Flickering 'Ember'

City of Ember Fails to Ignite Excitement

I'm sick of movies getting labeled "kids" movies.  Just because the target demographic lacks scraggly stubble or supple bosoms doesn't give a director a free pass to make a sub-par film.  Yet the recent trend of kid friendly flix seems to favor pandering to parents over integrity to the art.  For a weekly movie-goer like myself, the steady diet of nihilism, explosions and sex can leave you longing for the innocence of cinema with a lighter quality, and while "City of Ember" isn't a "Spy Kids" insult to cinematic decency, it feels as if the writers played the "kids film"  card a little too often.

First off, I LOVED the milieu of this film.  The concept of a Fallout-esque vault city built to house a post apocalyptic is incredibly appealing, especially with the recent insurgence of the "steam punk" genre in games like Bioshock.   The movie actually feels like it borrows a lot from the Fallout franchise, even down to the blue and yellow color motif which crops up from time to time.  In fact, I think the art design and setting alone make this movie worth seeing if you are at all a junkie for this kind of science fiction setting.  But while the film is filled with conceptual gems (I especially like the idea of replacing telephones with a department of on-foot messengers whose service can be hailed from street) its execution degrades it from good science fiction movie to merely "kids movie."

The story is also "conceptually" solid.  The city was meant to house humans for 200 hundred years, but over the course of time the concept of re-emergence has been lost.  However, how that concept gets lost in the first place is just the beginning of a long line of tangled snags that makes the plot progression comically absurd.  Every event that pushes the plot forward is a deus ex machina, unbelievably convenient and not sold as part of any higher concept of fate or determinism.  This continues all the way to the incredibly anticlimactic ending which causes you question how on earth the city ever lost touch with what was going on in the world above them.  Maybe I'm looking at this through the eyes of an adult and maybe these convenient turn of events are easier to swallow for a younger audience, but as the squirming kid in the seat in front of me would seem to confirm, children don't buy it either (that or he had to pee).

The acting, and hate to further the connotation of this word, was "child" acting.  This is something that you have come to grips with in films with young actors.  If they aren't Hailey Joel Osmond or Dakota Fanning, they aren't going to give an oscar worthy performance.  "But Dustin, what about Abigail Breslin in Little Miss Sunshine?  She got an Oscar nod!"  Yeah and so did the girl from "Whale Rider," and how many oscars did they win? Oh that's right, ZERO.  It also pained me to see Bill Murray in this movie, as I've actually become of huge fan of his "Lost in Translation" era acting.  Anyone with a SAG card can perform an oblique portrayal of a corrupt politician.  Either bring something unique to table, or just let Jim Carrey play the rest of your series of unfortunate adult characters.

So what's the final verdict?  If you have a hankering for a lightweight adventure in a beautifully crafted environment, read the books on which the film was based, or simply find yourself unable to watch the latest harlequin corset ripper or Iraqi war gripper, I would easily recommend "City of Ember."  Family friendly films are a necessary part of a balanced cinematic diet, and while this is no crème brûlée Pixar flick, "City of Ember" scores at least a Jolly Rancher of the film food world.  Sweet, simple, and if you think too hard about what it is your ingesting, you'll probably spit it out.