![]() Her classmate, Doon Harrow, who wants more than nothing else to work in the Generator, panics when he pulls the messenger assignment. Lina, praying with all her might to be a messenger, is devastated to be assigned to the Pipeworks, the vast network of pipes underneath the City. A rite of passage for all graduates, it is Assignment Day, the day on which the Mayor himself will stand before the graduating students as they choose, by lottery, how they will spend their lives working for their society. Now Ember is falling into darkness as the generator fails, and the dazzling lights begin to flicker and fade.ĭespite growing concern for the future of their beloved City, Ember¹s students find themselves confronting the next step in their lives. Built as a refuge for humanity and powered by a massive generator - this City will only sustain for 200 years. Ours is the only light in a dark world."įor generations, the people of the City of Ember have flourished in an amazing world of glittering lights - underground. Beyond Ember the darkness goes on forever in all directions. As it is, so are we: hard working, creative. We give thanks to the unbounded capaCity of our mighty Generator, beating at our very center like a magnificent heart. We flourish above our mighty flowing river. We declare our infinite gratitude to the Builders who chose the site with the greatest care. "We swear eternal loyalty to our City and to the wisdom that created it. Movie Trailer About the Movie "City of Ember" A 20th Century Fox and Walden Media release. Scott production design by Martin Laing music by Andrew Lockington produced by Tom Hanks, Gary Goetzman and Steven Shareshian. Murdo).ĭirected by Gil Kenan written by Caroline Thompson, based on the novel by Jeanne DuPrau photographed by Xavier Perez Grobet edited by Adam P. Starring: Saoirse Ronan (Lina) Bill Murray (Mayor) Harry Treadaway (Doon) Marianne Jean-Baptiste (Clary) Toby Jones (Barton Snode) Tim Robbins (Loris) Martin Landau (Sul) Mary Kay Place (Mrs. MPAA rating: PG (for mild peril and some thematic elements). (The picture was shot mainly in Belfast.) Thompson's script stumbles a bit expositionally, but who knows? If older kids and adults seek out this picture, which 20th Century Fox and Walden Media clearly aren't sure how to sell, they may well find themselves drawn into a subterranean world of considerable imagination. This is a project wherein you really notice the sets - big, three-story ones, too big for a typical Hollywood soundstage. The blend of art direction and computer-generated effects favors the former, not the latter. Thompson tosses in a giant sewer mole for a thrill sequence that seems out of place with the rest of "City of Ember," but I suppose kids - like movie producers - feel cheated unless something with considerable sharp teeth threatens to chomp a protagonist.Įven with the mole and a conventional shoot-the-rapids climax (taken from the book), I liked the texture, tone and spirit of this movie. The rest of the story, adapted by Caroline Thompson from Jeanne DuPrau's novel, involves a treasure hunt-type secret map and humanity's salvation. Saoirse Ronan, a deserved Academy Award nominee for "Atonement," plays Lina, who gratefully switches assignments with her pal Doon (Harry Treadaway of "Control") so she can become a fleet-footed messenger and he can go to work in the elaborate pipe works. Children at the age of 12 are assigned jobs to help keep the machine grinding along, amid power blackouts and food shortages. The place is run by a genial fascist of a mayor (Bill Murray, playing it straight and padded with an enormo-tummy). While life above ground regenerates, the citizens of Ember cope with their makeshift contraption of a city, built to last for 200 years. The story plops you down in a rough situation, after the end of the world as we know/knew it. If he ever lucks into a project worthy of his imagistic strengths that has some populist hooks going for it, look out. Kenan made "Monster House," also good, also not for the young ones. He and his designers create a sharply realized and fantastically rich underground city, held together by cables and wires and string. It's a little fuzzy in terms of story, and too dour for young kids, but "City of Ember" comes from director Gil Kenan. So it has quality working against it too. Among the question marks: an indistinct title, taken from a popular-but-not-epoch-shattering series of books an apocalyptic vision of the future that resists the usual swells of triumphalism and dialogue that is markedly free of jaded wisecracks and references to "Jerry Maguire," or "Cops."Īlso, it's good. There's a lot working against "City of Ember" in terms of its commercial prospects. Bill Murray as Mayor Cole in 'City of Ember'
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