of a fire, a metaphor for the situation that the characters find themselves in.

Goofs:

Continuity: After Doon tells his father about the proof of the Builders, Lina goes to the mayor's building to tell someone. When Lina approaches Barton (the mayor's aide), you can see behind Barton that the doors to the mayor's office are closed. Then Barton escorts Lina down a hallway and the doors to the mayor's office are open without any assistance.

Quotes:

Loris Harrow: [narrating] Lina and Doon tied their hope to a rock and tossed it down toward the city. The rock could've ended up on a roof. Or kicked into a gutter. But fate ran another course. And the message found its way. Now the path was clear for all. All of us who kept the flame of Ember burning, through the darkness, so that we could live again on the earth, in the air and the light.

Movie Connections:

Featured in "At the Movies: (2008-11-26)" (2008)

well, I quite liked it

I've read quite a few negative reviews but i think some of the people who have read the book need to realise this was a children's film that would no doubt have to be simplified and draw people in from the start. It hasn't had an easy launch either because it's been competing with High School Musical 3, when i went to see it the cinema was empty apart from me because everyone else had gone to see a certain other film.

It wasn't great and i am certain that if i had read the book i would have hated it because the characters were not brilliantly written and it was a messy mix of excellent fantasy sci-fi with the appropriate special effects and corny American generic children's movie. But it was good fun.

The girl in it displayed a superb acting performance the general set and costumes and well mise-en-scene in general was excellent and well worth watching just for that.

It was good to watch in the cinema and throughly enjoyable if a bit predictable. As i say, generally i liked it.